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Rick Kirkham says he had nightmares after working with cruel Joe Exotic and had to flee US to save himself

Investigation Discovery's 'The Truth Behind Joe Exotic: The Rick Kirkham Story' is an explosive tell-all to expose the ugly truths at the Greater Wynnewood zoo
PUBLISHED JUN 3, 2020
Rick Kirkham, Joe Exotic (Getty Images/IMDb)
Rick Kirkham, Joe Exotic (Getty Images/IMDb)

“Let me tell you… this documentary is so accurate it’s frightening. I’ve actually had nightmares the last several nights since it’s been airing. If anything, the documentary doesn’t go far enough to show how crazy Joe was,” journalist Rick Kirkham told TMZ of Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic from the notorious Netflix docuseries 'Tiger King', just days after it aired.

This time around, however, Kirkham goes a step further to serve up some more disturbing details that we may have missed out on the Netflix special. Investigation Discovery's 'The Truth Behind Joe Exotic: The Rick Kirkham Story' is nothing short of an explosive tell-all by Kirkham intended to expose the ugly truths behind what he saw during his time with the eccentric figure at the Greater Wynnewood zoo.

In this special, which barely lasts an hour, Kirkham shares bone-chilling details about how his nightmares began at the zoo, and how he was almost at the point of no return just three months after working with Joe Exotic to produce his reality TV show.

Despite realizing the potential of the colorful cast of characters he had chanced upon and how he could put up one hell of a spectacle, Kirkham soon realized his life was more dear to him than dealing with the devil that was Joe Exotic, as he claims in the documentary. 

The journalist also touches on the infamous studio fire that destroyed his entire collection of footage. According to Kirkham, it was a criminal act by Exotic, who changed the locks of the studio just two days after learning he would not own any of the footage, which the filmmaker had spent months recording.

And after yet another fire in his US residence, the former Inside Edition reporter realized he had to flee the country for his own safety. As fate would have it, Kirkham found the love of his life in Norway, and eventually settled down in a small village in the land of the midnight sun.

One of the most interesting revelations made by Kirkham in the ID documentary was how Joe Exotic would allegedly inject his zoo workers with ketamine tranquilizers meant for his tigers.

Kirkham, who was Joe's head of TV production at the time, alleged that his erstwhile boss would "shoot up" workers with ketamine hydrochloride if they complained of coughs or colds — or if they just wanted to get high.

"I saw Joe giving animal drugs to the humans working there," the 62-year-old told producers. "When they'd get a cough or a cold, he'd go grab ketamine, an animal tranquilizer, and shoot them up with that."

"I realized everyone who worked at the zoo was some kind of misfit," he added. 

What's more? According to Kirkham, Exotic was far from the animal-loving character he portrayed on camera and wanted the world to believe in.

The former TV producer recalled in the documentary how Joe shot a woman's horse and had it chopped up with chainsaws in order to feed his big cats.

"An old woman had a horse and she pulled up," Kirkham said. "She was really upset and said 'can you please take care of my horse he needs to go out to pasture.'"

Joe, who Kirkham described as "unbelievably cruel," promised the distraught woman he would look after the sick horse. But as soon as she had left, he pulled out his revolver and shot the poor animal in the head.

“He portrayed himself as this ­animal lover and caretaker of animals," the journalist said. “But after he became comfortable with me, he started to do things that were wrong.”

In fact, the production head even claimed he saw Joe shoot two of his own tigers, and that one of them was killed just because it nearly bit him.

According to Kirkham, Joe was "terrified of big cats" contrary to his famous moniker. He alleged that the scenes showing Joe with tigers inside a cage were harmless, considering one of them was blind and the other tranquilized.

The veteran journalist revealed dire consequences of working at the GW Exotic Animal Park, saying he needed at least six months of therapy and one week of in-patient treatment to come to terms with what he had seen.

"I knew that I had sold out my own soul," Kirkham tells producers, adding that "it really messed with my head." 

'The Truth Behind Joe Exotic: The Rick Kirkham Story' also explores the once-successful TV reporter's journey spiraling toward drug addiction. Kirkham recorded years of video footage of himself smoking crack, having sex, being arrested in front of his children, and even threatening to kill his own father. The videos were later directed into a bestselling documentary about his life titled 'TV Junkie'. The film chronicled Rick's trajectory to rock bottom, even revisiting the moment he contemplated suicide and wished he had a gun to shoot himself in the head.

Having said that, the producer has now been clean for over two decades and lives a peaceful life with his new wife in Norway.

Meanwhile, Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage is serving 22 years in prison after being convicted last year of 17 counts of animal abuse and two counts of murder for hire in a conspiracy to kill his nemesis, Carole Baskin.

'The Truth Behind Joe Exotic: The Rick Kirkham Story' will air on Investigation Discovery at 9/8c on June 2. This special is a part of ID PRESENTS: NINE AT 9, with new premieres running nightly at 9 pm ET on Investigation Discovery.

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