The Star Malaysia - Star2

Stunt leaves a bad taste

Paul rosolie’s quest to be swallowed by a giant anaconda stirred the appetite but TV viewers won’t want a second helping.

- By BRIAN MOYLAN

WHO out there remembers The Mysteries Of Al Capone’s Vault, the 1986 live special where a barely famous Geraldo Rivera unearthed the gangster’s secret vault under a Chicago hotel where he supposedly kept some of his wealth?

At the end of the special, watched by 30 million viewers, we learned the vault contained nothing but a lot of dust and a few empty Coke bottles. Even Rivera later called it a “high-concept stunt that failed to deliver on its titillatin­g promise”.

The same thing can be said about Discovery’s Eaten Alive special.

The titillatin­g promise was that Amazon conservati­onist and snake expert Paul Rosolie would wear a protective suit and be eaten alive by a giant anaconda.

The first 90 minutes of the two-hour special detailed a truly suspensefu­l hunt for a suitable snake and the final 30 minutes were dedicated to a snake biting his helmet and then Rosolie calling off the stunt without a second attempt. Rosolie is also nothing more than a lot of dust and a few empty Coke bottles.

Rosolie’s idea was to wear a protective suit that would save him from the anaconda’s bone-crushing and heart-exploding constricti­on and also its digestive juices were it to eat him whole. But the snake didn’t get that far.

It crushed him, but just as its head attached to his helmet and was getting ready to swallow

 ??  ?? Nothing to see here: In eatenalive, amazon conservati­onalist and snake expert Paul rosolie fails to deliver what he promised – to be ‘swallowed’ by an anaconda.
Nothing to see here: In eatenalive, amazon conservati­onalist and snake expert Paul rosolie fails to deliver what he promised – to be ‘swallowed’ by an anaconda.

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