Born in Cuba and brought to Florida at just five years old, Manny Puig grew up roaming the woods around Gainesville, where his fascination with wildlife took hold early. By high school, he was already catching and levitating alligators, a skill that would one day become his signature.
He didn’t start in front of the camera. For years, he made his living as a commercial spearfisher. His body bears his stories. Bitten by rattlesnakes twice—once at seventeen, and again in his fifties, when he lost a finger. And yet, through every close call, his respect for nature only deepened.
“Alligator face to face—even if I am outside his vision by staying low and in the front, he can know I am there. Every gator has a different personality. Some are more dangerous than others. Gators are unpredictable and extremely dangerous.”
To Manny, these creatures aren’t trophies. They’re teachers. Each one, a test of patience, of presence, of knowing your place in the natural order.
From cult TV fame on Jackass, Wildboyz, and Gator Boys to a lifetime of hunting with nothing but a skillet and a spear, Manny has become a living legend. He’s also a gifted craftsman, hand-making fishing tridents and stainless steel necklace charms with the same care and clarity he brings to the wild. But ask him where his strength comes from, and he’ll tell you plainly:
“I give all credit for what I know and did to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Faith, for Manny, isn’t just belief. It’s the foundation of his worldview. It’s what taught him to honor every life, to move with purpose, and to understand that true power comes not from domination, but from respecting the freedom of all living things. He walks the wild with courage, but never without humility.
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