Following an outcry over disappointment over Discovery’s Eaten Alive, the network is defending the two-hour special that failed to follow through.
In a statement on Monday, the network defend Paul Rosolie’s efforts to raise awareness for preserving the rainforest.
“Paul created this challenge to get maximum attention for one of the most beautiful and threatened parts of the world, the Amazon Rainforest and its wildlife,” reads the statement to Entertainment Weekly.
The network added that Rosolie, who asked his security team to bail him out when he felt his arm breaking when being swallowed by the anaconda, “went to great lengths to send this message and it was his absolute intention to be eaten alive.”
However, “after the snake constricted Paul for over an hour and went for his head, the experiment had to be called when it became clear that Paul would be very seriously injured if he continued on.”
They concluded by calling the safety of both the anaconda and Rosolie their “number-one priority.”
As we previously reported, viewers of the Eaten Alive special took to Twitter to voice how let down they were that Rosolie didn’t follow through with his promise.
PETA also voiced their outrage over the special, saying the anaconda was taken out of its environment for a “publicity stunt,” also calling it a “shameful stunt for ratings.”
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