The 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty Debuts: The 6 Guys to Watch

The cast of Spike TV's 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty. (Back row left to right: Donnie Adair, Rictor Riolo, Dax Rushlow, Ro Sahebi, Justin Smeja,  Stacy Brown, David Lauer, Daniel Greene, David Greene, Kathleen McKechnie, Shaney Warehim. Front Row Left to Right: Donnell Adair, Julie White, Matt Carman, Natalia Reagan, Dean Cain, Dr. Todd Disotell, Travis Miller, January Miller, Michael Merchant, Kirsten Godfrey)

We have been covering the 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty. We had the media reaction to the Bigfoot Bounty press release. We explained how a tv show can afford a 10 Million Dollar Prize (spoliler alert: they can't). And we were even nice enough to let someone to a guest post to announce the "$10 Million Bigfoot Bounty" Set to Premiere in January.

At SpikeTV.com they have bios for all the cast members an the judges. Some of the members we actually know. Below are the five guys to watch out for. This may seem like a Valentine to these five guys (except for Smeja), but we like them!!

Rictor Riolo has billed himself as the first gay man on a Bigfoot TV show. Ranae Holland of Finding Bigfoot can claim to be the first gay woman (read her interview at the San Diego Gay and Lesbian News). He is a Star Wars nerd and great friend, you can find him on Rictor's YouTube Channel. Listen to interview he did in home town of Las Vegas below.

Dax Rushlow is Rictor's partner on the show. He's no-nonsense researcher who had an encounter in 1987. We finally got to meet him in person last year and am looking forward to we meet again, hopefully doin' some filed research together. Check out Dax's YouTube Channel and watch the video below as he rants against a certain sect of bigfooters that some call habituators.

Ro Sahebi, this is the guy to watch out for! We "discovered" bacjk when he was doing mini documentaries and podcast titled Extinct? Since then he has hitched his wagon to an infamous character in bigfootdom and plans to ride the sensationalism until the wheels fall off. We have been covering Ro Sahebi since march of 2012. Click the following link to read all about Ro Sahebi. You can find him at Muldersworld.com.

Justin Smeja was the most famous bigfoot killer until Rick Dyer claimed he killed bigfoot. Click to read full coverage of  Justin Smeja two killings, including Justin Smeja's polygraph lie detector test.

Michael Merchant, we are huge fans of this guy! Michael speaks his mind and wears his heart on his sleeve, his strong opinions may change the next day, but he will be clear on the new data that changed his mind, a testament to his open-mindedness. He also has one of the best You Tube channels. Check out his channel Snow Walker Prime on You Tube. Check him out in the video he just uploaded tonight.



The final favorite is Stacy Brown Jr. He is no stranger to the Bigfoot world. He is partnered up with Dave on the team Sasquatch Hunters. Stacy Brown Jr. already has decent Bigfoot footage. Its aptly named the Brown Footage. In May of 2012 Stacy Brown Sr. and Jr. set up camp in the panhandle of Florida around the town of Quincy and captured the thermal video below.



There are a lot more cast members in the show, but these are our favorites. Check out their respective media channels or continue to follow us on facebook.com/BigfootLunchClub or twitter @BigfootLC.

Finally, check out novelist Kirk Sigurdson's take on whether a 10 Million Dollar prize to prove bigfoot is even ethical. 

"$10 Million Bigfoot Bounty" Set to Premiere in January

Spike TV is offering largest cash prize in TV history for the proof of Bigfoot

This is a guest post by Tony Green
Tony works for a pop culture magazine where he writes gossip about celebrities... shamelessly.


It's been on the radar of Bigfoot enthusiasts since last October and now it's set to become "reality"...literally.
Spike TV announced "10 Million Bigfoot Bounty" will premiere on January 10, at 10 p.m. Eastern time. The show will be hosted by former Superman Dean Cain, who the network calls an "avid outdoorsman and hunter." The $10 million reward will go to anyone who can offer irrefutable proof of Sasquatch's existence.

What To Expect

The show will follow nine teams of Bigfoot hunters into the wilderness of the Northwest, the area where most Sasquatch sightings are reported. Patrick Kevin Day of the L.A. Times put it a bit more bluntly, describing the teams as "angry sexist rednecks" who are the worst group possible to try and hunt a camera-shy creature. He stopped short of saying the teams will ride their Harleys while sporting their motorcycle helmets in the woods, but conceded the show will at least be "watchable."
The teams will feature some familiar names as they pertain to Bigfoot culture. Justin Smedja, who claims to have shot two Bigfoots near Gold Lake, Calif., in October 2010. Michael Merchant, of Snow Walker Prime fame, is also featured in the show. There is little hope the $10 million prize will be claimed, but the show has guaranteed a $100,000 research grant to the team who presents the most compelling evidence.

The Challenges

Each episode will present the teams two challenges: a field test and a hunt for the actual creature in Bigfoot "hot zones." Dr. Todd Disotell of New York University will be on the scene with state-of-the-art mobile technology to analyze and test all DNA evidence presented by the teams. Natalia Reagan, an anthropologist who specializes in primate studies, will also be on hand to judge the findings. The show, however, is almost guaranteed to center more around the personalities and adventures surrounding the teams than the actual evidence they gather.

International Audience

Bigfoot enthusiasts in Europe and elsewhere around the world will not be deprived of the potential breaking news regarding Sasquatch's existence. Endemol, a Netherland-based media distribution company, has been granted the rights to air all eight episodes on its networks in 23 countries. The company is no stranger to reality television, being the creator of both "Big Brother" and "Deal Or No Deal." It also doesn't hurt that "10 Million Bigfoot Bounty" is produced by Charlie Corwin's Original Media, which is owned by Endemol.
Spike TV encourages fans of the show to follow them on Twitter (@SPIKETV) for all the latest updates and to use the hashtag #BigfootBounty to join the conversation.
The general consensus in the blogosphere is that Bigfoot will not be found at the conclusion of the series. But you can definitely expect an up close and personal look into the minds and lives of those who want nothing more than to prove to everyone that they're not crazy.

Two Days of 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty Media Frenzy

Spike TV is offering largest cash prize in TV history for the proof of Bigfoot

Want a quick tour of what everybody else is saying about Spike TV's announcement of it's new show, 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty?

"Meanwhile, Lloyd's Of London has put up what's being called the largest cash prize in reality TV history, which should compensate for these people immediately flushing away all the profits their industry generates by Bigfoot remaining a mystery. That is, of course, until we launch our own equally scientifically sound reality series, offering $20 million to anyone who offers irrefutable proof that Bigfoot makes amazing frittatas."
--Sean O'Neal; A.V. CLUB

"If there really is a bigfoot out there he better find a damn good hiding spot. SPIKE TV has just ordered 10 hour long episodes of $10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty...This should be an interesting reality show. Hopefully Matt Moneymaker and Bobo will show and tell everyone exactly what bigfoot do."
--goon; horror-movies.ca

"Forget Donald Trump's $5 million offer for President Obama's college and passport records -- Spike TV has a much more lucrative offer. And it might even be more humorous than Trump's guffaw-inducing "October surprise...It would be the largest cash prize in history, in the unlikely event that one of the teams actually comes up with evidence. Ah, Spike TV. You really can't buy publicity like that. And in this case, you probably won't have to pay a dime."
--Tim Kenneally; Reuters reprinted in  The Wrap and Chicago Tribune

"Poor Simon Cowell. Not only has his singing competition, “The X Factor,” been eclipsed in the ratings this fall by the NBC singing competition “The Voice.” Now he also can no longer claim that his show’s $5 million prize is the biggest in TV show history. It has been eclipsed by Bigfoot."
-- Lisa De Moraes; The Washington Post

"SpikeTV is offering up $10 million to anyone who can prove that the legendary Sasquatch Bigfoot exists. The network's latest reality show — 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty — will feature teams on a quest to find Bigfoot, and the winner *might* walk away with 10 million dollars... if Bigfoot doesn't kill them first! Just kidding, no one is going to win that money. But a group of scientists, zoologists, seasoned trackers, and “actual Bigfoot hunters” will try their best. Your move, TLC."
--Shaunna Murphy; Hollywood.com

"Spike TV is offering $10 million for proof that Bigfoot exists. The order comes a few months after Bigfoot hunters from Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot series (spoiler alert: the show has not found Bigfoot) got into a rather entertaining argument with TV critics over the legitimacy of their work."
--James Hibberd; EW.com

"Bigfoot’s days are numbered. That’s because Spike TV is upping the ante on all the Bigfoot shows that routinely fail to prove Sasquatch’s existence with a new show that adds a monstrous monetary incentive to anyone out there that can offer definitive proof that the big hairy one is real.
If this show proves to be a hit, I’d like to ahead and preemptively pitch Spike TV or any other interested network my idea for the series 'Ghost Hunting for Dollars'."

-- Foywonder; Dread Central

How Can Spike TV Afford a 10 $Million Cash Prize? They Can't.

Spike TV is offering largest cash prize in TV History
 for the proof of Bigfoot, but can they afford it?

As you may have heard, Spike TV plans is offering $10 million to pre-selected contestants if they can prove Bigfoot exists on their new reality show, 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty. This is the largest cash prize in TV History. The last cash prize milestone was the singing competition show, X-Factor.

$10 Million is a lot of money, even for 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty's successful Emmy® Award-winning producer Jon Kroll ("The Amazing Race," "Big Brother"). So who ponies up the cash? If not Spike TV or the producers, than who? You may guess, Lloyd's of London, the prize insurer, but not exactly. When a prize is insured it is called indemnity insurance.

This is how indemnity insurance works, it is also called "hole-in-one" insurance. Say you want to give $10 million dollars for someone who get's a hole-in-one at a tournament your hosting.  The odds of an amateur golfer hitting a hole in one are about 1 in 12,500. These are low odds, acceptable odds, to an insurance company. So, instead of paying for the prize yourself, you get insurance for the $10 million dollar prize, paying only a small affordable fraction called a premium. 

DOES THE GOLFER GET THE MONEY?
True, if the golfer does indeed get the hole-in-one the insurance company pays the prize. The thing to remember though, insurance is a numbers game, where the odds favor the house. In theory an insurance company can charge as low as $800 dollars for a $10 million dollar hole-in-one prize to break even. 

DID SPIKE TV PAY ONLY $800?
Probably not, because the insurance company does not want to break even, they want a profit. Although it would be safe to say Spike TV probably paid a smaller premium than usual for a $10 million dollar indemnity insurance. Why? Remember the 1 in 12,500 odds of getting a hole-in-one? We would bet the odds of proving Bigfoot are even smaller. 1 in a million? 1 in 10 million? The lower the odds of  winning the prize, the lower the premium for the indemnity insurance.

So overall, the $10 million dollars is not really there, if an insurance company can afford to insure a $10 million dollar hole-in-one prize for only $800, we are sure they can find an acceptable number that would be affordable to a TV network asking contestants to do something that has never been done.  

Spike TV's 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty

Spike TV is offering largest cash prize in TV History for the proof of Bigfoot

Spike TV  is gonna make it rain money for some lucky adventurer--if they can prove Bigfoot exist. This is the largest cash prize ever offered on TV. read the full press release below.

Spike TV Teams With Lloyd's Of London To Offer $10M Prize To Prove Bigfoot Exists

New Competitive Reality Show Features Various Teams of Explorers on a Quest to Answer the Question of Whether Bigfoot Truly Lives

NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Spike TV is raising the stakes in the endless quest to discover the truth about the legendary creature known as Bigfoot, the seemingly mythical being that roams forests of the world, avoiding mankind.  The network is announcing a new one-hour reality show, "10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty," featuring ambitious teams of explorers on a brazen exhibition to unearth real evidence of Bigfoot's existence.  The $10 million in cash, underwritten by Lloyd's of London, would be the largest cash prize in television history.

"10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty" is produced by Charlie Corwin's Original Media ("Swamp People," "Ink Master") with Corwin, Michael Riley and Emmy® Award-winner Jon Kroll ("The Amazing Race," "Big Brother") as Executive Producers.  Spike TV has ordered 10 one-hour episodes.

The network has already begun casting contestants for "10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty," which will feature scientists, zoologists, seasoned trackers, and actual Bigfoot hunters who all believe in the infamous creature's existence.  The teams will be faced with the daunting task of proving to a group of experts that Bigfoot, the hairy ape-like sasquatch, exists with the irrefutable evidence.  The winner will be the first team to secure proof – and win the unprecedented $10 million bounty.

Each episode will follow the different teams as they ply their extensive research and presumed knowledge of the legendary creature, often battling nature's inhospitable conditions.

The series will be shot in various locations throughout the country.

Sharon Levy is Spike TV's Executive Vice President, Original Series, Tim Duffy is Senior Vice President of Original Series for Spike TV, and Chris Rantamaki and Justin Lacob serve as the network's Executive in Charge of Production.

Show updates will become available at bigfoot.spike.com.

About Spike TV:

Spike TV is available in 98.7 million homes and is a division of Viacom Media Networks.  A unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), Viacom Media Networks is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.  Spike TV's Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV's press site at http://www.spike.com/press.  Follow us on Twitter @spiketvpr for the latest in breaking news updates, behind-the-scenes information and photos.

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Go to the Official Spike TV Bigfoot Bounty Website