Huh.

[kutsuwamushi]

I am strangely fascinated by Billy the Exterminator.

Mostly, it's the accents - but also, it's how everyone FLIPS THE FUCK OUT when they find out there is NATURE in their NATURE.

OMG THERE'S A SNAKE IN THE BUUUUUUUSH

I know people have phobias and all, but I can't remember a single person on this show, including the titular Billy, who has not overreacted to the presence of a creepy crawly. It's great. My favorite scene is when a python wraps around Billy's forearm and he starts screaming about how much it hurts and how much danger he's in, while the snake guy is obviously trying not to tell him to calm the fuck down and ruin the shot.

I think everyone who doesn't freak out gets edited out.

(On a more serious note - I wonder how much portrayals of people flipping the fuck out at any sign of a snake or bug encourages people to flip out in real life. People are really susceptible to suggestion like this. See: If you fool people into thinking that they're drinking booze many will actually act intoxicated.)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

My parents lived in Shreveport, Louisiana for a period of time, and when they had a pest problem (wasps? termites? snakes? can't remember, 'twas years ago) in their house they called up a company called Vexcon, but they were booked so they went with someone else.

So they were quite close to being on Billy the Exterminator except they were booked up and/or their pest problem wasn't sufficiently camera-worthy. Which is fine, but also amusing.

[scribefigaro.livejournal.com]

Dammit, that was me. Dreamwidth, you hor.

[kutsuwamushi]

I am jelus of your family's close brush with reality TV fame.

I want Billy to come to my apartment and take care of my ant problem, so I can see him try to talk up how dangerous ants are.

Then I want to be hired by Vexcon so I can be the cool one who doesn't flip out every time something moves.

[lederhosen]

My first/second-grade teacher's boyfriend was a wildlife ranger who got to rescue animals from people's back yards. It's amazing how many Australians can't tell the difference between a snake and a blue-tongue lizard.

And yeah, I wish we'd stop socialising children to be idiots around snakes. AFAIK, the second biggest category of snakebite cases in Australia is "person got bitten while attempting to kill a snake that wasn't threatening anybody until somebody tried to kill it".

(The first, naturally, is young males with way too much alcohol in their systems.)

[kutsuwamushi]

The way to deal with snakes the Billy the Exterminator way is to go into an area where you think there are snakes, and then jump and shout in surprise when you find one. You talk to the camera briefly about how DANGEROUS it is, even if it is a tiny little non-poisonous snake.

Then you catch the snake and show it to the woman of the house so she can scream and cry and run into the house.

I must say, I have always felt a sort of inordinate fondness for Louisiana, but this is making me think that living there would be very stressful, what with all of the people being deathly afraid of everything.