Rising Star native Jackie Bibby, “The Texas Snakeman,” is showcasing his unique skills on national television as part of the Go-Big Show on TBS. The seventh of 10 episodes airs at 8 p.m. tonight (Thursday. Feb. 18).

“Tonight will be the first night of the semifinals,” said Bibby, who stopped by the KOXE offices Thursday morning. “I don’t know for sure that I’ll be in the episode tonight but they’ve been putting me on the teasers so I probably will be.”

Bibby stated 36 extreme acts converged on Macon, Georgia during the month of November 2020 to compete for a $100,000 prize.

“It was pretty exciting, a lot of fun and a lot of people are following that,” Bibby said.

Bert Kreischer serves as the host of the show – which premiered Jan. 7 – while judges include Snoop Dogg, Rosario Dawson, Jennifer Nettles, and Cody Rhodes.

Bibby’s roots as “The Texas Snakeman” began in Brownwood more than 50 years ago.

“This is my 52nd year of handling rattlesnakes as a hobby,” Bibby said. “I started in 1969 here in Brownwood at the coliseum at a rattlesnake roundup. I entered a sacking contest and had no more of an idea of what I was doing than a wild goose in a hail storm. But I got in there and it was fun and exciting. I’ve always been an adrenaline junkie so it fit right in with the kind of things I loved to do. I won $30 and two trophies and got my name in the paper and the rest as they say is history.”

Bibby owns Guinness World Records for holding the most rattlesnakes in one’s mouth (13 rattlesnakes); laying in a bathtub with the most snakes (195 rattlesnakes); laying in a sleeping bag with the most rattlesnakes (109 rattlesnakes); sacking 10 rattlesnakes in the fastest time (17.11 seconds); and going head first into a sleeping bag with the most rattlesnakes (24 rattlesnakes).

Snake handling hasn’t been without its costs for Bibby, who lost a leg eight years ago after being bitten.

“I’ve had 12 serious bites so far in 50-something years so I guess that’s not too terrible,” Bibby said. “I lost my leg in one of my worst bites and I’ve virtually lost the use of both thumbs but I’ve still got fingers so I can still handle rattlesnakes.”

Bibby has become a celebrity across the country for his snake antics, and even has a museum in Rising Star.

“I keep snakes there year round for people to see,” Bibby said. “It’s nothing something that’s open everyday for people to go in, but if they see my limousine there they’ll usually want to come in and see the snakes. My walls are covered in memorabilia, I’m a Trivial Pursuit question, I’ve been a Jeopardy question, I’ve been in Newsweek and Time, and I have over 100 trophies so I have all kinds of memorabilia on my walls. That building used to be a beauty shop and now it’s the Jackie Bibby Museum.”

Despite the loss of a leg and reaching the age of 70, Bibby shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, he has a YouTube page – Jackie Bibby Official – where videos of more of his exploits, even beyond the world of snakes, can be found

“I’ve got one video on there now of me doing indoor skydiving,” Bibby said. “What that page is proving is just how many things that a 70-year-old one-legged man can still do, and it’s a lot.”