On 06 Sept 2001 Britney Spears stood in a cage with a live tiger and danced with a young yellow snake named Banana. Britney performed her iconic single “I’m a Slave 4 U” the first track of the legendary Britney album. This was also right around OP’s start of senior year high school, birthday and 9/11 (the latter which are the same day) [I’m including bc I forgot they were less than a week apart].
There are oral histories from the reptile trainer about Britney being nervous but ultimately handling it like a pro (as she always does!). Banana weighed approximately 20lb at the time.
[Spoiler (click to open)]
Steve Hano gave an interview regarding Banana in 2016, “Sometimes, when I come to these jobs, if people ask me if the animal has a name, usually it doesn’t have a name, so they just make up a name. And then for the rest of the job, they refer to it using that name… I don’t recall the name Banana.”
I guess we were all wrong! As for the snake formerly known as Banana? Hano continues, “It’s a lot bigger now,” he said, estimating it was 20–25 pounds in 2001, and is roughly 100 pounds and around 14 feet today. “It was young then.””
These snakes live for on average 20-25 years. I have no idea if not Banana Banana is still around!
where were you when this aired? i was in my parent’s bedroom because they had a tv and i was enraptured
