Shelley Hazen

Newser staff

(NEWSER) – Naturalist Paul Rosolie believes "you have to go head first."

What he's referring to is shoving his head into the mouth of an anaconda, letting it swallow him, and filming the experience for a Discovery Channel special called Eaten Alive, News.com.au reports.

According to the Discovery Channel's blurb on the show, which premieres Dec. 7, the 26-year-old will enter "the belly of an anaconda in a custom-built snake-proof suit"; he's shown in a preview video wearing it with an emergency line attached to his ankle, the Independent reports.

Wildlife advocates are calling Rosolie's TV experiment cruel. "#EatenAlive is disgusting. Why put an animal under so much trauma? All for the wonder of live tv," says one miffed tweeter.

But Rosolie, a wildlife filmmaker who works with anacondas in the Amazon, says his mission is to protect the creatures. "If u know me — I would never hurt a living thing. But you'll have to watch # EatenAlive to find out how it goes down," he tweeted.

Business Insider sees that comment as an indication that maybe this is just a stunt, noting that in order to not bring harm to the snake, Rosolie would have to get out of it without cutting it open, an "improbable" feat.

Further, the site talks to a herpetologist who notes it would be tough to create a suit that could withstand the pressure of being inside the snake and facilitate breathing. It's more "nonsense" from the channel, concludes BI.

(In other snake news, this python recently had a virgin birth.)

This article originally appeared on Newser: Man Says He'll Be Eaten Alive by Anaconda

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