6 burning Tiger King questions answered by the series’ only not-awful person, Saff
Saff, featured in the Netflix documentary Tiger King. (Netflix)
Tiger King star Saff, who likely suffers back problems from shouldering the weight of the entire show on his shoulders, has opened up about his time on the show.
In an interview with Hit Station, Saff, the kind-hearted park manager of G W Exotic, gave the lowdown on how the world is treating him post-Tiger King.
Since moving from Oklahoma to California, Saff described to the radio station how he feels about the people featured in the Netflix docu-series and who would play him in a movie adaptation of the show.
1. Saff ‘disconnected’ from the Tiger King world in 2018.
Saff described how, what watching the show made clear to him was that everyone in the big cat industry is “each other’s enemy”.
As Joe Exotic’s feud with anima rights activist Carole Baskin curdled into a plot to do assassinate her, Saff eventually quit the Wynnewood zoo and “disconnected” from anyone involved in 2018.
Considering it was his life for more than a decade, Saff said he’s “starting [his] life over”, something he’s looking forward to doing.
2. He’s no longer working with big cats, has a ‘nine to five’ instead.
Since leaving the roadside petting zoo, Saff has retired from the big cat world altogether.
He now has an “average American job, I clock in, I clock out in the evening, go to bed and do it all over again the next day”.
Asked whether he missed the, well, wild world of big cats, Saff said: “Oh, yes, every day.
“I don’t choose, as of right now, to be in the industry professionally, but I definitely plan on being a customer.”
3. Joe Exotic was more ‘obsessed’ with Carole Baskin than the park, prompting Saff to leave.
Saff said that Exotic is “not guilty” for the count of attempted murder, and that he is a “walking, living, breathing TV show”.
But he was “completely obsessed” with Baskin, Saff suggested, “every single aspect. He was more obsessed with her sometimes than he actually cared for the park.”
As this obsession engulfed Exotic, this prompted Saff’s call to shelve his life on the park
4. Saff has become ‘famous’ in his neighbourhood, which he finds ‘odd’.
When the hosts joked that Saff is the most “normal” person “among a bunch of whackjobs”, Saff said he “consumed [himself] with the animals” and distanced himself from the drama that ensnared the employees.
He’s also doing his best to step away from the spotlight that the success of Tiger King has catapulted himself into. “It’s very, very odd for me. I’ve always been very low-key.
“I’m reckless by nature and love to get into everything,” he continued, “so, this is absolute chaos for me, it’s crazy.”
5. He would ‘maybe’ take legal action against Joe Exotic after a tiger tore his left arm off.
When a tiger took a bit out of Saff’s arm in 2013, he was rushed to hospital and then swung back to work after having his arm amputated just seven days’ later.
Saff was quizzed on the seismic incident and whether he would consider filing a case against Exotic.
“Maybe,” he said, “I never, ever looked into it.
“Even if there was one, I wouldn’t take it up. I got everything I needed for my experience there and it never had anything to do with money.”
6. Saff would get Taylor Lautner play him in a Tiger King big screen adaptation.
As rumours swirl that a movie based on the event of the documentary and Exotic’s life is in the works, which actor would play the Tiger King stars has been a welcome distraction from how there’s a global, viral pandemic suffocating the world right now.
Exotic has said he wants Brad Pitt to portray him, while his former flame John Finlay has said he wants Channing Tatum.
Who would play Saff? He suggested Twilight star, Taylor Lautner.
