Discovery Producer Bit By Deadly Snake While Location Scouting

There might be emergency personnel on site when survival reality shows are being filmed, but that doesn’t mean they’re not extremely dangerous. We got a reminder of that sad fact a few months ago when a contestant on France’s version of Survivor died, and now, we’ve been given another reminder in the form of a producer’s run-in with a deadly snake. Steven Rankin, an executive on the reality show Naked And Afraid, was scouting locations in Costa Rica when a Fer-De-Lance came out of its hiding spot in the jungle and took a giant bite of his foot.

According to TMZ, the producer was wearing boots, but the fangs were so sharp, they pierced right through down to the skin. Rankin was quickly loaded onto a stretcher and rushed two miles were he was loaded onto a helicopter and flown to San Jose for medical treatment. Unfortunately, the flesh inside his foot rotted and a few days later, doctors were forced to cut a chunk of it out. The producer eventually made his way back to Los Angeles and received some skin graphs, allowing his condition to rapidly improve.

Naked And Afraid is the lateset wacky reality special from Discovery. It follows a male and female survivalist who are dropped into an exotic location completely naked. They’re forced to make clothes, find food and survive, which is far harder without the help of small conveniences.

Pop Blend’s sincerest thoughts go out to Rankin during this time of need. Here’s to hoping he continues to progress and gets back out there to scout more locations sooner rather than later.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/ Matt Jeppson