People are mad a guy didn’t actually get ‘Eaten Alive’ on TV

LOS ANGELES — Discovery Channel’s much-anticipated special “Eaten Alive” left viewers feeling less than satisfied. The reason: SPOILER ALERT, nobody was actually eaten alive by a “mega-anaconda.”

Discovery Channel made a bit of a splash with the announcement it would air a special about a guy who intends to let himself be engulfed by a giant anaconda, then the network wisely decided not to screen it in advance. That’s because the more accurate title, for those who bothered to watch, would be “Suckered In.” Part nature special, part save-the-Rain-Forest lecture, part “Predator,” the protracted buildup culminated in a staged encounter that amounted to more of a snack than a meal.

“What viewers eventually saw during the two-hour special was a large anaconda attack Rosolie, coil around him, then start to eat his helmet, time.com reports.

Conservationist Paul Rosolie and his team traveled through a remote region of the Amazon looking for the snake that got away: According to Rosolie, a green anaconda he encountered larger than the record size of nearly 25 feet.

Not just an anaconda, in other words, but a “mega-anaconda” of “truly monstrous proportions,” as the narration put it - which, if it hasn’t already, would make a great title for one of those cheapo Syfy movies.

But they didn’t call this “Searching for Giant Snakes,” and the producers and Discovery sought to sweeten their haul by gimmicking-up the proceedings with the high-tech suit devised to theoretically allow the beast to swallow and regurgitate Rosolie, a bulky contraption that only made him that much more inedible.

The main event, not surprisingly turned out to be a whole lot of nothing. Having failed to catch the snake he wanted, Rosolie settled for getting eaten by the snake he’s with, wearing an outfit last seen when John Wayne fought a giant octopus in “Reap the Wild Wind.”

The confused snake nibbled on his arm, and then the two engaged in a round of extended mud wrestling, complete with a lot of heavy breathing. And that actually makes it sound more exciting than it was.

Viewers took to Twitter to voice their disatisfaction with the show. Check out their responses below.

Ashley Casper contributed to this report. Contact Ashley Casper at acasper@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @TheCasperA