The Ben Siegel Contest Tragedy

I know many of us are aware of what happened at Ben Siegel's Midnight Madness contest this past weekend. We've got one thread about it running in QT right now, and I want to thank everyone in that thread (that I've seen so far) for the reasonable and respectful manner in which they have conducted themselves. The reason we put that thread in QT was not to "hide" it, but because we weren't sure how it would go and we did not want to find ourselves overwhelmed with a dozen different threads, potentially full of wild speculations and/or accusations, all about the same topic.

I'm creating this thread in the public forums so that we also have a place to openly discuss the situation. My personal understanding of things so far is that this is a tragic accident that no one could have reasonably foreseen. My heart goes out to Eddie's family, and to Ben, his family and his employees. It's human nature to want to find someone to "blame" and "punish" whenever something bad happens, but at least as of now, I fully believe that there is no indication that anyone did anything wrong.

I'm not going to post any of the numerous links that could point to this story or things related to it, but y'all are welcomed to post links if you wish, so long as they comply with our TOS, as any other links posted here.

There are bound to be numerous new threads started up as individuals hear the story for the first time and try to share it. Those threads will be moved to QT...not to "hide" them, but simply to keep things from getting messy and confusing. Point those newly aware of the situation to this thread and invite them to share here.

Lastly, I would just ask that those who feel compelled to make public statements about what has happened to do so with respect and understanding for those involved. No one wanted this. No one could have foreseen it. And the kind of "hindsight" that this kind of freak accident brings about does nothing except make us paranoid about living our lives and enjoying them.

From myself, and all of us at BP.net...our deepest condolences to Eddie Archbold's friends and loved ones.

Some of us don't know so it might be a good idea to give the facts as they are to avoid speculation and hearsay. Thanks

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Originally Posted by peterneish

Some of us don't know so it might be a good idea to give the facts as they are to avoid speculation and hearsay. Thanks

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A quick google search would surely turn up a few news articles.

This is indeed a sad day for the reptile community. My heart goes out to all involved.

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Originally Posted by peterneish

Some of us don't know so it might be a good idea to give the facts as they are to avoid speculation and hearsay. Thanks

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As I understand them right now...

This past weekend, Ben Siegel had a big party/celebration at his retail store in Florida. This "Midnight Madness" party included a bug-eating contest in which the winners would receive certain ball python morphs. Everything went fine up to and throughout the contests. A man named Eddie won the big prize.

Sometime after the contests were over, Eddie collapsed. CPR was administered and 911 called immediately. I don't know if he died on the scene or en route or at the hospital. No one knows, yet, exactly why he died. He may have aspirated on vomit. He may have had a heart attack or some kind of allergic reaction.

Ben Siegel made a public statement on Facebook, expressing his shock and sadness, before being asked by his lawyer to say nothing more about it to anyone outside of law enforcement and investigators.

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Originally Posted by peterneish

Some of us don't know so it might be a good idea to give the facts as they are to avoid speculation and hearsay. Thanks

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http://www.7daysindubai.com/Tragedy-...ail/story.html
http://www.local10.com/news/Man-dies...z/-/index.html

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/09/apematu5.jpg

It really is tragic and the comments from the media and the public have been nasty and inflammatory. As much as my heart goes out to Eddies family, I can't help but feel...aggravated that this has turned into a media circus and us Ball python keepers (and helpers in general) are again being seen as mentally unstable and "weird". This sort of incident unfortunately paints us all with the same wife brush, and it's not flattering.

My heart goes out to Eddies family, to Ben and his family and staff, and I pray this all blows over soon.

/2¢


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Thanks guys. I had read that story just didn't put two and two together! Really tragic!

What a horrible tragedy. My prayers go out to the family. I feel sad for BSR as well. A fun, well intended contest turned tragic. I joked with my kids about how many bugs they would eat for a snake. It was a really neat idea. So said that it turned out this way.

I find this very tragic. I've seen elsewhere of people bashing Ben about it and point fingers on whose fault it was. Yes it not presents some negative publicity to the hobby, but no one would have seen this happen.

It was simply a freak accident to someone who fully knew what he was doing, Ben didn't make anyone eat the bugs they did so themselves.

That's not me saying its Eddie's fault either. It was just a horrible horrible accident.

Not anyone's fault.


Just my $.02

How can we view the QT thread?

I heard about this earlier today on AFN (Armed Forces Network) Radio in Germany. I thought it was sad, and crazy both what happened and the fact that it was on AFN. They only gave vague details about an insect eating contest, and the someone involved died. They also had an experts comments on how they do not see how this could have happened from the insects. I do not know what is being said in the U.S. by the media, but from the sounds of what you all say it is not good.

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Originally Posted by heylookitsjon

It really is tragic and the comments from the media and the public have been nasty and inflammatory. As much as my heart goes out to Eddies family, I can't help but feel...aggravated that this has turned into a media circus and us Ball python keepers (and helpers in general) are again being seen as mentally unstable and "weird". This sort of incident unfortunately paints us all with the same wife brush, and it's not flattering.

My heart goes out to Eddies family, to Ben and his family and staff, and I pray this all blows over soon.

/2¢


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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X2

The comments from the public and the media have been horrid. It shouldn't matter how he died or what he was doing before he died, all the should matter is that a young man lost his life.

I feel horrible for Ben, his staff, Eddie's family and the other people who were there when this happened. :tears:

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Originally Posted by sissysnakes

How can we view the QT thread?

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QT is available to any member...they need only contact an admin (one of us with our name in red) and ask to see it. I'll take this as your request and go ahead and set that up for you, but we prefer requests to be sent in PMs. :)

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/10/3ame5yhu.jpg

Can't believe it


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This story is totally being blown out of proportion. I have read people's comments and it just sickens me. I feel sad about the whole thing. It was an accident, as in it was never meant to happen at all. Why do people feel the need to ridicule and point fingers? This is a sad day for the reptile community. I have sat here long and hard and thought about this all day. Would I personally eat bugs just to win a snake, no. A man has died and that is truly tragic.

This is going to be a headache of a media circus. Fear factor has done much more questionable challenges (as far as ingesting... things... goes) but this is going to get absolutely slammed because it's related to the hobby. How awful!

My heart goes out to the family, such an unexpected terrible way to lose a loved one :(

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Originally Posted by Valentine Pirate

This is going to be a headache of a media circus. Fear factor has done much more questionable challenges (as far as ingesting... things... goes) but this is going to get absolutely slammed because it's related to the hobby. How awful!

My heart goes out to the family, such an unexpected terrible way to lose a loved one :(

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Exactly!!! I had an alternate version to my earlier post that included fear factor. It's okay for someone to eat raw cow eyes for money with a chance of getting E. coli or worse from that but just because someone ate bugs for a snake it's instantly everyone in the reptile communities weird ways that caused his death. Simply ridiculous.

Sad day for the herp world. I hope Siegel can bounce back

This pretty aptly sums up what's going on in the "community"

http://reptileapartment.com/2012/10/...ent-community/

This is a tragic story all the way around. I believe that no one has the right to point fingers or blame anyone else. The contestants signed waivers prior to the contest and Ben was promoting his business in a fun respectful manner. It is to my understanding that Eddie ate both worms and roaches. Im many countries, these two insects are part of the local peoples staple diet. I feel sorry for everyone involved, most especially his two daughter that were left behind. Id be curious to see the autopsy results on this one. :(

This is a tragedy and that is all that can really be said. Until everyone knows all of the details (media included) this should not get blown out of proportion. I feel horrible for his family and friends. I can only imagine how his friend whom he was trying (and succeeded) to win the Ivory ball for feels now. But as far as pointing blame, there really is none. There was no ill intent by Ben Siegel, the proper waivers were signed and the "creepy crawlies" that the media wants to scare the general public with are very much edible. We've all seen survivalists eat roaches, as well as other bugs on TV. We've watched shows like fear factor where participants ate bugs (not to mention throw live snakes to the floor) and I don't recall any kind of media reaction about that. What this is and will ever be is a tragic moment in time that will be used to stain the exotic reptile industry by those who appose it.

It's very sad that a young father lost his life. I'm certain that he signed all the waivers just like any eating contest. If he had died after a hotdog eating contest, I'm certain we would see the same horrible comments posted about him and about eating contests. There will always be small-minded trolls on the internet who couldn't care less about a person who died.

That said, there's been times that people posted about someone dying in a silly or stupid manner on this site, and people made fun of it or derided the person who died for doing 'stupid' things that led to their death. This is no different, except it affects OUR community. So keep it in mind when you see any story that relates a person's death. That person has family and friends, just like this young man.

I'll be sending a donation tonight. I had a decent week at work, and I can think of no better way to spend it than to give some to the family.