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."
No thanks....it was inhumane and he should be punished for torturing a critter.
And, We have a winner!
"Dale! Get down from there you giblet head!"
http://jibblet.ytmnd.com/
maybe so but Tehachapi, atop the mountains in Kern County, isn't what I'd consider part of the Antelope Valley in LA County.
On one episode of Man vs Wild, they guy was squeezing elephant dung for a quick drink.
Lung worms are known as Pentastomids. An inch long arthropod like parasite that is actually zoonic (can infect humans). Also known as a Tongue Worm or Lung Worm.
Just as it's a very bad idea to eat raw pork that you catch in the wild, it's also a bad idea to eat any snake meat that is not thoroughly cooked.
I hope somebody warns this fool.
oh, and yes, lung worms live in your lungs. If you kill them, then you have dead worms rotting in your lungs.
Don’t eat raw or undercooked rattlesnake.
I’m so disappointed. A thread about Survivor and no Elizabeth Hasslebeck photos. sigh.
Survivor Borneo - Rudy Boesch former SEAL
Survivor Africa - Frank Garrison ex Sergeant US Army
Survivor Panama - Terry Deitz former F-14 pilot US Navy
Funnisest thing in that series Terry and Dan coming clean about who they were
Terry: I sais I was an airline pilot. Used to be in the Navy. Flew F-14s
Dan: I said I worked for NASA. I was an astronaut. Three Shuttle missions.
I was contacted by the snake eater. He said he was unfamiliar with how FR works and asked me to post the whole story for him:
Hey Dan,
It was a Western diamondback 43” long.
Milked three times before taking it into the filming (some margine of safety).
It was killed first(neck snapped).
I did have my CA fishing tag.
I don’t swallow...unless it’s cooked.
If I had more than the 120 seconds offered I’d have bbq’d it.
No tweeking here.
17 years off grid in a remote cabin.
Loveley wife.
Excellent carreer in renewable energy.
Just get a little bored sometimes.
Rusty1
I still eat the live frog for breakfast, the rest of the day is always better.
I hope he gets on the show and if he does I might actually watch it. I was making a cheap joke based on the time I spend in Antelope Valley and its environs.
Thanks Dan. Good story.
Sounds like the kind of guy this Redneck would be happy to hoist a beer with, ya know?
Tell him so if you re-connect with him....:)
KNOW THE GUY.
DEFINATE REDNECK!
100% FUN, EVEN W/O BEER!
SUPER INTELLEGENT!
WATCH OUT IF HE DOES GET ON!
WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT!
GO RUSTY!!!!
I know him well myself and encourage everyone to email CBS and let them know it’s time for a real survivor. If I were to be a part of the show he were cast for, I pray I would be on his team. GO RUSTY!!!
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