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Manny Puig (born January 25, 1955)[2][3] is a Cuban-born American wildlife entertainer who is known for his encounters with dangerous animals such as sharks, black bears and American alligators.[4] He has made frequent appearances on the television shows Jackass and Wildboyz and also on the Animal Planet show Gator Boys.[5] He is also known for hosting Outdoor Channel's "Savage Wild".[6]
 | This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. (October 2020) |
Manny Puig | |
|---|---|
 Puig in 2005 | |
| Born | January 25, 1955 |
| Other names | Sharkman, Tarzan |
| Education | Gainesville High School[1] |
| Occupation | Wildlife entertainer |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Website | mannypuig |
Puig has appeared in numerous documentaries as an animal expert and has also appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and on Shark Week.
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Puig was born in Cuba[7] in 1955, and immigrated to Florida with his mother, where he became interested in wildlife. In his youth, Puig traveled to the Everglades with only a frying pan and a shotgun. He learned to hunt deer at an early age and started hand-catching small American alligators underwater in his teens.[8]
In the late 1990s, Puig worked with Mehgan Heaney-Grier and Mark Rackley, both in training Grier as a free diver and in filming underwater encounters with animals such as alligators and sharks.[9] Rackley worked as a spear fisherman and underwater videographer. Puig has experience as an animal handler on movie sets[10] and learned how to ride and handle alligators in their environment.[9] The trio formed a company named Extreme Encounters, and the footage they produced led to the Animal Planet series titled Extreme Contact.[10] The 20-episode series featured the trio in cage-free encounters with sharks, alligators and other aquatic wildlife.[11]
Puig advocates a basic approach to wildlife and denounces the use of safety gear such as cages, protective clothing and diving apparatus. He has stated that he has a great respect for the Native Americans because of their interaction with the land and their survival skills. His interests also include history, art and geography documentaries. He spends his free time working on sculpting, hand-crafting medieval weapons and hunting tools.[12]
Puig has appeared on the television program Jackass, in Jackass: The Movie, Jackass Number Two, Jackass 2.5, Jackass 3D, and Jackass 3.5. In these projects, he is credited as an expert on predatory animals. One of Puig's stunts is featured in the second film, where he dives with Steve-O around hammerhead and other dangerous sharks. Steve-O recalled the segment in his autobiography:
The following day, Chris Pontius and I were scheduled to swim with great hammerhead sharks, accompanied by Manny....with the butt piercing wound still fresh, swimming with sharks might not have been very smart, but Manny wasn't worried about it....In retrospect, the fact that Manny was the arbiter of what was safe and reasonable is hilarious. He hatched and okayed plenty of ideas that were clearly not okay. So you knew if he said no to something, that meant "FUCK NO!" As it happened, Manny had no problem sending us swimming with great hammerheads.[13]
Puig is also featured on the MTV program Wildboyz, where he resumes the role of a predatory-animal expert. Some of Puig's stunts on Wildboyz include having a snapping turtle lock onto his hand. According to Chris Pontius in the special features of one of the Wildboyz DVDs, he heard Puig scream for the first time in his life when he was bitten by a snapping turtle.
After finishing the second Jackass movie and with the final season of Wildboyz having completed, Puig produced his own film entitled Ultimate Predator. The film shows him interacting particularly with sharks. The film also features adventures with Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius. and Jeff Tremaine. Towards the end of filming Puig left the set due to a confrontation with fellow wildlife expert David Weathers.
During Discovery Channel's Shark Week in 2003 Puig was profiled for an episode entitled "Diary of a Shark Man".[14]
Puig appeared on "Feeding Time" during Discovery Channel's Shark Week in 2007.[citation needed]
Puig was featured on the Outdoor Channel show called Savage Wild. The episodes of Savage Wild take place in the Everglades and surrounding environs near Miami, Florida and range from Puig hunting a wild boar with only a rudimentary spear, carefully maneuvering through the water with a monster alligator, or handling highly venomous wild snakes, such as water moccasins, in their natural environment.
Puig's left middle finger was amputated after a rattlesnake bite.[15]
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Films
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Jackass: The Movie | Himself | Guest appearances |
| 2006 | Ultimate Predator | Himself | Direct-to-video Producer |
| 2006 | National Lampoon's TV: The Movie | Manny the Gator Guy | Direct-to-video |
| 2006 | Jackass Number Two | Himself | Guest appearances |
| 2007 | Jackass 2.5 | Himself | Guest appearances |
| 2009 | Jackass: The Lost Tapes | Himself | Direct-to-video Archive footage Guest appearances |
| 2010 | Jackass 3D | Himself | Guest appearances |
| 2011 | Jackass 3.5 | Himself | Guest appearances |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | The Unexplained | Himself | 1 episode |
| 1999 | Run for Cover | Himself | TV special |
| 2000-2001 | Extreme Contact | Himself | 20 episodes |
| 2000–2001 | Jackass | Himself | 4 episodes Guest appearances |
| 2001 | Deep Diver | Himself | |
| 2003–2006 | Wildboyz | Himself | 12 episodes Guest appearances |
| 2003–2007 | Shark Week | Himself | 2 episodes |
| 2003 | MTV Video Music Awards Latinoamérica 2003 | Himself | Presenter |
| 2006 | Late Night with Conan O'Brien | Himself | 1 episode |
| 2008 | Jackassworld.com: 24 Hour Takeover | Himself | TV special Guest appearances |
| 2009 | Savage Wild | Himself | Host Writer |
| 2012 | Gator Boys | Himself | 1 episode |
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