Posted on 07/16/2007 11:21:12 AM PDT by ElkGroveDan
A 48-year-old Tehachapi man skinned and ate a live snake as part of his audition at an open casting call in Bakersfield for "Survivor" Saturday.
The man, who identified himself to a reporter as Rusty Shackelford and by a different name to audition organizers, brought the snake into the audition room at Three-Way Chevrolet in a backpack. (Rusty Shackelford is a common fake name, one used by a cartoon character.) Once cameras started rolling, he pulled the hissing snake from his backpack and held it firmly by its head and lower body.
He then peeled away long sections of the live snake's skin and took several bites out of its exposed flesh. The man then put the snake back in his bag and left the audition.
"Well, they said to go over the top," the man said after the audition. "I was probably as nervous as the snake was.
"I hope they're ready for a real survivor instead of somebody just ready to play games," said the man, who said he's unemployed.
He said eating the live snake was like eating "raw chicken." He said he found the animal, which he said was a rattlesnake, at the side of a road.
Onlookers, who were also there to audition, expressed shock and disgust as they watched him eat the snake through a large window.
Cries of "What!" "Eww," and "Man, that's not cool," filled the room as he started tearing away the snake's skin.
"I can't believe someone would do something like that," said Josie Papik of Pacific Palisades. "You do something like that to survive but not to an animal that can't defend itself."
"I think it's disgusting," said Ruth Anne Phillips of Palmdale. "I think someone should call animal control."
Despite the gore, however, Kern County Sheriff's Department Cmdr. Rosemary Wahl said Saturday evening that what the man did was not actually illegal.
Still, Victoria Kendall, a "Survivor" tryout who said she works for the California Department of Conservation said she was outraged.
"I was absolutely appalled," Kendall said. "I'm furious that poor snake had to be the ticket for that guy to get on 'Survivor,' to be skinned alive and eaten."
Organizers of the event said they were also shocked.
"I didn't think he'd do it," said Three-Way Marketing Manager Michelle Garland. "That's frightening."
Tracy Peoples, director of marketing and promotions for 29 Eyewitness News station, which taped the auditions for CBS, said people say they're going to do all sorts of crazy things for the cameras but rarely do.
"One guy made a joke he was going to eat his dog, but he came and went and nothing happened to his dog," Peoples said.
29 Eyewitness News Production Manager Jeremy Rowell, who was alone with the man in the audition room when he ate the snake, said he was also shocked.
"I totally didn't think he was going to do it," Rowell said. "I thought he would kiss the snake or pet the snake just to show he could handle it."
Peoples said CBS doesn't generally lay out any rules for what people are allowed to do or not allowed to do for their auditions. One man, earlier in the day, she said, ate crickets.
Each auditioner was given two minutes in front of a camera to tell CBS why he or she should be on the next "Survivor," a show in which a group of strangers face challenges in exotic locations and vote one another off the show in hopes of being the last man standing and winning $1 million.
Contestants on the show are often forced to fish, hunt and eat anything they can find -- including bugs and rats -- in order to survive.
Though Bakersfield College student Melvin Villali acknowledged he and other contestants might have to eat unusual, wild animals to survive if picked for the show, he said he believes the man at Saturday's audition went too far.
"He had it by its head and tail and he skinned it from the neck down, and took a bite of the snake," Villali said. "It was inhumane."
His name is Terry. Don’t remember his last name, but he was not the winner, much to my chagrin. I think he made it to the final 4 though.
Apparently, Keanu Reeves was in attendance.
yea, that drippy grub was tough to watch..
On one show of “Man Verses Wild” the guy did eat a live snake, whole!( He ripped the head off first)
It was a rather small snake and not a rattler. Thats likely where the guy got the idea.
UGGHHH,, I hate grubs, but fish love ‘em.. same for leeches.
I like the one where he bit into the giant live grubs in Ecuador. The look on his face as he exclaimed “horrible!” was priceless.
E-mailed to Rusty at The Jawa Report. lol
At least whatever it was was dead and cooked.
Why didn’t this guy kill the snake before he ate it? This is circus geek stuff.
I’d bet a good number of those who were “outraged” and “disgusted” think nothing of condoning abortions.
He ate some and puked his guts out...lol
I ate at several “real” chinese restaurants when I was in hong kong and I told the chinese guy I went and worked with, “do NOT tell me what it is”, unless I really like it, THEN tell me..for the most part, it all wasn’t bad until I got to the fish stomachs, and it was everything I could do to avoid spewin on the table..the taste was ok, but the consistency, in my opinion, was horrible..
that was “survivor man”, not “man vs. wild”..but I remember seein that..
OK. I knew it was one of them.
I'd like to think so however I wouldn't bet on it
I’ve heard stories where they cut the top of the head off a live monkey and people eat the brain. This could be just a Viet Nam War story people talked about to pass the time, although Ray Liotta eat his own Brain in a horror film. Later on in an intervieew on the “VIEW” he commented that it tasted like chicken.
I’ve eaten fresh Live Oysters plucked right out of the ocean on many occasions and just loved the fresh succulent taste. I must admit if I had never tried it at a restaurant, eating Oysters would have been a little intimidating if I hadn’t known other people also ate them.
I’ve heard there’s a place in Asia called “Snake Alley” where you can buy a live snake. They string it up with a lasso at the head and drain the blood, which people drink like a shot of Whiskey.
Culture and Customs have dictated many strange eating habits in different places of the world, maybe eating a live snake is not that uncommon some where on this crazy planet Earth.
You’re right, he was one of the final 3. For some reason I remembered him as the winner. The few times I’ve watched it I root for the “old farts” to kick the butts of the young smartasses.
Eating snakes? Big deal.... Let's see him kick his addiction to methamphetamines.
Antlope Valley should be called "Tweeker Valley".
No, you don't even do something that inhumane to survive. You kill it quickly first.
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