The Untold Truth Of Dave Salmoni

Ever since the tragic death of Steve 'The Crocodile Hunter' Irwin back in 2006, Dave Salmoni has been battling it out with the likes of Jeff Corwin and the Kratt brothers for the title of TV's premier zoologist.

The man dubbed the 'Canadian Tarzan' certainly has the pedigree: as well as studying the subject at Laurentian University in Ontario, he's also put his talents to use for the Ministry of National Resources and Bowmanville Zoological Park, produced and presented countless factual shows for the Discovery Channel and — much to the ire of some viewers — become a favorite of the late-night talk show circuit with his fondness for showing off cutesy but deceptively deadly animals.

But what about the individual behind all those creatures and critters? From relationships with high-profile celebs and near-death experiences to extra-curricular activities and sworn enemies, both human and animal, here's a look at the conservationist's untold truth.

Dave Salmoni has often been criticized for parading animals on late-night talk shows as if they were props rather than living beings. And as you'd expect, one of his most vocal detractors has been PETA. Indeed, after the Canadian Tarzan was bumped off the guestlist for a 2020 episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live," a show which had previously welcomed the conservationist with open arms, the animal rights organization released a statement which essentially said, 'It's about time.'

Lisa Lange, the charity's senior vice president, praised the NBC show for "closing the curtain on a notorious peddler of animal suffering" before explaining why they'd given the Discovery Channel regular such a moniker: "In previous 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' appearances, Salmoni can be seen struggling to handle a screaming baby mountain lion and a desperately flailing tiger cub, animals who were likely supplied by shady third parties."

The Kimmel team never explained why they dropped Salmoni from the episode, which saw Pete Buttgieg take over as guest host, nor have they invited the conservationist back onto the set since, as of this writing.

The youngsters who attended one particular kids show at a Toronto theme park at the turn of the century may well have been left scarred for life. For it was here that Dave Salmoni was viciously mauled by a male lion christened Bongo.

The animal behaviorist was hosting a show at the time when the lion charged at him — apparently over a piece of carpet — no fewer than three times, ripping up his forearm and breaking his rib cage in the process. Salmoni, who claimed that you could previously have treated Bongo like a family Labrador, told SFGate in 2007 that the horrific experience in 1999 taught him an invaluable lesson, and one he's been trying to pass onto others ever since.

He explained, "Even with the nicest animals, there's no such thing as a tame wild cat. You can train them, but you can't tame them. No matter how you treat them, they are opportunists. They are predators ... The biggest thing for me was recognizing the fact that cats don't think like we do — so now I know what is an opportunity for a cat and I don't offer them that opportunity. Often times, a cat just grabs something because it can."

In 2010, Dave Salmoni began dating one of the talk show hosts whose shows he regularly appeared on (and it wasn't Jimmy Kimmel). Shortly after calling things off with Comcast CEO Ted Harbert, Chelsea Handler proudly revealed on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" that she was seeing the conservationist.

"He's really cute," the "Chelsea Lately" show host remarked (via Boston Herald) before adding, "It's nice to date somebody who can protect you from a bear or a lion" (Handler must have forgotten the fact that one of the latter seriously injured Salmoni just over a decade previously). The news didn't exactly come as a surprise, as only two days earlier, the pair had been shamelessly flirting with each other on Handler's E! show.

But just as viewers could see their relationship blossoming on Handler's acerbic review of the day's entertainment news, they also got to witness its dissolution. Just a few months later, the comedienne revealed to the rest of the panel (via Us Weekly) that she and Salmoni were an item no more, albeit in a slightly cryptic manner: "Up until a couple weeks ago, I was working very intimately with the Animal Planet, but unfortunately, that contract was terminated. However, I enjoyed being in bed with them and may hook up for an occasional project."

Before briefly dating Chelsea Handler, Dave Salmoni also had a romance with another famous face, "NYPD Blue" star Bonnie Somerville. But the woman who he eventually settled down with in 2015 didn't have any hint of a showbiz background.

Debra Francesconi had previously worked in accounting and marketing before becoming an associate designer for Timothy Johnson Design in 2010. A decade later, and five years after she said 'I do' to Dave, the multi-talent opened up her own agency DebraLillianDesign. However, being married to a celebrity appeared to give Debra the impetus to taste fame for herself.

In 2020, she also joined real estate expert Scott McGillivray on HGTV show "Scott's Vacation House Rules." Debra, who also has two children with Dave, helps the host renovate various properties that have seen better days. Per her Instagram bio, she's proven to be such a hit with viewers, she's already been signed up for a third season, as of this writing.

Although Dave Salmoni will often be seen on TV handling everything from skunks to snakes, there's one animal that remains his true passion: tigers. The conservationist became enamored with the big cat while watching various wildlife documentaries as a kid, particularly "Mutual of Ohama's Wild Kingdom."

Salmoni's chemical scientist father and figure skating coach mother were apparently more than happy for their son to develop his interest and even his school pals would phone him up any time they saw a tiger on television. The Canadian told Hollywood Soapbox in 2017, "That would be the main building block that started my career and my passion trying to help save tigers."

The star has since worked with Project C.A.T., an initiative designed by the World Wildlife Fund and Discovery Communications to increase the tiger population two-fold by the year 2022. Salmoni added that their initial efforts had been encouraging: "It's only in the last couple years that we've had some of the first increase in numbers ever since we started to monitor, so there is some positive news in that way."

You'd expect to see Dave Salmoni's name in publications such as National Geographic and National Wildlife. But Cosmopolitan? Well, surprisingly the conservationist was appointed a one-off sex and relationships advisor for the women's lifestyle magazine in 2009. And as you'd expect, his tips were linked to his experiences with the animal world.

So what kind of advice did Salmoni dish out? Firstly, he recommended leaving your man alone if he's in a bad mood, just like lionesses do whenever their males are in a grump. He also encouraged readers to make friends with those they may be intimidated by and subsequently reap the rewards, as in the case of beta wolves with alphas. And he also suggested following the lead of tigresses by teasing any potential love interest before playing a little hard to get.

But the sweetest life lesson he gave was inspired by something a little smaller: "A lemur ... is an opportunistic omnivore. That means it can eat just about anything. Yet 60 percent of a lemur's diet consists of tamarinds. Why? Because it freakin' loves tamarinds. In other words, lemurs surround themselves with what they adore. And so should you."

From "Into the Lion's Den" and "After the Attack" to "Into the Pride" and "Big, Small and Deadly," Dave Salmoni has appeared on pretty much every other nature show since making his television debut in the early '00s. But he never intended to harness his passion for animals on the small screen.

In a 2014 interview with Female First, the Canadian revealed that it was in fact TV bosses that came to him after hearing about his experiences as an animal trainer and conservationist. And even after a half-decade of being paid to go and live with tigers and lions, Salmoni still didn't see hosting as a full-time gig.

In fact, it was only when the Animal Planet regular got a mortgage that he began to take his alternate career more seriously: "Obviously TV becomes a lot scarier when you're depending on it because it's fairly fleeting with most people. Who knows how you're meant to choose that as a career path?" Salmoni has since formed his own production company, Triosphere, which initially dealt solely in wildlife programming before branching out into reality TV shows such as "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here" and "Love Island."  

Dave Salmoni has never been afraid to show a bit of flesh. He embraced his Canadian Tarzan nickname by going shirtless on Tyra Banks' talk show (via Advocate). He's posed in a similar state for several magazines, including Flaunt. And some viewers might not even have noticed there were lions in this video clip of him from "Into the Pride."

So it's little surprise to learn that the conservationist has become something of a gay pin-up. And Salmoni has no problem with being lusted after, as he told Advocate in 2009: "I feel like my gay fans are the most appreciative. I get lots of e-mails from them, and they're not shy. A young girl may say, 'Hey, I really like you, you're kinda cute,' whereas a gay guy will be like, 'Hey, take your shirt off more and you'll get better ratings.'"

But it turns out that Salmoni hasn't always been so body confident. The animal behaviorist claimed to the same magazine that he was never considered the most attractive one in his friendship group while growing up: "When people talked about it at first, I didn't know how to respond to it. Now, if people are going to talk about me in that way, I think it's awesome and super flattering."

In 2009, Dave Salmoni spent half a year in the African wilderness entirely on his lonesome for Animal Planet show "Into the Pride." Luckily, the zoologist, who was trying to work his taming magic on a number of aggressive lions for the safety of both tourists and the creatures themselves, is more than happy with his own company.

When asked by Advocate whether he struggled with being so isolated during filming, Salmoni replied, "At times I really welcomed it. I love being with people, but I like being alone a lot. On good days when things were going well and the lions were accepting me, I didn't even notice it." And when he did find himself on the verge of a depressive spell he simply found a giraffe or rhino to hang out with, two animals that instantly lifted his mood.

However, there were moments when the conservationist wished he was back home with his less adventurous homies — particularly when the animals he was so in awe of wanted him for their dinner: "Those were the days I'd wake up and think, 'What in the hell am I doing here? They don't want me here. I should be home dating and hanging out with my buddies.'"

There were more than a few raised eyebrows when Dave Salmoni, the conservationist best-known for parading various wild animals on late-night TV, was announced as the new host of a competitive home renovation show.

Yes, in 2016, Salmoni took over from Cameron Mathison on "Game of Homes," a series airing on Canada's W Network in which four couples each get a rundown house to glow up. It seemed a leftfield appointment at the time, but the zoologist told the Toronto Sun that same year there was at least some method to the madness: "I have been doing renos my whole life, I have a wife who is a designer, so the subject matter is one of my only other hobbies that I have. The next thing will be a motorcycle show, only because it's probably my last hobby that I don't have a TV show about."

Salmoni also had several other reasons for taking on a role outside his wheelhouse. He was able to go straight home after each shoot, the first time he'd been able to do so in 16 years. And perhaps more importantly, the star was guaranteed he'd still be in one piece when filming wrapped: "I just like the idea of being at work and something's not trying to kill you. Nothing tried to kill me on this set. Maybe some people wanted to, but nothing tried, to my knowledge. And there were enough cameras, so I would know."

As you'd expect from an animal conservationist and pretty much anyone with half a conscience, Dave Salmoni is firmly against the practice of rhino poaching. So much so, in fact, that he would like to give anyone involved a taste of their own medicine.

When the subject came up during a 2010 interview with Media Update, Salmoni said, "I want to shoot the rhino poachers!" The "Expedition Impossible" host went on to explain how well-funded and heavily organized the industry is, comparing it to an army, before insisting that the world needs to do something about it if the rhino population is to survive.

Salmoni put his money where his mouth was by working with Animal Planet and Save the Rhino International's Heroes campaign to inspire change. Such efforts appear to have paid off, too. According to the World Wildlife Fund, only 200 greater one-horned rhinos were roaming around the world. That number has, as of this writing, increased to approximately 3,700.

In 2011, Dave Salmoni took a break from the animal kingdom to host "Expedition Impossible," an ABC competitive reality show in which 13 teams navigate rivers, mountains, and deserts across Morocco against the clock. Nothing at all like "The Amazing Race," obviously. Nope, not at all.

But as he explained to The Peterborough Examiner ahead of its premiere, the zoologist had to play a little dirty to get the gig. Salmoni recalled how show creator and general reality TV overlord Mark Burnett ("The Apprentice," "Survivor") was initially skeptical about giving the hosting job to such an inexperienced name. But he soon changed his mind after coming face to face with the Canadian Tarzan, who freely admits that he opted for bullying tactics: "I'm way bigger than Mark. I stood over him and looked him in the eye and said, 'Mark, I can do this.' And he said, 'Oh, okay, that's fine, that's settled.'"

Salmoni went on to explain his unorthodox and intimidating approach: "Every second counts. You really don't get much of his attention because he's so busy. You have to make an impression immediately. I didn't have time to, you know, give him my resume. I just had to say, 'Look me in the eye, know that I'm confident. I can do it just fine.'" Sadly, despite Salmoni's confidence, "Expedition Impossible" lasted just a single season on air.

Given his tabloid-baiting private life, countless shirtless photoshoots, and gigs hosting everything from competitive globe-trotting expeditions to home renovation shows, you could be forgiven for sometimes forgetting Dave Salmoni's day job. Just don't tell the man himself.

In a 2012 interview with the New York Post, the star appeared slightly aggrieved that his work with animals doesn't always get the credit he feels it deserves. Referring to his six-part series "Frontier Earth," the Laurentian University graduate said, "I'm always doing homework. You know sometimes people forget I'm a biologist and a zoologist, the education is there, the background is there."

But Salmoni did admit that there's at least one area that he can't describe himself as an expert in: "I know probably as much as a normal biologist should know [about ants]. I know a few exotic examples because I have been chasing around chimpanzees in Uganda, stepped on an ant mine by mistake, killed one ant that was up on my hip and there happened to hundreds of thousands all up and down my legs ... So, there've been instances like that where I've been forced to learn about different animals and ants are a great example."

You might expect that Bongo, the lion that nearly ripped his forearm off and left him with numerous broken ribs, would be classed by Dave Salmoni as his ultimate animal nemesis. But apparently, there's one particular bird that wants to do even more damage to the conservationist than the feline star of the notorious Michael Douglas film "The Ghost and the Darkness."

Speaking to Variety in 2011, Salmoni explained that the vulture he parades around the late-night show circuit isn't exactly his number one fan: "I don't know if he's the only vulture they can get, or what, but his name is Benson and he hates me more than anything. I'll take him out of the cage and there'll be meat all around him and he'll immediately try to bite me."

Luckily, Salmoni appears to accept that dealing with such determined scavengers is all part of the job: "I get bitten a lot," he said, before adding matter-of-factly, "I get pi**ed on a lot, I get crapped on a lot."