I saw a calm, inquisitive snake that was merely trying to muscle out of a head grab while it was slightly manhandled to a different enclosure. The snake never showed any real aggression and I doubt he was stressed much by the encounter. As soon as his head was released he went on his merry way seemingly no worse for the wear.

I don't care how tame a snake is, when you need to restrain the head their natural response will be to muscle out of it. The amount of effort they put into this(writhing, musking, thrashing, attempted biting, etc) is in direct correlation to the amount of aggravation the snake is experiencing. Even my tamest snake will act much like the snake in the video when gently restrained. The snake was not overly agitated even after the head grab, the main difference here is size and strength.

I find some fault in the antics of the people but in all honesty they did a decent job of showcasing the strength of a larger python without overly stressing the animal. As far as I could tell their "big snake, big responsibility" message was trying instill that not just feeding and providing proper care are involved. When working with large constrictors there are aspects of care that a single person can not do alone safely.

Granted, the snake did not need to be moved in this fashion and 90% of husbandry and care can be done singly by an experienced keeper but how else were they going to showcase the strength? That, with a dash of sensationalism, seemed to be the spirit of the video from my perspective.