Jimmy Kimmel asks Eaten Alive’s Paul Rosalie for a make-good: “get eaten by another animal”

Viewers of Discovery’s entertaining two-hour Eaten Alive special sounded off on social media when naturalist/author Paul Rosalie failed to be actually eaten by the snake. Jimmy Kimmel said it Man gets eaten by snake in Discovery's Eaten Alive on Dec 7best last night when he had Rosalie on his show via Skype. “What a rip off. All I wanted to do was relax on my couch and watch a man get eaten by a snake,” Kimmel joked.

In the last 15-minutes of the two-hour special, we did see the 20-foot snake make a few strikes at swallowing him (some great interior shots of the snake’s inner throat cavity were captured), but Rosalie tapped out early after an unprotected part of his arm started to go numb. “I can’t feel my arm, she’s squeezing my arm,” Rosalie told his team through his protective suit and helmet. “Guys, you need to get in here. My arm’s torquing. Somebody come!”

His crew rushed in and peeled the snake off of him. That’s when the outrage on Twitter and from animal rights groups erupted. People were seriously ticked, stating things like:

  • “This guy had one job. Literally one f@#$ing job to get eaten alive and he f@#$ed it up.”
  • “The only thing that anaconda swallowed were the two hours of my life I’ll never get back.”
  • “Steve Irwin would pass thru the digestive canals of a ball python & still be home for dinner that night this paul cat is a FRAUD”
  • “Next time I watch something called #EatenAlive, somebody better get eaten alive.”

Kimmel reminded Rosalie that not just viewers were ticked either — everyone walked away mad after this thing, including the snake (heck, she didn’t get her meal).  In a lighthearted, yet frank, exchange Kimmel questioned Rosalie on his experience, which Rosalie described as: “The opposite of pleasant. It was cool. Very interesting to see how powerful the thing is.” Here’s a bit more on their chat …

Kimmel: Are you disappointed that you weren’t eaten by the snake?
Rosalie: Hey, we gave it the best shot we could.

Kimmel: Have you ever been eaten by a snake before?
Rosalie: No.

Kimmel: At what point did you realize this was a terrible decision?
Rosalie: About the time I felt my bones starting to creek, and it felt like in another 2 degrees it was going to snap.

Kimmel: Did you not know that was going to happen?
Rosalie: The important part was protecting my rib cage so I really wanted to just make sure I stayed alive. I figured there was a good chance I could keep my arms out of the restricted area . She did start to eat and we weren’t sure she would do that so that was pretty cool.

Kimmel read PETA’s statment that blasted Rosalie and Discovery, where PETA cited the show as being shameful and detrimental to animal preservation, and simply a stunt for ratings. Rosalie responded, “The whole reason we did this show was because I worked in the Amazon and I’ve seen it being destroyed, and everyone knows ‘the whole rainforest being destroyed thing’ but it’s not stopping it from happening. We got millions of people talking about this stuff, ‘Why on Earth would this idiot want to do this?’ And this is the reason — to try and keep the place where these things live intact.” Rosalie went on to say that he believes PETA and everyone else who is lashing out is only focusing on the last 20 minutes of the show versus the first hour and a half that explored the region in detail. They are “totally forgetting everything else — that we’re trying to protect these animals.”

Kimmel thought maybe a make-good was in store for Rosalie and jokingly suggested that maybe he should be eaten by another animal. And, then added:  “I would like to see you have sex with a hippo.”
Oh, please no.
Eaten Alive ratings drew 4.1 viewers.