# Austin Stevens



## Bakes (May 1, 2006)

MY GOD has anybody seen this tosser? I watched him tonight on animal planet as he battled through the Queensland bush looking for scrub pythons. Is he for real :roll:


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## BargainBucket (May 1, 2006)

He's awesome!! Get the doco he did on King Cobra's, you'll love it!! 

He's deffinately and entertainer, thats for sure!


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## NoOne (May 1, 2006)

Well no one would be suprised that you would like him Brodie :roll: 

I saw two of his 'shows' one was the deadly snakes in Africa, where he managed to get bitten by a cobra while showing off.
He also found a very well placed vine to swing himself into the river to catch a gaboon viper.

The other was a shameful excuse for a TV show about catching anacondas, where he wrestled an obvious pet in dark murky water with lots of freeze frame matrix style shots, but the magic of TV the underwater shots were crystal clear :roll: one of the last shots of this epic battle was of him sinking to the bottom reaching for the surface before busting up a hauling the anacoda to the shore where it quite happily sat unrestrained while he talked shyte about it.

I have to say he is without a doubt the worst ever reptile presenter who makes you want to hurl, you would think he could give some veiwer credit and make his show just the slightest bit believable but no..................TOSSER!


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## kahn_10 (May 1, 2006)

i think he is awsome !!! hes done stuff that not many other people have. he also takes some great photos.

note: when he got bitten by the cobra he got medical attention then came back and finished the episode.

Far from a TOSSER!


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## Ricko (May 1, 2006)

he is the closest thing to a tosser there could be. i agree with you noone wholeheartedly. all his snakes are nice and captive bred/captive kept that he finds. i dare say he never finds actual wild animals. you never see him find a skinny snake or any with many scars on them.


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## BROWNS (May 1, 2006)

FULL TOSSER!!!


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## purplefunkything (May 1, 2006)

sounds like we need a poll on this one.........mods?


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## Ricko (May 1, 2006)

hey browneye good to see ya old buddy. where are some good jungle photo's mate??? havent seen many for ages.


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## reptileonthego (May 1, 2006)

bakes u got that right he is a tosser.


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## Spike14 (May 1, 2006)

better than steve irwin . .


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## reptileonthego (May 1, 2006)

true spike 14 he is a bigger tosser.
cheers from big eyes


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## BROWNS (May 1, 2006)

Hey Ricko,my camera's stuffed mate..Austin is a bloody joke,it really annoys me to the point of wanting to give him a smack in the head when hestirs, teses and slaps and agitates every single animal he touches..TOSSER!


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## AntaresiaLady (May 1, 2006)

I think he's not too bad. 

I've not heard him state anything untrue about the reptiles he talks about. Yes, he might set up some shots, and its bloomin' obvious he does- but it adds to the excitement of it especially for kids- my daughter likes watching him. It doesn't matter what 'wildlife' people they put on telly- there will be someone who thinks they're a poser, or a tosser, or some other derogatory thing. 

I don't see anyone else offering to go to Africa, or climb a mexican Mesa to find a snake....don't talk shyte if you aren't prepared to do it, just because he's out there doing it.


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## reptileonthego (May 1, 2006)

what about that jeff corwin on animal planet allso.


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## NoOne (May 1, 2006)

Did anyone here see the anacoda one?


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## kahn_10 (May 1, 2006)

yes i did another good episode.

WELL SAID ANTARESIA LADY.


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## hugsta (May 1, 2006)

Austin Stevens is pretty funny, the guy is an absolute joke but that's what makes it so funny.

Jeff Corwin's unreal, he's so funny, typical stupid humour like myself. Most of his seems pretty real as he always out with ppl who study the particular animals he is looking at. I like him.


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## thals (May 1, 2006)

Tossers or not it makes for some interesting viewing and great herp footage.


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## AntaresiaLady (May 1, 2006)

Duga- I saw the anaconda one, and the cobra one, and the eastern diamond back rattlesnake one....

Absolutely Pythonrockchik! I agree! 

Hugsta- I've not seen Jeff Corwin....will have to keep an eye open for him...


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## hugsta (May 1, 2006)

When it's all said and done, if the show has herps in it, I'll watch it, regardless of who is doing the talking. It's just great to see herps from all over the world.  even if the host is a TOSSER....LOL


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## hugsta (May 1, 2006)

It's called The Jeff Corwin Experience Anteresia Lady, really worth watching, not just on herps though, it's on all animals, even though he is a herpetologist.


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## NoOne (May 1, 2006)

He could have won an oscar for his role catching anacods :lol: 

Jeff Corwin is good, he's not serious, but he's not ment to be, he is pretty funny to watch.

Sad thing about Austin Stevens is he's trying to be serious, just pathetic.

Mark O'shea would have to be my favorite TV herper, purely because he actually finds snakes, doesn't set them up, if he looks for a species he doesn't always find it.
Plus he has contributed alot to herping over the years.


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## Malley (May 1, 2006)

I thought jeff corwins "studies" were more so on bats? meh i have no idea, just what i thought...


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## Bakes (May 1, 2006)

Jeff Corwin I like. He's goofy and has a laugh at himself.


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## hugsta (May 1, 2006)

dugadugabowbow said:


> He could have won an oscar for his role catching anacods :lol:
> 
> Jeff Corwin is good, he's not serious, but he's not ment to be, he is pretty funny to watch.
> 
> ...




Maybe he should have been in the movie eh duga...LOL

Mark O'shea is great, he is fair dinkum, although, can be disappointing when he doesn't find them. But, at least you know he's not setting anything up.


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## AntaresiaLady (May 1, 2006)

Cool...will keep an eye out for them all. 

Going to watch Austin in about 20 minutes


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## NCHERPS (May 1, 2006)

dugadugabowbow said:


> Jeff Corwin is good, he's not serious, but he's not ment to be, he is pretty funny to watch.
> 
> Sad thing about Austin Stevens is he's trying to be serious, just pathetic.
> 
> ...



I have to agree, Jeff Corwin is light hearted and funny when presenting, and you still get to see some cool critters.
Mark O'shea has more of a dry sense of homour, but is a real Herpetologist and always worth watching.

Neil


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## AntaresiaLady (May 1, 2006)

Austin is here in Australia in tonights episode. 

he just 'found' a Taipan. 

Gonna go watch it fully...see you all soon!


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## jimmy_the_kid (May 1, 2006)

I caught an Austin Stevens episode where he went back over his most exciting moments. My personal favourite being the clip of him pulling out a 20ft+ Burmese python mid shed from its hidey-hole and managed to get bitten and restricted by it.
As an entertainer I love him lol but as a professional reptile handler I think he acts a little carelessly.


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## BROWNS (May 1, 2006)

Yeah a taipan someone supplied for the show :lol:


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## AntaresiaLady (May 2, 2006)

he was hunting Amethystines....

Lovely one he finally found!


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## BROWNS (May 2, 2006)

lol also staged!


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## AntaresiaLady (May 2, 2006)

Well that was blatantly obvious. 

I think he tries to build suspense by having all these weird things happen to him. 

My daughter loved it though- she especially loved the 'Giant Green Tree Frog'. Very cute!


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## krusty (May 2, 2006)

hes not that bad..........LOL


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## Pike01 (May 2, 2006)

> Lovely one he finally found!


Thanks AntaresiaLady, but did you see the blood on its nose and mouth


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## Kersten (May 2, 2006)

Oh dear.... :?


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## TrueBlue (May 2, 2006)

no one can be worse than Irwin.!!!! thats just impossible.


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## Kersten (May 2, 2006)

That sounds like a challenge Blue  :shock:


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## Retic (May 2, 2006)

Most of the animals these guys find are captive animals, they are more predictable and therefore easier to manage.
I reckon Mark O'Shea is the best, he will do absolutely anything in the name of finding what he is looking for and it's not for show. I stayed with him years ago and he is absolutely 150% obsessed with reptiles and really knows his stuff.


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## Fuscus (May 2, 2006)

Almost all nature shots are now staged or edited in a way to look dramatic. Often Predator/prey interaction is a series of cut shots that may ( more may not ) be related
Prey : does something
Predator : moves in hunting mode
Prey : does something else
Predator : Notices something
Prey : looks unaware
Predator : goes into attack mode
Prey : still unaware
Predator : final attack phase
Prey : very close up of the animal being startled and going into attack mode

Shot of spashing, dust rising or some other indicator of frantic activity

Predator : eating something unidentifiable

What is much worse, IMHO, is the computer generated action scenes, the worst I have seen so far was a doco on Oz dragons with birds of prey being spliced in and a terrible goanna/ frillie action shot.

Still, if it makes more people interested in herps and nature, it can't be a bad thing


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## Slateman (May 2, 2006)

I realize that lot of his scenes are staged, but.....

Kids love him.
Great entertainer.
Brings reptile world to public.

I would like to see the achievement of people who called him tosser. Most of critics just have few snakes in garage and call them selfs experts on herps.

He is top entertainer, travel the world and earn great money by doing that. Good on him.


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## FAY (May 2, 2006)

> have to agree, Jeff Corwin is light hearted and funny when presenting, and you still get to see some cool critters.



Jeff is very easy on the eye as well!!!

Don't you just love the Indian Jones type music they play with the Austin Stevens docos.?


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## Slateman (May 2, 2006)

Yep Jeff rocks.
I like him a lot.


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## AntaresiaLady (May 2, 2006)

Garth N Fay....I noticed its very 'Indiana Jonesy'....

And for an adult its obvious he's putting some of it on...but kids don't seem to care. 

And I agree with Slateman. 

I always laugh when I hear Austin talk about when he leaped off the top of his three story paddleboat while looking for anacondas....he says 'I was on the top floor, and saw something move in the water, so I dived off' (or similar- this is not an exact quote) He made it seem like it was just a 'spontaneous' thing- but then they show you him diving off- and its one of those 'matrix' shots. Now I know how those shots are made, so I always laugh when they show him doing something 'spontaneous' and then show one of those 3D shots. Too funny! I've seen it through all his shows...

He did have a lovely looking Brown Snake last night- huge thing it was....it was havin' a swing at him- nearly got him too many times for me to count...He milked it to show the venom....it was interesting even if it was very set up. he took his horse to an old abandoned barn type thing...then they did shots of the horse looking edgey (I'd be lookin' edgy if I knew he was going to be pulling out a giant brown snake and be an idiot with it too). It was blatantly obvious. 

One good thing- my eight year old learned some lessons about vens from watching him. And she might be an elapid lover- she was insistent that even though the brown could kill you- it was lovely. *AAAAARRRGGHHHH!*


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## kahn_10 (May 2, 2006)

wasnt it a king brown???


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## AntaresiaLady (May 2, 2006)

Yeah Kahn I think so.


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## kahn_10 (May 2, 2006)

even more crazy get venom out of it lol !!! but exciting???
does anybody know people who surply reptiles for documentrys that go on TV????


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## JasonL (May 2, 2006)

I had a friend that had a BBC film crew living in his garage for a week filming his monitors hatch in a fake termite mound they constructed, along with a few fake eggs, then they flew him, the hatchies and the adults to Alice for more filming. Watching the doco, you see the goannas coming out of the termite mound but can't see my mate on the other side pushing them through! Funny thing is the part was on Gouldii but no one bred them that year so all the babies shown hatching were Penopties. I guess you would have to be a expert to pick the fault though. But listening to the stories he tells me, and knowing what goes on, I find it very hard to what those sort of doccos anymore.


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## Luke_G (May 2, 2006)

yeh Anthony Stimson does it all the time. A few years ago he invited me along to watch them film part of a brown tree snake doco in his parents garage. It was quite interesting.


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## Pike01 (May 2, 2006)

That was My scrubby he found up the tree


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## AntaresiaLady (May 2, 2006)

lol pike


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## Pike01 (May 2, 2006)

why are you laughing


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## Ricko (May 2, 2006)

why did it have blood on its nose pike? was that in the valley of snakes or your backyard??


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## Pike01 (May 2, 2006)

Rubbing its nose,dosen't like the bag.


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## Pike01 (May 2, 2006)

No it was really there, but he has to obey the law like anyone else.Not allowed to interfere with wildlife, so of course they all have to take captive snakes.


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## NoOne (May 2, 2006)

Slateman said:


> I realize that lot of his scenes are staged, but.....
> 
> Kids love him.
> Great entertainer.
> ...



Yeah good on him for the top three things you listed.

Achievement of those who call him a tosser? Well i for one don't care about what he has done, he's a toss pot. What have i achieved i don't know, i keep a large collection of reptiles heathly year round and breed many of them, thats good enough for me. At least people like us supply the public with good quality reptiles and teach them the right way to respect them and not to jump around the place showing off.

Few snakes in the garage ey Slatey? Well we know why you don't bag him :roll:


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## AntaresiaLady (May 2, 2006)

I laughed because I find it amusing that you had the privilege of having your snake in an international doco type show....and the best you can do is :


pike1 said:


> That was My scrubby he found up the tree



My warped sense of humour I guess. Or maybe I am just more easily amused than most. 

Love him or hate him....the only people who bag Austin Stevens are herpers who wish they could do what he's doing...but they'd do it better of course. Everyone starts out like that, but then pushed by deadlines, producers, film companies and the like- people's paths become changed....and 'stuff' creeps in (marketing/audience placement...the list goes on). 

I admire Austin, and would love to do what he does- set ups or not- he's been to some seriously lovely places!


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## Morelia_Hunter (May 2, 2006)

Austin Stevens caught a friend of mines gaboon adder. I think he also holds the record for a snake sit in. He donated all the money for charity. Yes Slateman, it usually is the people who do nothing for herpetology who bag others that try to educate. Mark O Shea on the other end is not welcome to do shows back in South Africa anymore as he acted like a real tosser when he was there last time. Remember there are many people out there who are not privilaged enough to ever see some of these places in the world. These guys bring these places into our home. Listen well and you will here the conservation message behind all their antics. Do something for herpetology then open your mouth!!!!


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## bwarna (May 2, 2006)

Was Jeff Corwin the twit that wanted a great shot of a huge anaconda, so the villages found one approx.20ft(i think) and after he took his photos the villages killed the snake.............

(That sucks to know it survived that long for so tossier to decide he wants a photo, to then be killed)


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## kahn_10 (May 2, 2006)

Morelia hunter and slatey well said!!! until ya can better it dont bags it!


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## kahn_10 (May 2, 2006)

pike are you deadly serious??? thats awsome then, you breed them?


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## Bakes (May 2, 2006)

> Kids love him.
> Great entertainer.
> Brings reptile world to public.
> 
> ...



I disagree with most things you say there mate. I'm not a expert and have never said I was. I think he's a tosser based on the crap he puts out. I watch these shows to learn something and mostly I do, but watching a half hour show that has 25 minutes of him bashing through the bush and 5 minutes of the snakes, well that's not entertainment. And I don't agree that he is doing anything for the herp world. The average bloke watching that wouldn't come away thinking "jeeze what a great show, who'd of thought Aussie snakes get so big" They would think, "jeeze look at that tosser!" I find his shows idiotic and insulting. He does have the best camera men in the world however. I mean they got the shot of his foot slipping of the rock THEN backed up 20 meters away and got the shot of him falling in the water THEN raced down stream and got the shot of him coming out of the water :roll: Whew they must of hussled!

And why do we have to automatically like someone that brings out anything to do with herps? The cry always goes out "don't knock it till you can do better" or "Do something for herpetology then open your mouth!!!!" Please ,his shows arn't about the snakes, they are about Austin Stevens! I know bugger all about snakes but I'm learning all the time. One thing I do know is how to treat animals with respect, something I don't see him doing much. But hey, what would I know...I don't have a huge collection. :wink:


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## Slateman (May 3, 2006)

dugadugabowbow said:


> Slateman said:
> 
> 
> > I realize that lot of his scenes are staged, but.....
> ...



Good on you
I don't bag people so easily for many reasons. And I did not ment to go personal here, sorry if some of you took it that way.

Sorry if I touched your feelings. You obviously have great reputation and character and I should not say that people like you should not judge him and call him names.

I just wanted to express my opinion.
Some time ago I could not stand Jeff Irvin, and I still don't like him and I am not big fan of Austin also. But I do give him credit for his work in TV industry and entertining shows for people. I will not call him names anymore as I realized that I really don't have right to do this. I don't have to like him , but I am curefull with judgement. There mabe many people who like his shows and they get upset , that stop me to be to judgemental against Irvin. After all he means well.

Sorry again if I upset somebody by my comment tat Most of critics just have few snakes in garage and call them selfs experts on herps. I did not ment anything personal by this coment and I am sorry that some of you took it personally.


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