January 27, 2012

Finding Bigfoot Producer Says Cryptomundo Fans’ Comments Are “Misguided”

Are your comments “misguided”? Did you think Finding Bigfoot was made for you? Do you like being called a “Bigfoot geek”? Read on.

As you see in the comment section, Facebook remarks are sometimes forwarded from FB and posted in response to Cryptomundo blog postings. In the following case, the discussion over on Facebook resulted in some comments by one of the producers for the Animal Planet program, Finding Bigfoot that appeared worthy of posting on a blog level today.

Tyler William Bounds (pictured above) has infrequently found it important to address Cryptomundians in the past, about Season Two and regarding Season One.

As a little background, this is how he introduced himself in 2011:
“Hello Mr. Coleman. First, I’m a longtime fan of yours, your books, your museum, and of Cryptomundo.
I’m a member of the BFRO, and I consider all of the cast members, including Moneymaker, good friends.
I was a production assistant and ‘fixer’ for a few episodes – GA, OR and WA.
I am actually the one who found the prints in GA.
I was employed by the production company.”

For his latest, as posted publicly on Facebook, a long way around, in response to a FB announcement of a post here, Tyler William Bounds typed:

As a crew member on the show, I often end up defending the series and correcting people’s misconceptions about how and why the producers and cast choose to do what they do, and why certain witnesses or pieces of footage are selected to be featured. But since it seems people are automatically biased against anything that is connected to the BFRO, I’m tiring of trying to explain the particulars to people who don’t have an understanding of how making television works. People have very polarizing opinions of what is or isn’t shown, who is or isn’t on the show, and which cast members are “legit” and which ones aren’t. Several of the comments on this thread, and on the Cryptomundo page, are misguided, which is understandable, since not everyone has all the facts, or they are relying on secondhand stories that they represent as “facts.” I have firsthand knowledge of what goes on during pre-production, during filming, and after the cast and most of the crew have walked away from production and the footage is in the hands of Hollywood editors. It’s often times hard for me to read such blatant misrepresentations of something that I proudly work hard to help create, and thus hold close to my heart, but I’ve decided that no matter what I say, people are going to hate the show, are going to hate Moneymaker and the BFRO, and will criticize anything that the cast or production company is involved with. It’s a waste of my time to troll the internet, trying to correct every comment that is based on misunderstanding or some other type of logical fallacy. I’d rather spend my time in the woods, and enjoying my sudden (and surprising) occupation as Bigfooter Pulling Down a Paycheck To Go Bigfooting Across The Country. I love it, and if you had my job, you’d love it too. Thanks for watching the show.

And then, to JDC who wrote, “Hope your next post, if there is one, educates rather than attacks those fans of yours that sign that check you cherish,” Bounds replied:

The check that I cherish?” Nah. You don’t know me at all. I don’t do it for the money dude. I don’t do anything unless it’s fun, or an adventure, or a learning experience. Life is what you make it, and I have made mine a lot of fun. I make a living doing what I love to do, and that is success in itself. And as far as the show is concerned, I really don’t care if you or any of these other people on your page or on Cryptomundo like it or not- we don’t make it for you, we make it for the 1.6 million other people that watch it every week. If I was going to make a TV show for bigfooters, it would be a much different program, but I’m beholden to the network, not other bigfoot geeks.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Filed under Bigfoot, Cryptomundo Exclusive, CryptoZoo News, Finding Bigfoot, Pop Culture, Sasquatch, Television