‘Gator Boys” Paul Bedard and Jimmy Riffle take a bite out of 2014 with 10 new episodes starting Sunday night at 9 p.m. on Animal Planet.
In the premiere, Bedard and Riffle — licensed to catch dangerous alligators who’ve invaded swimming pools, garages and backyards in Florida’s Palm Beach and Broward Counties — try to find ways to work around Riffle’s new business venture, a barbecue joint called Jimmy Riffle’s Old Florida Bar-B-Q.
Only time will tell if Riffle’s new pre-occupation will pull him away from his gator business — and with him splitting his time between these two pursuits, it looks like the rest of the “Gator Boys” team will have to step up to the (gator) plate.
The show’s new episodes find Bedard focused on catching a gator that’s been stealing fish off people’s lines in Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alley.” But after several attempts with different team members, Bedard turns to Riffle — wondering if Jimmy’s new restaurant is more important to him than rescuing gators.
Of course, this being “Gator Boys,” there’s no shortage of nuisance gator calls, and whether it’s in tight quarters under a house — or in the mud and manure of a horse stable — the team’s top priority is keeping the public safe from these dangerous beasts.
And, as always, there’s extraordinary camera work documenting the team’s catches, many of them underwater.
“Mark Rackley is the best underwater videographer on the planet,” says Bedard. “[Rackley’s] in more danger than I am,” he says. “I’ve had gators bang into his camera. I’ve had gators take parts of his camera off. He’s almost been killed probably seven or eight times filming the show.”
The new season will be filled with adventures and mishaps — including a trip to Mexico to study crocodiles — new faces and even a new job opportunity that could mean the departure of a key team member.
Bedard and Riffle are quick to remind everyone that they are trained professionals with years of experience and a specific skill set that makes what they do look easy. While some catches take hours to complete, the time constraints of a TV show make it impossible to show all the compnents of a gator catch.
Just finding a gator can sometimes be very “hit or miss,” says Bedard.
“They’ve got thousands and thousands of hours of footage of me swimming around in a pond,” he says. “They’ve got thousands of hours of us walking around getting nothing.
“I always say the show is like a highlight reel. If someone made a highlight reel of a guy fumbling the ball, dropping the touchdown pass, missing the layup, no one’s going to watch that highlight reel,” he says.
“They want to watch the good stuff.”
Prior to the season premiere, Animal Planet will feature a “Gator Boys” marathon starting at 9 a.m. and culminating in “Gator Boys: Deadliest Catches” at 8 p.m.
That hour-long special will feature some of the most spectacular and dangerous catches in “Gator Boys” history.