Paul Rosolie has faced some of the Amazon rainforest’s most dangerous creatures, but he says the worst pain of his life came from a tiny caterpillar, not a giant snake. In 2014, the conservationist agreed to Discovery Channel’s Eaten Alive, hoping the extreme stunt would draw attention to deforestation and the need to protect the Amazon.

Rosolie spent months searching for a suitable anaconda before eventually encountering one measuring nearly 20 feet long. Wearing a specially designed carbon-fiber suit and covered in pig’s blood, he approached the snake headfirst while his team monitored his vital signs and veterinarians stood by. The anaconda struck and began constricting him, an experience Rosolie later compared to being caught in a powerful wave.

However, the stunt was stopped when part of Rosolie’s arm became exposed and the snake began tightening around it. Fearing a serious injury, he called for his team to intervene. Years later, he revealed that an encounter with a much smaller creature had been even more painful. During a 2023 appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Rosolie described finding a fuzzy yellow caterpillar in the Amazon that reminded him of “Trump’s hair.”

Rosolie carefully tried to move the caterpillar onto a leaf, but the leaf buckled and the creature fell onto his hand. He immediately experienced what he described as electroshock-like waves of pain, saying the sensation was worse than a bullet-ant sting and lasted for days. The creature was believed to be related to a puss caterpillar, which can have venomous spines hidden beneath its hair. Contact can cause intense pain, burning, swelling and blistering, making the tiny animal a surprisingly formidable danger. 🐛