For the 12th season (2021) of "Swamp People", the producers hoped to increase ratings by teaming Troy with a young, and very attractive, female partner, Cheyenne "Pickle" Wheat. Not merely eye-candy, "Pickle" has proven herself to be an energetic, skilled and accomplished alligator hunter. For this spin-off series, she has shown equal professionalism at hunting and capturing large pythons with her bare hands. Despite her stomping through the Everglades, she somehow manages to look as if she just stepped out of an air-conditioned trailer.
Pythons must be humanely killed on site. Transportation of live pythons is illegal.
Not everyone gets paid for removing the snakes. The only people the FWC pays for removing pythons are people working as FWC contractors. The FWC's Python Action Team - Removing Invasive Constrictors (PATRIC) engages qualified individuals with nonnative constrictor control efforts.
PATRIC Payment Structure
Team members will be paid monthly by the FWC for nonnative constrictor removal efforts based on hourly rates ($13.00/hour for surveys conducted on select public lands and $18.00/hour for select lands on the edge of the known pythons established range or specific sensitive habitats; and $18/hour for responding to survey requests). They also will be paid $200 for removal of each active nonnative constrictor nest that has been field verified by the FWC. For all submitted nonnative constrictors, the FWC will make an additional payment per nonnative constrictor of $50.00 for nonnative constrictors measuring up to four feet, and an extra $25.00 for every foot measured above four feet.
As of January 2023, over 18,000 pythons have been removed in the state of Florida. Of that total, over 11,000 pythons have been removed by FWC PATRIC and SFWMD PEP contractors since program inception in spring 2017.
The "season" that is often mentioned on the show is known as "The Python Challenge". Dates are set each year where the first and second place pays $10,000 & $7,500, respectively, for the most snakes caught.