Snake skinned, eaten alive
Bakersfield, CA (US)

Incident Date: Saturday, Jul 14, 2007
County: Kern

Disposition: Not Charged

Person of Interest: Brent Scheibel

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

A 48-year-old Tehachapi man skinned and ate a live snake as part of his audition at an open casting call in Bakersfield for "Survivor" Saturday.

The man, who identified himself to a reporter as Rusty Shackelford and by a different name to audition organizers, brought the snake into the audition room at Three-Way Chevrolet in a backpack. (Rusty Shackelford is a common fake name, one used by a cartoon character.) Once cameras started rolling, he pulled the hissing snake from his backpack and held it firmly by its head and lower body.

He then peeled away long sections of the live snake's skin and took several bites out of its exposed flesh. The man then put the snake back in his bag and left the audition.

"Well, they said to go over the top," the man said after the audition. "I was probably as nervous as the snake was.

"I hope they're ready for a real survivor instead of somebody just ready to play games," said the man, who said he's unemployed.

He said eating the live snake was like eating "raw chicken." He said he found the animal, which he said was a rattlesnake, at the side of a road.

Onlookers, who were also there to audition, expressed shock and disgust as they watched him eat the snake through a large window.

Cries of "What!" "Eww," and "Man, that's not cool," filled the room as he started tearing away the snake's skin.

"I can't believe someone would do something like that," said Josie Papik of Pacific Palisades. "You do something like that to survive but not to an animal that can't defend itself."

"I think it's disgusting," said Ruth Anne Phillips of Palmdale. "I think someone should call animal control."

Despite the gore, however, Kern County Sheriff's Department Cmdr. Rosemary Wahl said Saturday evening that what the man did was not actually illegal.

Still, Victoria Kendall, a "Survivor" tryout who said she works for the California Department of Conservation said she was outraged.

"I was absolutely appalled," Kendall said. "I'm furious that poor snake had to be the ticket for that guy to get on 'Survivor,' to be skinned alive and eaten."

Organizers of the event said they were also shocked.

"I didn't think he'd do it," said Three-Way Marketing Manager Michelle Garland. "That's frightening."

Tracy Peoples, director of marketing and promotions for 29 Eyewitness News station, which taped the auditions for CBS, said people say they're going to do all sorts of crazy things for the cameras but rarely do.

"One guy made a joke he was going to eat his dog, but he came and went and nothing happened to his dog," Peoples said.

29 Eyewitness News Production Manager Jeremy Rowell, who was alone with the man in the audition room when he ate the snake, said he was also shocked.

"I totally didn't think he was going to do it," Rowell said. "I thought he would kiss the snake or pet the snake just to show he could handle it."

Peoples said CBS doesn't generally lay out any rules for what people are allowed to do or not allowed to do for their auditions. One man, earlier in the day, she said, ate crickets.

Each auditioner was given two minutes in front of a camera to tell CBS why he or she should be on the next "Survivor," a show in which a group of strangers face challenges in exotic locations and vote one another off the show in hopes of being the last man standing and winning $1 million.

Contestants on the show are often forced to fish, hunt and eat anything they can find -- including bugs and rats -- in order to survive.

Though Bakersfield College student Melvin Villali acknowledged he and other contestants might have to eat unusual, wild animals to survive if picked for the show, he said he believes the man at Saturday's audition went too far.

"He had it by its head and tail and he skinned it from the neck down, and took a bite of the snake," Villali said. "It was inhumane."

Case Updates

References

	Turn to 23 - July 25, 2007
	Bakersfield.Com - July 14, 2007

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