This is what a man being eaten by an anaconda looks like (spoilers)

* This story contains spoilers. Do not read if you plan on watching Eaten Alive on Friday night.

After weeks of teaser trailers and allegations of Paul Rosolie being "the Hitler of animals", the conservationist was finally eaten by a five-metre snake - and it was kind of underwhelming.

Discovery's Eaten Alive special, broadcast in the US late yesterday and due to screen here on Friday night, took a long time to get there, but the snake did eventually part its jaws and begin to consume Rosolie headfirst.

It didn't get far through its meal before he called in a rescue team.

I don't know what I was expecting (a snake with a massive distended belly that ultimately bursts apart to reveal Paul howling, covered in sinew?), but the anaconda's constriction proved too much for the man to bear before any real swallowing took place.

"My arm's torqueing, this thing is gonna break" Paul tells waiting rescuers. "I'm calling it! I need help!"

Last week, he told Entertainment Weekly of the ordeal: "She nailed me right in the face and the last thing I saw was her mouth wide open before everything went black.

"And then she wrapped me and I felt the suit cracking and my arms ripping out of their sockets. It was absolutely terrifying."

Rosolie has faced criticism from animal rights campaigners over the snake's welfare but he insisted that it is "alive and well".

He said that he came out of the affair worse off and added, "She beat the s*** out of me", hoping that the stunt will raise awareness about the plight of the rapidly declining wildlife in the Amazon rainforest.

* Eaten Alive will screen on the Discovery Channel on Sky Television at 8.30pm on Friday.

- Independent