Alex Carson
Distinguishing features that set Swamp People apart from the hoards of other reality shows on television. It is the unorthodox and dicey profession that it focuses on – alligator hunting.
In the backwoods swamps and bayous of Louisiana, alligator hunting season only lasts for a single month every year. The tradition of taking down these living dinosaur descendants goes back for thousands of years. It provides a perfect premise for a reality TV show.
Once a year every gator hunter in the region races to score as many kills as they can. It is within the limited window of legality.
11 Action-Packed Seasons
The competition is intense and the hunters come face-to-face with danger. Swamp People has enjoyed 11 action-packed seasons since its debut in 2010. Much of its success has boiled down to the unusual cast of off-beat characters that inhabit the swamps of Louisiana. In addition to the 20 current cast members, there are dozens of people who have been counted among the ranks. The wildly popular History Channel series.
There are so many faces that have found a spot in Swamp People’s fame. There is definitely a clearly defined group of recurring characters that rise above the rest. Securing their standings as being the most beloved – and the most despised – members of the Swamp People clan.
On-screen we see one version of their stories, it’s what’s behind the scenes that’s probably the most intriguing.
Facts Verse Presents: The Swamp People Cast is Hiding Dark Secrets
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The Original Cast Was All Ousted With Little Explanation
It’s not unusual for a reality show to suddenly cycle in a whole new cast of characters. At some point, to pump in some new energy into a series – especially when viewership is waning. The public isn’t always made privy as to the reasons for the shakeup. Sometimes even the cast members are left in the dark.
After season six, 12 members of the cast who had been with the show for years. Some of them have been on the show from its inception. Suddenly, given the ax by the network and replaced by a whole new set of faces.
History Channel stayed hush-hush about the reason for the change-up. But the departing cast also had no clue why they were asked to leave.
Some of these newly fired fellows took the news in stride and thanked the fans for all of their support. Some of the more outspoken gator hunters were less reserved about their feelings. History Channel apparently didn’t take too kindly to that.
History Channel Tried To Silence The Former Cast Members
One of these angry cast members who wasn’t willing to take their firing without having something to say about it was Liz Cavalier. She says that nobody was given a reason for why they got the boot. Most of the other former castmates seconded this sentiment.
She went on to add that the real issue at the heart of the mass exodus was money. She speculated that the cast members had requested more money when extending their contracts. The network simply didn’t want to pay them what they were worth.
History Channel denies these allegations of course.
Liz later went on to divulge that the network had contacted her and told her not to discuss the nature of her firing. Even though there was no non-disclosure agreement existing between the parties, there was still something that the production company behind the show – original media production – didn’t want the former cast member saying.
Roger Rivers Jr. Was Charged With Illegal Meat Sales
Some cast members of Swamp People have a pretty long rap sheet of their legal indiscretions over the years. Roger Rivers Jr. isn’t any different but the list of his chargers is far tamer than some of his swamp-mates.
In 2017, he was arrested and charged with 20 different crimes. 2 of which were for marijuana possession but the other 18 were for illegally obtaining and selling the meat of alligators, deer, fish, snapping turtles, and other creatures.
ZZ Loupe Was Once On Trading Spouses
Season four saw ZZ enter the public eye but he is probably best known for his post-Swamp People career. After departing the History Channel reality show he went on to join the WWE as a pro-wrestler. He was one of the most beloved characters on the show Tough Enough in its sixth season but he was released from his wrestling contract after only one year.
But doing a little bit of digging and you’ll find that Swamp People was actually his second time on television. When he was just a boy, he was on the show Trading Spouses in the series first season.
In that episode, ZZ’s very Cajun mom swapped places with a vegan mother. He was extremely obstinate and defiant of his new granola-munching mom. Memorably, he inhaled a plate of oysters in front of her just to get a rise out of her.
Lost’s Dominic Monaghan Despises The Show
Swamp People has invited the condemnation of animal rights groups for its presentation of animal hunting. Several petitions have drawn thousands of signatures for the show to be canceled.
One particular critic of the show has been from a higher profile voice.
Best known for his parts in TV’s Lost and Lord of the Rings, British actor, and TV show host Dominic Monaghan, who helms BBC America’s nature program Wild Things has been an outspoken foe of Swamp People.
He has publicly condemned the show for being what he calls “shock TV” and has gone as far as accusing the show of shamelessly glorifying the slaughter of animals and perpetuating the ‘demonization of crocodilians’.
He has stated that if Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter was still alive then he would have made sure the show was shut down. Then he proceeded to vow to make it his goal to personally stop the show’s production.
Chase Landry Was Jailed For Shooting Someone’s Boat
Chase, the son of Troy Landry, has garnered a relatively positive reputation for his work outside of the show. In 2017 following a particularly turbulent and destructive stream of back to back hurricanes he made it his mission to tend to and care for the needs of flood victims. Despite these noble deeds, he has also been on the wrong end of the law from time to time.
In September 2016, he was arrested for shooting a fellow boater’s vessel. He hit the boat’s fuel tank and thus created a potentially dangerous situation. In his defense, Chase claimed that the boat was going well over the legal speed limit and was on a crash-course to collide with his own boat.
If he were to have capsized in the gator infested waters, he could have been killed. He described the warning shot as a matter of self-defense.
RJ and Jay Paul’s Road Rage
The duo got involved in an altercation in 2013 when they followed a man to a convenience store and attacked him with a beer bottle. Even though the two turned themselves in a month later, both men had strikingly different stories to tell the police about what went down that evening.
They claimed that they were in fact the victims in the incident. They accused the other individual as trying to capitalize on falsely accusing celebrities of a crime in order to get their 15 minutes of fame. The police record shows that the counter-claim was dismissed – so the authorities probably didn’t buy their excuse.
Troy Sure Does Like To Sue Folks
If you plan on using any of Troy Landry’s signature catchphrases like ‘Choot em’, ‘Mudda Fricka’, or ‘Tree Breaka’, to sell any products without his expressed written permission, prepare yourself for a lawsuit.
Claiming intellectual property rights violations, Troy has taken to court three different companies over manufacturing merchandise using these catchphrases without his permission. In fact, he owns his own company Troy Landry Productions, which produces products utilizing these catchphrases.
Oh yeah, he’s also trademarked he phrase ‘got gator’, just in case you were about to go make T-shirts or something. On second thought, you should probably steer clear of all gator related merchandise manufacturing before making sure that Troy hasn’t already made a claim about your idea.
Nick Payne Allegedly Struck A Cop
You might remember him from season 2.
In 2011, officers were called in on a domestic disturbance call. When they showed up, Nick apparently hit one of the officers and fled the scene of the crime.
Once that altercation made headlines, so did the rest of Nick’s history of violent crimes. It was subsequently discovered that he had an outstanding warrant in a separate state for assault and some 6 years prior he plead guilty to battery in yet another case.
You would think History Channel would have done a background check on Payne before dishing out a contract. Not only did he have a rocky criminal history but he also had an active warrant.
RJ and Jay Paul’s Spiritual Practices are Magnified For TV
Sure, the father/son team is proud of their Native American heritage, but something seems off about their practice of Houma tribe rituals and spiritualism. In fact, that’s because much of their association with their native identity was played up on TV because producers thought it made their characters more dynamic.
Yup, network brass encouraged them to exaggerate their connection to their ancestral roots. That’s just another example of how reality shows tend to drift away from reality by turning cast members into living caricatures of themselves.
Joe Lefant AKA Trapper Joe’s Violent Side
We’ve already touched on some other cast members who have ended up on the wrong arm of the law but the one cast member with the most skeleton’s in his closet is Trapper Joe.
In 2012, he was arrested for punching his girlfriend in the chest and burning her with a cigarette. To make matters worse, he did all of this in the open in the lobby of a public motel.
In 2013 and 2015 he was arrested twice more on battery charges. The later offense involved Joe pushing his girlfriend in the chest so hard that she broke two of her ribs. Shockingly, the last time Joe appeared on the show was in 2015 during the shows the sixth season, despite the fact that his abusive crimes had some very public exposure.
Well, that wraps up our shocking expose of Swamp People. It’s hard to believe that producers let people like Trapper Joe and Nick Payne on their show despite their criminally violent histories. Do you think people like them should be given roles on TV shows or should their history of violence disqualify them form landing a contract? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
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