Cow chip throw cut from Travel Channel show; available online
By Jeremiah Tucker, Sauk Prairie Eagle
The Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw and Sauk Prairie’s few minutes of national television exposure were the victim of last-minute cuts by the Travel Channel.
Andrew Zimmern, host of "Bizarre Foods" and "Bizarre Worlds," came to Sauk Prairie in August to film a segment on the villages’ annual cow-pie hurling competition.
Scheduled to air Oct. 27 during an episode of "Bizarre World" dedicated to strange cultural events in Wisconsin, the segment was cut.
| To see the video from the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw that was cut from the program, click here |
| For all of the content produced by the Travel Channel that included the cow chip throw, click here |
"We found out on Thursday the week before that it’d been edited out of the final program," said Rebecca Hildebrandt, co-chair of the cow chip committee that organizes the festival.
Hildebrandt said the news was an unpleasant surprise.
"We had approved the script and everything, and it was on the Web site that the cow chip was going to be part of the program," she said. "It was a very last minute decision that had changed it. Unfortunately, we were the one that got the cut."
"Bizarre World" associate producer Nina Bouphasavanh said the decision to cut the cow chip segment was part of a broader decision to phase out "Bizarre Worlds" and transition back into "Bizarre Foods."
"Basically, what happened is the focus for the program changed," Bouphasavanh said. "We wanted to go back more to our original focus, which is foods."
She said because the cow chip throw was focused on throwing cow dung — which doesn’t go well with a food theme — it got cut.
"I actually wrote that segment, so I was kind of disappointed," Bouphasavanh said.
She said the episodes Zimmern currently is filming all are for the "Bizarre Foods" brand.
Hildebrandt said she was happy she at least got to watch the segment online, and she noted that in Zimmern’s list of his top 5 favorite memorable moments in Wisconsin, throwing cow chips was his second favorite.
"It’s just doing business with big TV, big-time TV doesn’t always work the way you want to," Hildebrandt said.