
“I had to scramble up a 45-degree hill,” camera operator James Bickersteth says. However, second reason is that the cameraman still had a job to do, and that was pretty tough after his subject just did something that would ruin his equipment (at least) if he tried to follow. The first reason, obviously, is that he could have lost his life, which would have made terrible television. There was a moment in which Wade decided to swim across the river, which was foolish for more than one reason. That’s not always possible, though, as a cameraman reveals in the “Jeremy’s Monster Story” special episode. However, remember that this is a show about Jeremy Wade going around to dangerous places and doing risky things, which means that his crew has to be right along with him. That is, unless one of them takes a bolt of lightning- that’s definitely going on TV. It’s not often that you see much from the crew shooting a reality show, even one as rough and rugged as River Monsters. They don’t even have the same kind of water in them.Įven before that, Wade’s travels took him to sites like Loch Ness and the cooling pool outside of the doomed Chernobyl nuclear power plant.īoth of these episodes were good, don’t get us wrong, and he caught a normal-looking but incredibly radioactive catfish on that second trip, but when you sit down to watch a show called River Monsters, you probably expect to see some rivers.ĭuring his second Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, which took place just before the oceanic season, Wade mentions that he prepared a list of fish that he wanted to catch when the show first started.Īt that point, he said he’d caught most of them, so it’s not hard to imagine that it was just time to move on two years later.

The eighth year, for example, dealt entirely with ocean life, and you don’t have to be a scientist to recognize that oceans and rivers are not really the same things. It did, however, seem like they were running a little short on ideas during the later seasons. This is maybe a bit of an exaggeration, as the show didn't really run out of fish, but it was a little surprising that Animal Planet would end one of its best received shows ever while it was still popular. The one-off garnered a lot of attention, and eventually a show was made. However, at least Wade let the fish go afterward, and they didn’t end up making the most of those hot embers. The goonch shows up for the fire, expecting a hot meal, but instead some guy hooks it and shows it off to the world. We aren’t sure about that last part, honestly. However, it does make for some pretty interesting television, and Wade draws out his quarry by lighting a huge fire on the bank of the river.

Thanks to the local habit of building funeral pyres at the edge of the river, the goonch had developed a taste for human flesh. Wade decides that this is caused by the goonch, a species of catfish that can grow to be human-sized or larger. Possible culprits include whirlpools and crocodiles, but the title of the episode kind of destroys the suspense for that part of the investigation.
#River monster series#
That was “Killer Catfish”, which took Wade and his team to India to investigate a series of strange drownings in the Kali River. It’s kind of hard to believe that after nine seasons and over 100 episodes, specials, and extras, the original plan for what ended up becoming River Monsters was just a single program. With that said, here are the 15 Behind-The-Scenes Secrets About River Monsters.
#River monster tv#
However, some crazy stuff about both the series and its star don't always end up on TV because editors have a job to do, and they're really good at it. The show is already pretty candid about the unplanned things that happen on its trips, including the time in Suriname when lightning struck the sound guy.

We just hope that the show provides the people who still have to live there with the information they need not to receive a flying fish head-butt that sends them tumbling out of their boats.īehind all of the education and adventure of River Monsters are several odd secrets about the production. Then he'd let the creature go so that the legend could continue, which is obviously the right choice.

This almost always ended in him catching a huge animal and showing the audience that the people telling the stories are totally right to be afraid. It followed angler and conservationist Jeremy Wade on his worldwide hunt to figure out the truth behind local tales of dangerous, terrifying fish. River Monsters, which recently ended its eight-year run, was one of the most successful and beloved series that Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel has aired (sorry, American Stuffers).
