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ANIMAL PLANET’S GATOR BOYS SWEAR THEY DON’T HAVE A DEATH WISH BUT WHO ELSE WOULD DIVE INTO A POOL TO RESCUE A GIANT ALLIGATOR?

December 13, 2011

Contact - Bonita Lynch
Publicist
215-657-1565

(New York, NY) - It's quite possible your idea of fun isn't wrestling alligators. Well, that's the kind of thinking keeping the GATOR BOYS busy! Paul Bedard and Jimmy Riffle are two fearless peas in a pod, and they've become Florida's go-to guys when locals find themselves crossing paths with deadly 1,000-pound reptiles in shocking locations - like master bedrooms, swimming pools or outdoor cafés!

The goal of "Gator Boys Alligator Rescue" is for the team to capture nuisance gators with their bare hands and move them to safety before trappers, who kill and sell the animals for their skin and meat, get to them. Viewers can follow every crazy adventure and sticky situation these death-defying partners encounter in the all-new, six-part, one-hour series GATOR BOYS, premiering Sunday, January 8, at 9 PM (ET/PT).

Alligators used to own South Florida, with the Everglades stretching as far as the eye could see, but times have changed; today there's an on-going struggle between man and beast. The boys from GATOR BOYS are in the middle of the action, defending blameless gators and other wildlife displaced by urban sprawl and keeping people safe from these unpredictable animals. With 30 years of wild-animal experience between them, the guys run an animal facility in the Everglades, where they educate and entertain the public using a menagerie of ferocious creatures they've captured in populated areas. The funds the gator shows generate go towards rescuing troublesome wildlife, with the goal of returning every animal to its natural habitat unscathed.

It takes serious skill to do this guy's job, and Paul is known for his commanding personality and unmatched expertise, capturing any-sized gator underwater with his bare hands. He's a record-breaking triathlete who spends his off season heading up "Gator Boys Alligator Rescue" side by side with Jimmy. Despite brother-like bickering between the two, Jimmy looks to Paul as a mentor since they met while Jimmy was alligator wrestling at only 11-years-old! Paul is quick to tell anyone that today, "Jimmy is the best gator wrestler in the world."  In the premiere season of GATOR BOYS, viewers see Paul and Jimmy hard at work, rescuing and wrangling gators from unlikely places and saving people from many precarious situations. 

  • The GATOR BOYS are determined to capture and rescue a one-of-a-kind, eight-toed alligator before a rival trapper takes its life. Undoubtedly, the animal won't last long in the wild, so the hunt is on for Paul and Jimmy. 
  • It's going to be a fun day when the GATOR BOYS arrive at a home with a giant nuisance gator in the pool. Paul, who's the resident water-capture expert, dives in with the beast and wrangles the gator using his hands alone - as only a true gator boy could!  
  • Jimmy takes on a new and unexpected challenge when he must capture the biggest water moccasin he ever has laid eyes on! Not only is the snake huge, but it's mean; for a guy who doesn't blink an eye jumping on a gator, Jimmy gets pretty shaken up dealing with this highly venomous snake.  
  • Paul's Clint Eastwood-like personality is causing friction among the team members and he constantly doubts their abilities, especially Ashley's, the only girl on the team. Will she prove it takes more brains than brawn to handle a gator?  
  • The boys from GATOR BOYS find themselves up to their elbows in nuisance gator calls, and they're everywhere - from a school playground to a mechanic's garage! The guys are starting to get overwhelmed and annoyed when the team constantly bothers them with petty problems. The tension only grows when a flustered Paul takes a gator bite.

GATOR BOYS is produced by Mike Mathis Productions. Dawn Sinsel is Executive Producer for Animal Planet. Mike Mathis, Brian Puterman and Eric Streit are Executive Producers for Mike Mathis Productions.

Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment.  APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 96 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.

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