On Friday’s NBC Today, hapless NBC reporter Kerry Sanders followed a team of Alligator trappers in Florida: “There’s a saying in Florida that if there’s a fresh body of water, just assume that there’s a gator in it....Last year, licensed contractors, the trappers who go out for the state, captured 7,513 nuisance gators, and this is how they do it.”
The melodramatic Sanders set the scene: “It is a precarious business. One wrong step could be deadly....there’s a tremendous amount of tension. Every splash, every movement on the water could be a gator.” Sitting near the water’s edge, Sanders heard a noise and breathlessly asked: “Was that a gator?” Trapper Ben Register replied: “That was a bullfrog.”
Wrapping up the segment, Sanders ominously warned: “In this state, it's a smart idea to have a healthy respect for a lake, pond, river, even a ditch, because there could be a gator lurking.” At the very least, a frog could be hopping your way.
This is not the first time a report from Sanders has been marred by his own overeagerness.
On MSNBC in February, Sanders attempted a live report from a gun range, which resulted in his every other word being drowned out by the sound of gunfire in the background.
Back in December of 2015, Sanders infamously rushed into the home of the San Bernardino terrorists as part of a shameful media feeding frenzy and began pawing through their family photo album in a desperate attempt to find something newsworthy.
