What would it take to get you interested in heading to remote wooded areas of America to try and prove the existence of the legendary creature known as Bigfoot? How about $10 million dollars.
Spike TV is offering the largest cash prize in television history for its new reality show, "10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty."
Hoping to whet the appetites of Bigfoot hunters everywhere, the cable television channel has partnered with the international insurance market, Lloyd's of London, to put teams of explorers on the track of the elusive, tall, hairy, human-like animals that allegedly live in the wilderness areas of North America.
"If this series idea had come in without that Lloyd's of London mark attached to it, I don't think we would have taken it seriously, but that's no small chunk of change," said Tim Duffy, Spike TV's senior vice president of original series.
"What it signified to us was an opportunity to attract the best scientists, zoologists, trackers and Bigfoot hunters in the world in an attempt to prove or disprove its existence," Duffy told The Huffington Post.
Check out these reported Bigfoot images
The 10, hour-long episodes of "10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty" are in pre-production now, with teams being assembled that will travel to various locations in the U.S., applying different methods in the search for their evasive quarry. The show has a scheduled launch on Spike TV in the fall of 2013.
In an odd twist for a new television series, besides the outrageous dollar amount prize for the first person to prove Bigfoot's reality, Duffy said he and other Spike TV executives actually hope the show doesn't last more than one season.
"Yes, absolutely! No one has ever done anything like this before, and that's what I love about this show," he said. "We're going to do this right, not fast, and we're not going to do it purely for entertainment purposes."
Certainly one question that must be considered is: Does the $10 million bounty depend on whether Bigfoot is captured dead or alive? In some states, like Texas, it's perfectly legal to shoot the alleged creature.
"We haven't gotten to that point yet with Lloyd's of London. Because they are the guarantors of this prize, they have a huge say in it. We're still in the process of figuring out what the requirements will ultimately be for the retrieval of the bounty by whoever is successful bringing Bigfoot in," said Duffy.
The most controversial piece of evidence to date that has been analyzed and scrutinized by believers and skeptics is a piece of film from 1967 shot by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin at Bluff Creek in northern California. It depicts a tall -- reportedly 7 feet high -- hairy animal walking near the creek. As the creature heads toward the woods, it briefly glances over its shoulder at the two men.
While many believe that particular Bigfoot was just a man in a costume, the footage has never conclusively been proven as a hoax.
Watch this analysis of the Patterson-Gimlin 1967 Bigfoot film
With Animal Planet's "Finding Bigfoot" series about to launch its third season on Nov. 11, Duffy says the biggest competitive factor between the two shows may come down to a big chunk of money.
"A lot of television networks and shows have exploited the possibility of the existence of Bigfoot," Duffy said. "Of course, that's part of what we're doing with this show, but we want someone to be successful in season one -- that's the goal of our show. Nobody wants to watch another series of 10 or 13 episodes of television where nothing happens."
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