According to a report by The Christian Post, pastor Jamie Coots, former star of NatGeo’s reality show Snake Salvation, died Saturday night after one of his snakes bit him on the right hand during a church service. Coots suffered the bite at his Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name church in Middlesboro, Ky., but went home before paramedics could arrive. Paramedics then proceeded to Coots home, where Coots refused treatment and ignored warnings by medical personnel of the dangers of doing so. They left Coots’ home at about 9:15 p.m.; Coots was found dead in his home around 10 p.m. that evening.
Coots had suffered bites before during worship, one in the early 1990s when a large rattlesnake bit him on the left arm, and then again In 1998 when a rattler bit him on the middle finger of his left hand. On both occasions he refused medical help and survived.
The National Geographic show featured Coots and cast handling all kinds of poisonous snakes—copperheads, rattlers, cottonmouths. “Even after losing half of his finger to a snake bite and seeing others die from bites during services,” Coots “still believed he must take up serpents and follow the Holiness faith,” the NatGeo website says.
On Sunday, National Geographic Channel’s spokeswoman Stephanie Montgomery sent CNN this statement: “In following Pastor Coots for our series Snake Salvation, we were constantly struck by his devout religious convictions despite the health and legal peril he often faced.
“Those risks were always worth it to him and his congregants as a means to demonstrate their unwavering faith. We were honored to be allowed such unique access to Pastor Jamie and his congregation during the course of our show and give context to his method of worship. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.”
