Hopeful stars and alligator hunters packed Big Al's Seafood Restaurant in Houma Friday to try out for the History Channel hit that's made bayou accents and Cajun heritage into household entertainment.
Houma was the last stop on a three-day audition tour for “Swamp People” as casting officials looked for new faces to feature on the show. Other stops were in Lafayette and DeRidder.
About 100 people showed up for the Houma audition, casting officials said.
“The show is great,” said Dickie Babin, an alligator hunter from Raceland. “It's carrying on our traditions, showing them to an outside public that hasn't seen them.
“And look what happens when they get a look,” he added. “Troy Landry (a Pierre Part alligator hunter featured in the first two seasons of “Swamp People”) is famous now.”
Casting Director Jason Skweres said the show is looking beyond alligator hunters this season to trappers, fishermen and other Cajuns steeped in traditional life.
“We're looking for a couple more characters to add to the cast,” he said. “Any folks who are making a living off the land or eating what they catch. When we meet them, we'll know.”
Babin, 57, waited at Big Al's with his son, Lee, 24, and his friend Ernest Landrieu, 64. Babin said he's been hunting alligators since he was a child and has schooled three sons and seven grandchildren in the tradition, including Lee. He used to fill hundreds of Wildlife and Fisheries tags, which determine how many alligators any given hunter can take, but now just keeps seven to go out for fun.
“He's been taking me since it was illegal to take me along,” Lee said with a grin.
Landrieu, a shrimper and crawfisherman, takes a less active role in the hunts, tagging along with a beer and cooking the gator later.
Babin said he's interested in trying out for “Swamp People” because it shows off the culture of south Louisiana's swamp dwellers.
“We take what we have down here for granted,” Lee said. “When (viewers) see what we got on the show, they all get jealous.”
Tommy Fletcher, 64, of Raceland, said he's trying out because he hopes to promote his alligator farm, Utopia.
He's done everything in the gator business, such as farming, processing, hunting and rounding up nuisance alligators, he said. He lives on a houseboat near U.S. 90 in Raceland.
“I got gators surrounding me,” he said.
Current stars “Trapper Joe” LaFont, “Trigger Tommy” Chauvin and R.J. and Jay Paul Molinere were on hand to offer the hopefuls advice and talk about life after “Swamp People.”
“It's crazy,” LaFont said. “You can't even go to the store to get a loaf of bread without people recognizing you.”
The duo has a website, trapperjoeandtriggertommy.com, where they sell merchandise and advertise appearances. Chauvin said the reactions they get from kids who line up to meet them and get autographs is the best.
When he was approached to join the original cast of “Swamp People” Lafont said he almost turned them down.
“I wasn't interested,” he said. “But then I thought it might be good thing for Louisiana.
Molinere and his son Jay Paul of Grand Bois joined the cast of “Swamp People” in the show's second season. Molinere said the producers were looking to add a new element to the show by casting someone from the United Houma Nation tribe.
He said it was nerve wracking before the show aired, wondering how he and his son might across to audiences.
“We got the accents down here, so at first you're worried about how you're going to sound,” Molinere said. “But it's been a change of lifestyle for the better. And I think it's been good for Terrebonne and Lafourche and the alligator fishermen also.”
Since the show aired, LaFont said, the cost of alligator meat has gone up, and so has interest in swamp tours.
“People used to come down here to visit New Orleans and the French Quarter,” LaFont said. “But now everyone wants to come down to the swamp to see where we're at.”
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