Anderson Cooper Gets Bugged Out in Brazil

CNN

Anderson Cooper isn't the outdoorsy type.

Just ask the silver fox anchorman what it was like shooting Planet in Peril, the new four-hour environmental-issues series he did with Animal Planet host Jeff Corwin. The two, along with CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, crossed four continents and 13 countries for the series, which debuts on CNN Tues., Oct. 23.

“What I really learned is you actually have to go into nature to report on the environment, which is sort of annoying because I really don’t like nature very much,” Cooper said last night at a Netflix-hosted preview of the series at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. “And to be with Jeff Corwin, who really does seem to enjoy it, was a little disconcerting.”

The 40-year-old anchor tried to share Corwin's enthusiasm. “He would literally go off at 2 a.m. in the middle of the Brazillian rainforest with nothing more than a flashlight on his head, and I would trudge after him with a little video camera and also a much weaker flashlight,” Cooper said. “But after about three nights, I realized that was my idea of hell, because there are things you have never seen before flying around and hitting me in the face. Jeff would be like, ‘Oh my god, look, it’s the pygmy tree frog!' and, literally, the frog would jump onto his face. That is my idea of hell…I did about three nights of it, but then I was like, ‘No more!’”

Corwin cracked, “Anderson was acting like the first person who gets killed in a horror movie.”

When CNN producer David Doss announced that Planet in Peril would probably become a regular feature on Anderson Cooper 360º, Cooper groaned, “Jesus Christ! We really need to solve this whole environmental thing quickly, because I really don’t want to do it again.”

All kidding aside, one of the topics hit upon in the series is China's impact upon the environment, especially when it comes to illegal poaching of exotic animals. Gupta said there is a market in China for these animals, many which are on the brink of extinction. They’re not only used for traditional Chinese medicine, they’re also consumed as delicacies.

Gupta’s first shoot for Planet in Peril was in Beijing. “They took me straight from the airport to a restaurant that was literally called the Penis Emporium,” Gupta said.

He also saw tiger paw for sale.  “I saw them selling it for consumption,” he said. “People actually eat this. I saw them selling bear bile…They sell that for thousands for dollars!”