'Bush People': We didn't realize what we were getting into
In The Zone: Billy and Ami Brown of Discovery's 'Alaskan Bush People' on dealing with a bear rampaging through their home and returning for a third season of their reality show
The great outdoors, wild animals, and the will to survive in the most challenging of situations have brought this tight knit family even closer. The cast of Discovery’s hit show "Alaskan Bush People," husband and wife, Billy and Ami, spoke to FOX411 about their extreme lives, including a story about a bear who made himself comfortable in their home.
FOX411: Something you said really touched me. You said you have a bush heart. What does that mean?
Billy: That’s a hard question actually. I guess it just means that my heart is in the forest, it’s in the freedom, it’s in all the things the woods gives you.
FOX411: And on the show, speaking of what the woods gives you, you show hunting deer and other wild game but you use practically every ounce of the meat and the fur. What do you think of game hunters who only hunt to get a quote, unquote “trophy?”
Billy: I personally think that’s ridiculous. I answered that short and quick. It’s completely ridiculous to waste an animal like that, to waste that kind of beauty and all, it’s just…no, if you’re gonna kill it, then eat it.
FOX411: And, you had a really scary situation, at least for some it would be scary but maybe you guys are used to this, but a bear recently came into your house and a big one at that.
Ami: Well, we had left the house for a short while and when we came back we had found a bear had ripped open our window and crawled in, and made himself right at home.
Billy: Right at home.
FOX411: Yeah.
Ami: Devastated everything.
FOX411: Do you ever fear for your safety in those situations?
Ami: No, because usually when we’re at home the bears give us our space. They go around our dwellings. We weren’t there so they made themselves at home.
Billy: It does make you think about it. It really does because, you know, we get upstairs and think we’re safe and then all the sudden we realize the bear went upstairs. The bear went everywhere in the house, and, you know, there’s only one way in and that’s the door right beside the window he came in. See, it does make you think about it.
FOX411: What would you have done if you came face to face with the bear? Would you have used some good ‘ole bear spray or maybe some martial arts skills – just kidding?
Billy: I think we would have probably ran screaming.
FOX411: You’re reality TV stars now going on your third season but what does your family think of reality TV stars let’s say like the Kardashians?
Billy: We’ve ahh…ahhh…I’ve only seen about three minutes of that show when we were in town once, and we haven’t seen any of the other ones or anything. We don’t get a lot of TV.
Ami: A long time ago ... the kids got a VCR tape and we watched the umm, “Osbournes.”
FOX411: Oh.
Billy: I think that’s about the last one we’ve seen.
FOX411: Why did your family decide to let the cameras in?
Billy: We were completely naïve that’s why. We really thought at one point when all of this started that Ami and I walked so many beaches and been in so many forests that nobody’s been in, and you walk down a beach and there’s no footprints but your own, you know, and we talked about it; her more than me I guess, how cool it would be if other people to see the world we live in and when this opportunity came along it was kind of what we were thinking. We thought it would be really cool if people could see there is an alternative life. There’s another planet right here on our own planet basically and people do live like this. We’re definitely not the only ones, you know, there are quite a few Bush people, and then like I said we were naïve we didn’t realize exactly what we were getting into I don’t think.
FOX411: And now that you’re in it, how’s it going?
Billy: I don’t know, I don’t know.
Trending
Who's making headlines in television, music, movies and more from Hollywood to the Heartland.