2009 June, 25th

Phil Butler

All the publicists in the world cannot paint a more appealing portrait than a cuddly, cute animal. In the case of wildlife trainer Brandon McMillan, some combination of his “furry friends”, his own charisma, and perhaps just his careless hair, adds up to something irresistible to some. I was watching an interview between McMillan and The Insider’s Lara Spencer, and I could not tell whether the hostess was all over McMIllan or the fuzzy friends he had brought to the show.

It is fascinating that some people can walk onto a TV set, with “bed head”, scruffy clothes and what looks like a major hangover, and still carry a show. If Brandon McMillan can carry away every female talk host out there with a baby Kangaroo or koala, maybe all celebrities need to opt for pet wallabies instead of high profile publicity agents? Or, could it just be Hollywood?

Maybe the phenomena of “Brandon meets girl star” is limited to The Insider’s Animal Week, at least it appears that way when Brian plays on the floor with hostess Samantha Harris in this episode. McMillan has spent most of his life around animals. As one of the most notable behaviorists and animal trainers around, McMillan has trained animals for movies and television including The Jungle Book 2, I AM Sam, Jackass and the TV series 24.

McMillan’s latest endeavor, Animal Planet’s show “Night“, reveals the predators of the animal kingdom in their nocturnal lives. One cannot help but wonder (or shamelessly insinuate) if Samantha or Lara might be featured in one of the shows, under the scrutiny of night vision technology. For McMillan though, it appears as if expertise, some good looks, and a rather fearless (if disheveled) demeanor, make popularity seem easy by comparison. As for his apparent appeal to TV show hostesses, I think it is the cuddly creatures myself. But then, it is Hollywood.

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About the Author

Phil Butler is editor-in-chief of Everything PR and senior partner at Pamil Visions PR. He’s a widely cited authority on beta startups, search engines and public relations issues, and he has covered tech news since 2004. Phil wrote in the past for ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, Profy, SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, AltSearchEngines. Follow Phil on Twitter or send him an email at phil [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.

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