source: AP

PIERRE PART, La. (AP) — A Louisiana sheriff says a cast member of the reality TV show “Swamp People” has died.
Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack says Mitchell Guist (GIHST) was pronounced dead at a hospital Monday. He had fallen while aboard his boat on the Intracoastal Waterway, near Pierre Part.

Waguespack says initial reports from deputies in neighboring St. Martin Parish are that Guist was traveling on Belle River around 9 a.m. when he fell. The boat returned to a nearby landing in St. Martin and Guist was taken to a hospital. The cause of his fall is unclear, and there is no word yet on the official cause of death.

“Swamp People,” on the History cable television channel, features residents of Louisiana’s Atchafalaya swamp country during alligator hunting season.

On behalf of SwampPeopleNews.com, I wish the Guist family all of the prayers in the world. It was a sudden lost to all of us. Mitchell will be greatly missed.

Source: Cajun Radio, Images: CT Post

DODDRIDGE, Ark. (AP) – No one was killed in a five-vehicle pileup near the Arkansas-Louisiana state line that involved two stars from the “Swamp People” reality TV show.

Arkansas State Police say three people suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries in Monday’s crash. The Texarkana Gazette reports the two alligator hunters from “Swamp People” – Joe LaFont and Tommy Chauvin – were not injured in the crash, but T-shirts and other show merchandise spilled from their truck onto the highway.

Police say maintenance work had reduced U.S. 71 to one lane and a line of four cars had stopped for a flagman directing traffic. Authorities say a fifth driver did not stop and smashed into a tractor-trailer, causing the pileup.

Keep Joe, Tommy, and all who were involved in the crash in your prayers!!!

On “Swamp People” (Thu., 9 p.m. ET on History) Thursday night alligator hunters RJ and Jay Paul were in the bayou on the trail of a vicious killer gator known as “Pas Tout La” (that’s French for “Not All There”).

Not only had the beast been savaging the local deer population, it had also been chomping on its fellow alligators, biting their heads off.

When the pair finally caught Pas Tout La the rogue alligator turned out to weigh a whopping 800 pounds. “That’s an old bruiser,” said one of the hunters.

Source: Miami Herland

Fans of NBC’s smart-alec sitcoms Community and 30 Rock are accustomed to worrying that disappointing ratings will doom their favorites to cancellation. So their performance last week wasn’t a surprise: Community attracted just 3 million viewers and 30 Rock a mere 2.79 million.

Meanwhile, over on History, as the channel is now known, a third-season show called Swamp People was seen by 4.5 million people and drew more 18-to-49-year-olds — the group that advertisers most want to reach — than any of the shows in NBC’s lineup.

In fact, as Vulture’s ratings guru Joe Adalian noted, Swamp People was seen by more 18-to-34-year-old men than anything on network television last Thursday night with the exception of The Big Bang Theory.

Catch an episode at 9 p.m. Thursday, and you’ll understand its success. Swamp People, the story of Cajun alligator hunters on Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Swamp, is a testosterone-tickling genre-bender that combines the intense competition of sports programming with the adrenaline charge of dangerous-job reality shows.

Shows like Swamp People learned many of their signature moves from the world of sports. Just as CBS cuts from one hole to another during its coverage of the Masters, History switches up the action on Swamp People — before you tire of Troy Landry’s battle with a big-headed beast, it’s off to another part of the bayou, where 21-year-old Austyn Yoches is stepping into an island of fire ants in pursuit of a gator. Every change of scenery is signaled with a look at the map and a cut to a dramatic helicopter shot of southern Louisiana’s vast flooded forest.

There’s even a game clock of sorts: Gator hunting is permitted only during the 30 days of September, and a limited number of tags are available. And as in the world of sports, there are rivalries. Swamp People promotes an informal contest to unseat Troy Landry as “king of the swamp.”

The swamp people aren’t athletes, but they must have nerves of steel, a sure shot (the “kill spot” on the back of a gator’s head is smaller than a softball) and the strength to haul the dead animals into their boats. And most of all, they need the outdoorsman’s equivalent of LeBron James’ court sense — a feel for the territory that comes from spending thousands of hours on the bayou.

Or perhaps the appeal is more primal: an existential struggle between man and nature. Swamp People is about battling prehistoric creatures with razor-sharp teeth and a 600-pound weight advantage. It’s about passing down culture and skills that have been in families for generations. It’s about rough-hewn outdoorsmen who head off into the flooded wilderness without charts or life jackets.

History seems to have found the right bait to attract male viewers, but shows like Swamp People aren’t just for guys. The recipe for success calls for a few pounds of raw male energy, a healthy portion of gorgeous scenery, a pinch of family dynamics and a boatload of guns and gators. But the key ingredient is sweat and struggle: In today’s economy, we all want to watch men at work.

Source: Channel 9 News

KUSA – One of tv’s most popular reality shows is giving the ecotourism industry some new energy and interest.

“Swamp People” tells the story of rugged locals who have hunted alligators in the Louisiana swamps for generations.

The show features rough-around-the-edges stars like Troy Landry. He takes pride in his work and has been dubbed the “swamp king.” Landry has hunted the Atchafalaya swamp his whole life and believes that his reality series fame hasn’t changed him.

“I guess we are famous, but I don’t look at myself or feel any different than I did five years ago,” said Landry. The show has perked up the Louisiana tourism market, especially eco-tourism.

“Swamp People has brought national and international attention into the state,” said Louisiana Lt. Govenor Jay Dardenne. “It’s given people an opportunity to appreciate the wonder of Louisiana outdoor life.”