SWAMP PEOPLE SEASON 3 EPISODE 5: AVENGED

Swamp People is an American reality television series that debuted on August 22, 2010 on the History channel. The first season broadcasted on Sunday nights at 10PM ET/PT, earning record breaking ratings that urged the History channel executives to move the timeslot to Thursday nights at 10PM ET/PT for its second season. Still showing on the same day, Swamp People Season 3’s timeslot was moved an hour earlier at Thursday nights 9PM ET/PT.

The reality television series focuses on the lives and day-to-day activities of the Cajun alligator hunters living in and around the Atchafalaya River Basin swamp in the state of Louisiana. These alligator hunters participate in the month-long alligator hunts called alligator season, which starts on the first Wednesday of September and would last for thirty days. Swamp People’s participants are real-life alligator hunters that follow a long-time bayou tradition of gator hunting that dates back more than 300 years.

Millions of miles of the most inhospitable marches, wetlands and bayous lies the heart of Louisiana. Untamed, alligators have plagued the coasts of the Atchfalaya swamps since time immemorial. It is where nature rules and the old adage “survival of the fittest” persist. With undefined coasts and littered with wetlands, it’s the perfect venue for Swamp People. The long time tradition of hunting alligators is chronicled through the alligator hunts featured in this television series.

A total of twenty-two alligator hunters have participated in Swamp People. Some of them have become series regulars, participating since the first season of Swamp People. Some Swamp People Season 3 participants of newcomers and some of them marks this as their first time hunting alligators. They come from different parts of Louisiana such as Houma, Hammond, Slidell, Morgan City, Ascension Parish, Bayou Pigeon, Bayou Sorrel, Pecan Island, Pierre Part and Port Sulphur. Featured alligator hunters are divided into teams, usually family members and friends scouring the swamps in their stealthy, small boats. Hardened, native inhabitants descended from the French refugees forced out of Canada in the 18th century, the Cajuns are world renowned for their distinctive culture, hot and flavorful food and music as well as their fiercely independent nature that still follows their ancestors’ traditions and way of living.

The ultimate goal for each team of alligator hunters is to get tagged-out before the end of the alligator season to reap in the rewards. Each team is given a number of tags that they have to attach to their kills. Once they ran out of tags, they cannot kill or hunt gator anymore during the remaining days of the season. There are those, though, that saves one of their tags for the dream catch – one nasty, vicious monster alligator – much like their crowning glory.

Alligator hunts are highly risky and extremely dangerous. Only experienced, seasoned gator hunters who knew the ins and the outs of the Louisiana swamps are allowed to participate in the month-long alligator season. Most even consider the season the riskiest and most exciting time of their year where these hunters capitalize on it and earn their yearly income, making this season the most important for them. Present day Cajuns hunt alligators in the murky waters to earn a living. The unpredictable weather married with fluctuating water levels contributes to the hash environment the hunters are experience in this thirty-day venture in Swamp People.

There are three to four teams of alligator hunters featured in each episode of Swamp People, showcasing their challenges in navigating through the murky waters of the swamps, enduring the unforgiving weather and battling vicious alligators to earn a living. There are also some episodes where the Cajuns are shown partaking in some downtime relaxation and socializing amongst the other natives of the swamps.

Swamp People season 3 promises to be even bigger than the previous seasons, with generous prizes at stake for the winning team of alligator hunters. There will be big bucks and the winner would get to have the bragging rights and reign as the king of the swamps.

On the previous episode of Swamp People Season 3 titled “Monster Marsh”, Joe LaFont lay down recuperating from the back injury he sustained when he battled one ferocious alligator. His stepson, Tommy Chauvin, was alone in hunting alligators and met with some trouble when his propeller was struck underwater by something like a pipeline, bending the propeller. In the Stinky Bayou (thusly called because of the methane gas that emits a stinking, rotting smell), Bruce Mitchell, Ron Methvin and Bruce’s dog Tyler navigated the thick bog and encountered one large alligator. Down by Pecan Island, Tommy Landry’s former assistant Liza Cavalier and newcomer Cajun woman Kristi Broussard went to Monster Marsh. Considered to be home to the most territorial alpha alligators, Monster Marsh was also the spot where Liz almost died ten years ago. They caught a ten-foot, fierce alligator there. Newcomer alligator hunters Austyn and Blake, on the other hand, were given a tag to catch a nuisance alligator plaguing their buyer’s property on a landlocked pond down in Bayou Pigeon using a pirogue.

On episode five of Swamp People Season 3 aired on March 8, 2012, the end of the week comes close for the alligator hunters. They faced new challenges as Troy Landry discovered a monster alligator feeding near his home. He and his sons set out in a tiny boat to catch the large alligator to protect their family but encountered some disaster along the way.

R.J. and his son Jay Paul, on the other hand, prepared for the coming battle with a beast they call Big Foot, summoning the powers of their ancestors in a tribal ceremony.

The Guist brothers found out that they need lumber. However, they didn’t set out to the local home improvement store. True to their Cajun blood, they did it in old school style by setting out in the swamps looking for sinker cypress and harvested lumber in an old-age technique on their own.

Down by Pecan Island, Liz Cavalier and Kristi Broussard faces off with something that is rarely seen in the swamps – a bold alligator. Right in front of them, the brazen beast took the bait in broad daylight and when they were about to haul the huge creature, it snapped the line and breaks free from the trap. It is one challenge these fearless women will take on or die trying.

Swamp People Season 3 has definitely shown another reason why it’s a successful reality television show today. Swamp People airs every Thursday nights at 9PM, 8PM central on the History channel.