INTERVIEW: Enter the world of venom hunter Brian Barczyk, star of new Discovery series

Heading to Australia to look for and catch venomous snakes doesn’t sound like a vacation for many people. In fact, the experience could be a circle of hell reminiscent of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. That’s not the case for snake expert Brian Barczyk, star of the new Discovery Channel reality series Venom Hunters, which premieres Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 10 p.m.

For the show, Barczyk and other snake experts headed around the world to document their journey of finding, catching and capturing venom from some of the deadliest snakes in the world. Their goal was to help stock anti-venom for future victims of these often misunderstood animals. Barczyk’s team, which also included Chewy, headed to the Australian outback.

“I’ve been a snake guy for all my life really, and I actually do a YouTube show that’s basically about my love and passion for reptiles and, in particular, snakes,” Barczyk said in a recent phone interview. “This was something I was really excited about for a number of reasons. Number one, I love snakes. Number two, I think it’s a fantastic thing to just kind of shine the light on how important venom is, not only for anti-venom but also for medical research. So when I was asked, I couldn’t jump at it quick enough.”

The snake expert said the “educational side” of the series hooked him, and the prospects for medical research sealed the deal. Snakes, in his opinion, have a great value — not monetary value but value based on the ability to save people’s lives.

“We canvassed Australia, all the way from the west coast, all the way across the midsection, or the Red Center as they call it, all the way to Brisbane down to New South Wales,” he said. “Anywhere where we thought we could find the snake that we were looking for, we were at, so we traveled a lot. We looked at some crazy places, from big mountains to creeks to red desert dunes. It was an amazing time, and the animals certainly didn’t disappoint us.”

Barczyk has been interested in snakes his entire life, but still, every day around the animals, he learns something new. “And one of the things that was probably the high points for me anyways was really coming across coastal taipans,” he said. “So we had the need for some coastal taipan venom, so we searched a place called Savage’s Crossing. And prior to going out — because I had never handled a coastal taipan, and they’re known as being probably the most difficult and deadly snake to handle — we stopped off at a really professional venom lab and kind of got hands on on how it was going to be to mess with these snakes, although the wild animals are a completely different story. So when we did finally come across them in the wild, man, the adrenaline rush was just so incredible. My heart was just pounding out of my chest, and it was probably the high point of the whole trip for me.”

Barczyk is a native of Michigan, not exactly a snake capital of the world. However, his first memory as a child is not of siblings or parents but of a snake. It was a ball python at the Belle Isle Aquarium outside Detroit.

“I’m 46 now,” he said. “I remember that like it was yesterday, and ever since, I’ve just been obsessed. No one taught me this obsession. I always tell people, I was born with a reptile gene because it’s just in me. I spent every summer catching garter snakes out in the local woods. … My mom wouldn’t let me keep them in the house. I used to keep them out in the garage in boxes and care for them all summer, so the worst day of the year was always that fall day where it was starting to get cold. My mom would make me release them, and I knew I wouldn’t see them until the following spring.”

At the age of 15, Barczyk started breeding snakes, and eventually he began work at a local pet shop. The breeding proved so successful that he continued in that line of work. The sale of one snake would fetch some money, allowing him to buy more expensive animals.

“I went to college, and I was going for microbiology,” he said. “And by my second year of college, I was making far more money breeding snakes than I could ever do as a biologist, so I decided let’s give this a go. And here we are 27 years later, and I’ve been doing that. And then the YouTube side really started nine years ago. I started doing a weekly web show, and nine years in a row, I haven’t missed one Wednesday. And now it’s been a passion of mine to kind of teach people on that medium.”

Barczyk, who now breeds for the pet trade, said he believes snakes and reptiles make “fantastic” pets for those who aren’t always home or might be hypo-allergenic.

In addition to being a YouTube star and snake breeder, he can now add reality TV personality. “I really believe this show is going to be something for everyone,” he said. “Reptiles and animal lovers like me are going to love it but also just a normal person to see the danger, the adventure and also with that positive message. Hey, we’re helping save lives here. So it’s got a little of everything.”

Still, there will likely be two types of viewers tuning in to Venom Hunters: those who go “cool” and those who go “ewww.”

“The more we educate ourselves on snakes, the more we realize they aren’t the devil that people think they are,” Barczyk said. “These snakes aren’t chasing us. … Snakes are defensive. They’re not aggressive. No snake wants to kill anybody, but they’ll also stand their ground. And they’ll fight. It’s dangerous if you’re messing with them. … The fear part really just comes down to not understanding the animal, and the more we can educate people, the more they’ll become more tolerant of those snakes.”

In case audience members were wondering, Barczyk has never been bit by a venomous snake. “There’s no badge of honor for getting bitten by a venomous snake,” he said. “I really pride myself on the fact that I haven’t been bitten by a venomous snake. That being said, we took unbelievable precautions for safety. We had backup plans in case something did happen. Safety was the most paramount thing on this adventure.”

He added: “Now on the nonvenomous side, I’ve been bit a whole lot, probably more than I ever want to admit. I’m hoping, knock on wood, that I’ll never have to tell anyone that I’ve been bitten by a venomous snake.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Venom Hunters premieres Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 10 p.m. Click here for more information.