April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SHOW
Nature of the Beast Hunter: TV host is Wynantskill native
Nor did he want an exotic place to feed his need for adventure or an outlet town focused on outdoor sports and exploration. He wanted a town that reminded him of his childhood home: Wynantskill.
"My childhood in Wynantskill was like 'The Wonder Years,'" said Mr. Spain, 31, referencing a television program that aired in the late 1980s and early '90s. "I would just ride my bike with my friends from dawn until dusk, fish, catch toads and snakes and spend all day outside. It was the ideal childhood in the ideal location."
Mr. Spain found his new home in North Andover, Mass., a town 45 minutes north of Boston. There, he now balances his life as boyfriend, son, biologist, television host, cancer patient and nature devotee.
TV time
On "Beast Hunter," countries, peoples, tribes and towns tell him tall tales of everything from a Mongolian death worm to an ape man in Sumatra - and it's Mr. Spain's job to hunt them down and find out the truth behind the legends.
The TV host has always been fascinated by nature.
"My parents still talk about me, at three years old, outside filling a mayonnaise jar with bees," he recalled. "I also had a special affinity for venomous snakes and spiders, so my parents had to learn a lot of patience. By five or six, I was reading field guides from the library."
Among the many creatures he temporarily housed are deadly shamrocks, a species of venomous spider that can still be found in his parents' backyard due to their son's curiosity.
Mr. Spain "adopted" praying mantises, monarch butterflies and frogs; he kept a copperhead snake in the basement. The only thing his parents could not stand in the house was rodents.
"I had about 10 or 12 terrariums set up all around our house and I would bring whatever I found inside for a couple of days. I would only observe it, try to feed it and care for it then release it again. I knew they belonged in the wild," said Mr. Spain.
He told The Evangelist he spent his sister's softball practice exploring the woods behind the field, discovering snakes and ticks, and rode his bike to Brunswick Creek to collect new creatures.
'Normal stuff'
Mr. Spain balanced that passion with what he termed "normal stuff": washing dishes at LaBella's Pizza of Wynantskill, frequenting Jack's Drive-In for a hamburger and playing in a punk band.
But during his four years at Catholic Central High School in Troy, he said he was a "science dork."
Mr. Spain credits several CCHS teachers with his success: Ms. Sedlak encouraged him to pursue his interest and helped him get his first internship at age 16; Dr. Stephens sparked his interest in sciences aside from biology; Sister Katherine Arseneau, CSJ, encouraged his interest in philosophy and literature. (She is now parish life director at St. Michael's parish in Troy.)
Mr. Spain studied biology at Suffolk University in Boston. Since 2002, he has also worked as a biologist for Genzyme, a Boston-based biotechnology company which treats rare disorders.
Monday through Friday, he trains staff in Food and Drug Administration policies and is home in time for dinner. His vacations and weekends are then spent filming, traveling, exploring and catching wild creatures for "Beast Hunter."
Suffolk University was also where he met his girlfriend of 10 years, Anna Nguyen, and friends that would one day become co-creators for his first, independent TV show (see www.naturecalls.tv).
Starting out
An avid fan of bands such as The Bronx, The Ramones and The Clash, Mr. Spain wanted that show to be called "Punk Rock Nature" and show the outdoors with an edge. In the end, it was titled "Nature Calls" - but the program, combined with his appearance on the Animal Planet reality show "King of the Jungle," was enough to get him noticed by TV executives.
Mr. Spain was contacted by Icon Films, a British production company that works with the BBC, PBS, Discovery Networks and National Geographic. They began planning "Beast Hunter."
"I remember our first shoot for 'Beast Hunter.' We were sitting on our equipment in the back of a pickup truck in Cameroon, just driving through a village market," said Mr. Spain. "It was an introduction to a whole new world that I was wholly unprepared for and I thought, 'People are going to see this. People are going to see this on TV.'"
With just 15 days to film one episode, Mr. Spain told The Evangelist, he can go from playing with local children in the street one minute to participating in a shaman's ceremony or being chased by a forest gorilla.
He's been assaulted by an orangutan. He has slept wherever he could, eaten everything from kitten in Sumatra to a mare's milk in Mongolia. He's encountered less-than-friendly villagers and been bitten by just about every creature imaginable.
Facing mortality
In the process, he's become more respectful and more aware of his own mortality - especially in January, when he was diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer.
When Mr. Spain returned from Sumatra last fall, he felt sick but wrote it off as an illness he'd picked up while traveling. But five months of persistent visits to doctors led to a diagnosis and six surgeries. He still must undergo three doses of chemotherapy before he's cleared to travel.
He lauded his girlfriend and family for their support: "They were willing to stick with me through all of this."
For now, plans for a second season of "Beast Hunter" are up in the air. But Mr. Spain is working hard on recovery: "My physical therapy was originally walking around the block, but by May I was exploring a little bit and found four snakes in my backyard, so that's encouraging."
He's become a spokesman for the American Cancer Society - and is back to filming scenes for "Nature Calls."
Taking bullets
"I'm wiped out once a week from chemo and I can only feel my feet 20 percent of the time, but I look at my chemo experience as another bullet ant experience," he remarked.
That's a reference to a "Beast Hunter" episode in which he met a tribe in the Amazon. In order to gain their trust, Mr. Spain participated in an initiation ritual: sticking his hands in gloves filled with bullet ants. Their venomous bites cause excruciating pain for almost 24 hours.
"The hunters of the village go through the same ritual 20 times every two weeks," Mr. Spain noted. "Knowing the pain and knowing it will wipe them out, they willingly go through it to have a place in the tribe."
When his cancer treatment is complete, he is planning a bullet ant tattoo to cover the scars of his chemotherapy.
The eclectic explorer is grateful for all of his experiences - even though he's still uncomfortable getting recognized on the street.
"I still feel like the small-town kid; that set me up for the rest of my life," said Mr. Spain. "I love my life, both sides of it. I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it and that's what you have to do: Find something you enjoy, something you're passionate about, and make it happen."[[In-content Ad]]
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