What’s Bugging You?
Edward Archbold, 32, visited a Deerfield Beach, Fla., reptile store to help a friend win a $700 Ivory Ball python. All he had to do was eat more bugs than anyone else in 4 minutes — without vomiting. Archbold downed over 20 discoid roaches and horn worms, beating out the next contender by one bug and winning the snake. Before he could collect the python, he started vomiting and then collapsed outside the store. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Store owner Ben Siegel said he believes Archbold had an allergic reaction, and insisted the bugs are safe to eat. Discoid roaches, Siegel said, are “eaten by people all over the world.” The roaches were domestically raised. “They’re clean — raised for exotic pet feed,” he said. “It’s nothing but pure, clean protein.” The python Archbold won will be given to his estate. (MS/Miami Herald) ...Along with all the bugs it can eat.Story Update: Archbold’s autopsy found he choked to death due to “arthropod body parts” blocking his airway. Participants “signed thorough waivers accepting responsibility for their participation in this unique and unorthodox contest,” a spokesman for the store said, and I did not find any indication his family filed a lawsuit when I searched in 2025.
Original Publication Date: 14 October 2012
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 19.
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 19.
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