Swamp People News and Updates

First off, I have to ask forgiveness for putting up this type of post, since it has to do with a part-time gig I’m working on right now.  Secondly, I have some bad news to break to you, the faithful readers who have come to know Bayou Fabio through stories I’ve written about him over the years on this blog.  Last Friday I received a call from a producer of Swamp People confirming what I already suspected:  Bayou Fabio will not be appearing in this season of Swamp People.  Even though the producers and writers really like him, the head honchos at the network level (who have the final say) decided that they would not introduce yet one more new character.  I know it’s vague, but now you know as much as I do.

Suffice it to say the producer was as disappointed as I was, but the network has the final say since it’s their show, and they pay the bills.  You do need to know that I told him that it is a shame that America is being denied the chance to see a rare human throwback to a simpler time.  He is the real deal, and there isn’t a pretentious bone in his sinewy body.  It’s their loss AND America’s loss.

Now, if you’re not a fan of the show or reality TV in general, then this post isn’t for you. Click away and hopefully you won’t feel the need to leave criticisms in the comment section.  If you do, just remember, it’s nothing personal, but I do have the power of delete and I’m not afraid to use it!

Swamp People Casting Call

Moving on.  Here’s the deal.  The Casting Firm has hired me to help them find new characters for the show, and I’m not just looking for gator hunters.

I am looking for people who live off the land/wetlands/swamp/marsh and live simple lives and are very happy doing so.  This can be an individual or a family.

I’m also looking for alligator hunters who might not do things the way everyone else does.

Maybe you know someone who hunts from a pirogue.  Maybe you know of someone who hauls the gators out with a four-wheeler.  Maybe you’ve heard of family that lives in the backwoods and hunts, fishes, and gardens to survive.  Maybe you even know an outstanding alligator hunter who lost his lease and no longer has tags but is such an outstanding hunter and personality that you just KNOW he/she belongs on the show. THAT is the person I want to discover.  Having no tags isn’t a problem. This can even be a family or a team of gator hunters, not just individuals.

So, what say ye?  Do you know anybody that might fit the bill?  If so, please have them use the contact box below with the following information:

  • Name, age, location, and contact information
  • Tell me if you are an alligator hunter and whether or not you have tags and how many
  • Tell me if you are a person who lives off the land and/or makes a living off the wetlands
  • In a couple sentences, tell me what you have that would make you the next star of Swamp People.

If I think you might have what it takes, then I will call you.  We will set up a time for an on-camera interview sometime between now and June 29th.

Time is short, so can you help me get the word out ASAP?

At this point you might be thinking that I would be a little hesitant to put myself and someone else “out there” again.  Honestly, Bayou Fabio took the news better than I, because his life will go on the same with or without being on the show.  However, my problem was more of a pride issue because I felt like I had some serious egg on my face.  Never in a million years did I think that the network would not see how much America would love this one-of-a-kind being.  Who knows?  They might wise up and use him in a future season.  Regardless, he got paid, so it’s not as though anyone took advantage of his generous nature. He and I both enjoyed the two-week filming experience.  We enjoyed meeting the cameramen who do all the filming for the show, and they were all touched by his hard-working but simple life in one way or another.  So, there’s a reason for everything.

Comments and ideas are welcome even if you don’t know anyone who has the potential to be the next new character on the show.

Let me hear from you, okay?

BW

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28 Comments

  1. Ah Rickey lives. Carpe Rickey.

    Monday me and Redfeather went casting rope for gars. Probably today too. DuLarge is in my brain when we do this .

      1. 5 to 7 inch chunks of nylon rope frayed out and combed to just strands. Toothy nosed critters hit it get tangled and you reel them up.
        Gets a bit dicey after that. We just got spotted gar, no gator gar.

        1. Now, that’s pretty ingenious and I’ve never heard of it before. Can’t wait to tell Bayou Fabio this little fishing trick!!! Leopard gar are pretty!

  2. Hey, sad Bayou Fabio will not be on the show!  I clicked on the link and watched his interview!  Makes me smile remembering him sitting in the camp with us!  Funny too to see the subtitles, since he is difficult to understand for those of us Northern folk!  Hope you are having a great day!  Love and miss you!! 

    ________________________________

  3. I have enjoyed reading about Bayou Fabio on your blog and was looking forward to possibly seeing him on Swamp People. I don’t watch Swamp People, but was going to if Bayou Fabio was going to be on it. Oh well, maybe he’ll be on there later.

    1. Yes, Kendra, he is a very interesting study, and many of us were like you looking forward to seeing him. Many of whom also don’t ever watch the show. He would have breathed new life into the show, and I just wish the higher ups at History could realize that. Maybe they will and use him next season.

  4. I may have missed something…maybe you and your family have been on the show but if not I would consider the producers remiss if they haven’t considered it owing to all you do and have done to support that lifestyle…
    Might be in your best interest to keep quiet about that older sister who can’t back up a boat trailer..

    1. Hey George! You made me laugh again! No, neither I nor my family have ever been on any reality TV show, including Swmap People. I was instrumental in getting my friend, Bayou Fabio, cast on the show last summer, but as you just read, they will not be using his footage this season. Shame, really. We live it, and I make people aware of our amazing lifestyle on the bayou. There are just so many facets of our lives that folks would be interested in watching on TV, but not in the form of “reality” TV, and I just haven’t come across the right network yet that thinks we’re all that and a bag of chips!!!

      1. Quick story you might get a kick out of and possibly identify with..Late wife and I spent many years on the road doing disaster relief work under Government contract..Hurricanes,floods and the like..it afforded us the opportunity to meet people I call American originals..coal miners in Kentucky,moonshiners in W.Virginia and of course the folks from the Bayous of La.and Miss…One deployment had us working a hurricane {pre-Katrina} that devastated the wetlands on the La./Miss.border..one of my responsibilities was to locate and interview the Frank Robichaux family..a difficult enough task when everyone is either a Robichaux or a Thibidaux and few if any of the dwellings had house numbers..spent a week driving dirt roads and stopping at every trailer,stilt home and fish camp…no one knew Frank Robichaux..
        After 2 new air cleaners and a broken shock absorber I was about to quit when I stumbled upon a large group having a bbq..I recognized the participants as those folks who never heard of Frank R.
        It turned out that the bbq was at Franks house and they all confessed to having a general distrust of the Government…I suspect they might have been feasting on a few undersize trout or oversize redfish…

        1. Great, great story, George, and very typical!!!!! Thanks for all your volunteer service. Having survived several flood inundations myself, I know what it’s like being at your devastated home with no power, everything around is dead, like a ghost town where water’s still standing and red ants float on top clinging together. It’s surreal at best. Sometimes just seeing a friendly face made the day worth bearing.

  5. Hmmmm… I see you mentioned pirogues. I’ve been tracking some pirogue builders since running across the history of the craft in Pierre Part. You might want to take a look at Keith Felder’s page . You have to know some of the people he mentions there.

    As for Bayou Fabio ending up on the cutting room floor – well, it happens. Who knows why? There are so many possibilities you could drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out. Truth is, there may be an even better possibility around the corner. For example: who’s to say you can’t do your own film? Cinema verité, bayou style. Shoot – I’ve already got a title (but I’m not putting it down here!) To paraphrase that old, old movie line – we don’t need no stinkin’ tv producers!

    1. Oh, great minds do think alike! I’m not much of a videographer, but I’ve come down to documenting things bayou style, and we do need to email about this especially if you’d like to share the title!!!! Thanks for the link on Keither. I’ll go read up on that here shortly. Yes, I have heard of a couple of those boat builders, but definitely Kenny Hebert, who is a very well-known pirogue builder in these parts. I might like to have one of this guy’s pirogues. I love that he has followed his passion of boat building and has gone far and wide to learn the trade.

    1. Last I heard they were, but it’s only at certain times. It doesn’t surprise me at all that you would be interested in that. I am, too! And obviously so is our friend, Varnish Gal, known here on this blog as Shoreacres! Did you know she varnishes wooden boats for a living?

      1. Nope, didn’t know that. Is it new construction or restoration work? I’d LOVE to own a restored wooden Chris Craft! I might have to dig out that old movie On Golden Pond just to see the boat.

  6. I was really disappointed to hear that Ricky’s stint on Swamp People won’t be aired.

    I watch the show, from time to time. I was looking forward to seeing him, especially after all I’ve read about him here. Rats.

    I believe Shore mostly does regular upkeep/varnish work on boats, more so than renovation work. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that she has done renovation, though.

  7. Not the ideal spot for this comment but it was on the brain and if I went to FB or email I would forget it— I was in Denver and listening to the guys from Tocabe- Native American Eatery talk about their trip to Houma and how they lived with a Houma family to learn to make gumbo and then went to Canada and adapted the dish with First People using wild rice. They were telling about how Cajun food got it’s roots from the Houma people and how it was adapted from there. And then they learned it and took it to other reserverations and added a little of this and that to it. I kept thinking to myself how much I would love to take those guys out on the boat with my friend Wendy and then back to the kitchen. Native cooking show interest you at all? We are working on some marketing things with the Tocabe guys right now. Anyway, good luck with the casting call. I still wear my gar scale earrings!

    1. Now that’s some good stuff, right there!!! Of course a native cooking show interests me!!! There was a native woman who came down and did a show with some locals called “Seasoned wit Spirit”, and on it one of the things they featured was the way the Houma make gumbo without a roux. It was a great piece! Since Capt. John Swallow lives in Canada and is familiar with the first people, surely he will expound on your comment, too!!! And don’t forget, they’ve been making fry bread down here for a long time, except it gained the French name of “galette”. I just had some with stout coffee one morning this week that my 97-year-old mother-in-law made. Native cooking show . . . . . yes . . . . and Kim has some beautiful new designs in gar scale earrings in her Etsy shop! I just got my new ones with turquoise bits!

      1. Aye…a cooking show featuring the foods from First Nations peoples and how it mix with the many other cultures in Louisiana would be interesting – though it could easily spread across the nation on the same premise.
        Traditional First Nations foods have been enjoying a rebirth – both in the FN community and outside of it. There is a great show called “Cooking With The Wolfman” (http://cookingwiththewolfman.com/) – now in it’s 8th season, produced/starring by Chef David Wolfman (Xaxli’p First Nation, BC) for APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network).
        Here in Hamilton (Ontario) we have a new Food Truck called “The Big Chief Fresh Food Co.” (http://j.mp/1ci1Kb4) – Joshua Dockstator (Mohawk First Nation, ON) has taken his Grandmothers recipes on the road with a few “modern” twists. For the previous 6 years, Chef Josh also ran the Native Youth Advancement With Education Hamilton (NYA:WEH “thank you” in Mohawk) program to support educational success for Aboriginal youth at the High School our lad attends.

        Of course something with a more cultural bend would work – “Fish Out of Water” (http://j.mp/11Ezpup) is a hit documentary series on APTN that follows two “Urban Natives” – hosts Don Kelly (Ojibwe FN, Ontario) and Dawn Dumont (Cree FN, Manitoba) as they learn about Traditional ways, medicines, food and more. Now THAT could be a grand spin-off o’ all the current La. shows that feature Indigenous Peoples, but none o’ their culture – and so many o’ the youth that (like any youth) have no clue about their ancestry.

  8. Hi Bayou Woman. My son became sick the day after I saw your post on Facebook and after a few days in the hospital and pretty much ruling out the other causes of cellulitis, they kept returning to questions if he had been in the bayou. Vibrio is suspected to be the culprit of my 6 year olds current battle. 🙁 We took him in for the 4th of July for a scratch that kept swelling and just got out of Terrebonne General with him Friday night, but his hand is starting to swell again. He goes for a recheck tomorrow and the DR said since his fever hasn’t returned it was probably caused by too much activity with his hand with the video game we have him. Pretty hard keeping a 6 year old still. I wanted to thank you for sharing your experience with this. It has given us insight and hope! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read your blog since. I was curious what your experience was once you were home if you wouldn’t mind sharing with me. Thanks!

    1. Hi Shana, have we met yet? I’m sorry to hear about your little guy fighting a battle with something unknown. When a friend called me upon her return from Grand Isle and blisters on her son’s cheek, bright pink, and swollen, I told her to go immediately to the ER, and to MAKE SURE that they culture the wound before giving him any anti biotics. So, were they able to culture the scratch on your son’s hand? Had he been in the brackish water? If not, then I doubt it is Vibrio. Once I was home, I continued on two oral antibiotics for another two weeks. The deepest part of the wound scabbed over, and the necrotic flesh sloughed off little by little as it dried out completely. Within a couple of weeks, the wound was healed, but my finger is still discolored and has a little dent in it where the flesh was “eaten”, and I don’t know if it will ever grow back. But I have full use of the finger, and I am very thankful that I didn’t lose it, my hand, or my life. You’re taking good care of your little guy, and that’s all you can do, oh, and pray : ) I’m a little surprised, though, that TGMC would play a guessing game and not culture that wound to know exactly which bacteria they were dealing with. Different bacteria require different treatments. But again, you did the right thing by taking him in. I wish you the best and to him, a full recovery! Thanks for visiting the blog, and I really hope you enjoy reading here! (Oh, and feel free to share with friends!)

      1. Hi, Bayou Woman. No, we havent met. I stumbled across your blog from facebook posts about your battle with Vibrio the day before our ordeal started. It was on day 4 in the hospital that his regular dr came back from vacation and couldn’t wait to ask me if he had been in the bayou since his bloodwork was not showing any positive cultures from strep and staph like the normal culprits for cellulitis. I brought him in within 12 hours of him showing me the painful scratch on his hand and antibiotics were started soon after because the swelling and fever had advanced so quickly. His hand never bubbled up like yours did, so when they mentioned it, I was skeptical. After some research, he has all of the symptoms of vibrio besides the flesh being eaten away dramatically and they said it may have been because we caught it in time. Vibrio causes the infection, but if its left untreated it turns into necromancing facitis, or whatever the fancy word was….From what i understand. They reached out to a DR at Children’s who is experienced with infectious disease and he prescribed him with some fancy antibiotics to go home with that nobody had in Houma. We had to stay an extra day at the hospital and prove that we had the meds before they’d allow him off of the IV.

        You see, we live all the way at the end of Dulac, so it’s brackish water right in front of my house. And his Dad works Water Patrol. I can’t recall an incident that this happened to my son, but I suppose the possibility of contamination from my husbands clothing or playing at the bayou side may have given enough to get infected. It is really fruatrating not having answers, but thankfully he responded to the meds and was able to come home. Thank you so much for sharing with me.