Five-day-old Green Anaconda
The Discovery show failed to enthrall its audience of the 'Eaten Alive'show. Reuters/Anuruddha Lokuhapuarac

Discovery Channel is defending all the backlash it is receiving on its show called "Eaten Alive" where a man was not "eaten" alive by an anaconda snake as promised. The channel aired the footage of the programme a week back and it promised the viewers that the man Paul Rosolie will don a special crush-proof suit to protect him as he is eaten by the snake alive. But when the show was aired over the weekend Paul did not enter the anaconda fully and was rescued after some time.

The viewers felt betrayed by the show and expressed their outrage on various social networking sites after Paul was only briefly taken by the giant 20-foot anaconda in his special suit. Check out one such Tweet below.

You just wasted two hours of your life watching #EatenAlive and the guy didn't even get eaten... You okay? pic.twitter.com/YCDjPfRZKF

— Lauren Lavoie (@LittleRedCactus) December 8, 2014

Discovery Channel has come to the rescue of Paul and the show "Eaten Alive" saying that the aim of the show was not to show a man being eaten alive by a giant snake but to highlight the "beautiful and threatened" rainforests of Amazon, which are the habitat of anaconda snakes. The channel acknowledged the fact that Paul's "absolute intention" was to be eaten alive by the snake, but the producers of the show priortised Paul and anaconda's safety over other things. Had the channel not pulled out Paul, his life would have been in danger, the channel said in a statement.

"Ultimately, after the snake constricted Paul for over an hour and went for his head, the experiment had to be called when it became clear that Paul would be very seriously injured if he continued on. The safety of Paul, as well as the anaconda, was always our number-one priority," said a statement released by Discovery Channel, according to insidetv.ew.com.

The show also faced backlash from animal protection group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) who believe that the show "used the snake's precious energy" for a cheap publicity stunt. The organisation is also against removing the snake from its water habitat to transport him to a filming location.

"Paul Rosolie and his crew put this snake through undeniable stress and robbed her of essential bodily resources. She was forced to constrict and then not allowed to eat," said PETA in a statement, according to the website. Check out the video of the show below.

Source: YouTube.com/Channel 7