What happened to the Gator Boys and are they still in Mississippi? Sun 20 August 2023 09:00 Celine Byford
Matthew Barrera
Published Apr 06, 2026
The Gator Boys haven’t been on our TVs since 2015. However, they’ve always been missed by fans, who wonder what happened to The Gator Boys. Are The Gator Boys still in Mississippi and what happened to Sara? They’re no longer on the Gulf Coast Ranch and alligator wrestler John Martinez died in 2013.
Paul Bedard and Jimmy Riffle are The Gator Boys. They operated an animal facility in the Everglades, to capture nuisance gators and return them to their natural habitat before trappers kill the animals. So, what happened to The Gator Boys on Animal Planet?
What happened to The Gator Boys?
In 2017, Jimmy Riffle, a prominent member of the Gator Boys, left the team due to exhaustion and burnout. He now runs his own rescue company, while Paul works as a trapper and owns a restaurant.
Ashley has transitioned to a real estate career. Jimmy appears to be happily enjoying family life with his partner, Heather, and recently celebrated his 38th birthday with her. He is no longer in a relationship with Gator Boys star Sara, but the two were last pictured together in October 2022.
Paul often shares updates on his job as a performer in a live alligator show. The celebrity trapper is contracted with the Florida state’s nuisance alligator program and often catches the animals.
Are The Gator Boys still in Mississippi?
No. According to Everglades Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, The Gator Boys Alligator Rescue is situated in the park, meaning you’ll often find team members performing in their live alligator shows.
Due to their hectic schedules, the park staff cannot guarantee which alligator expert will be present on any given day. However, two of them are Jimmy and Paul, as they are spotted in the site’s pictures!
Amid the uncertainty about whether the county would let them remain at Everglades Holiday Park, the Gator Boys left for Mississippi in 2013, filming the 2012 season there, but later returned to Florida.
The Gator Ranch on the Gulf Coast is the oldest gator farm in the State of Mississippi, where Jimmy and Paul used to film episodes for the Animal Planet series.
Alligator wrestler John Martinez sadly died
Alligator wrestler John Martinez was sadly killed by one of the gators in 2013. The lifelong animal lover, a Marine, and a character on the reality show Gator Boys died on September 3 that year.
He died at 30 years old and went by the nickname J-Mart. John made his first appearance on the show feeding Cheetos to an alligator and previously went to school in Kissimmee.
He loved Lion Country Safari, kept pet snakes, and always had a dog for a pet. Martinez worked at Billie Swamp Safari and volunteered at Native Village alongside his Gator Boys television appearance.
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