As a fiendish leg spinner during his cricketing days, Shane Warne was used to bamboozling his opponents.
But in a straight fight with a snake on an Australian reality TV show, the 46-year-old came off second best.
Warne was bitten on the head by a non-venomous anaconda during a “Tucker Trial” on the Aussie version of “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.”
The Melbourne-born star is the second highest wicket taker in Test history with 708 to his name and is widely recognized as the best spin bowler of all time.
Warne had already dunked his head into tanks containing rats, African clawed frogs, scorpions, and hissing cockroaches trying to secure food for the show’s participants before he was confronted with the snakes.
“Aw, no, come on,” Warne said during the Channel Ten broadcast, with snakes reportedly one of his biggest fears. Shortly after taking the plunge, the anaconda struck.
According to Australia’s Daily Telegraph, Warne carried on with the task before being treated with antiseptic by medical experts.
The newspaper quoted the show’s executive producer Stephen Tate as saying: “Shane has made no secret that snakes are one of his greatest fears so it’s amazing that after being bitten he bravely continued with the trial.
“When Shane puts his mind to a task, he won’t let anything stop him.”
Warne, who was engaged to English actress Liz Hurley before they split in 2013, is being paid an estimated $2.1 million to appear in the show, according to reports in Australia.
Earlier this week, he also hit the headlines for espousing a theory that shunned the theory of evolution and suggested humans were “created” by aliens. Howzat!