It’s impossible to have watched “Swamp People” and not know who the King of the Swamp is. As one of the show’s original cast members, Troy Landry won the audience’s approval with his fearless attitude and veteran skills during his hunting ‘gators’ escapades in the Louisiana swamps.
However, Troy has still faced some health-related difficulties, which have put his life at risk and worried his fans no end, bringing up many questions regarding his current well-being and whether he’s been able to keep up his hunting escapades and the show.
So how is Troy doing now after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, and has he undergone treatment or even surgery? Stay here to know this and so much more about Troy’s whereabouts, health and life in general.
How Is Troy Landry Recovering?
Finding out that Troy was diagnosed with prostate cancer was surprising, to say the least. The worrisome news of his illness was revealed by Troy himself on his Facebook in June 2022: ‘Surgery went good. No more prostate. It was ate up with cancer’, he wrote, following the post with grateful words towards his doctors, family and fans, while showing a photo of himself on a hospital bed after the surgery.
It was unknown that he’d been diagnosed with cancer before that post, but the news of his successful medical procedure was nonetheless well-received by his fans. As revealed by Jacob Landry in a Facebook video from August that year, his father Troy had been recovering quite well since his surgery: ‘he’s back home feeling much, much better. His days have been getting better and better’, Jacob affirmed, adding that some after-surgery tests showed that Troy was effectively cured.
Regarding Troy’s comeback to hunting, he’s back on the road and as strong as ever. As seen on his social media posts, Troy was actively hunting and fishing in the next couple of months after his surgery, even taking it upon himself to teach his younger grandchildren how to catch some wild animals on their own. All in all, it’s great to know that Troy has overcome this complex chapter of his life, and is moving forward.
Is He Still In “Swamp People”?
Given Troy Landry’s recent health-related issues, many fans worried that he might be absent from “Swamp People” for the first time since the show premiered in 2010. However, nothing can keep Troy away from the swamps for long. As seen in the show’s 14th season premiered in late 2022, not only is Troy back on the boat catching ‘gators with his son Jacob, but he’s also recovered well from his prostate surgery earlier that year to return to his daily activities, which include fishing and cooking.
Troy not only continues to hunt ‘gators for a living though, as his other show “Serpent Invasion” is doing great as well, and even premiered a third season in early 2022. Other of his current projects include sharing outdoors-lifestyle content on the Facebook fan page Da Landry Life, on top of spending lots of quality time with family and friends.
https://www.facebook.com/troylandrykingofswamp/posts/pfbid0knnFcnn42HaUPNndZ1jFcBCcABNWMouy2VCrNkZ7GXM4fLowbwr1tc4Ssw6Zu52Al
Other Shows
Besides appearing in the original “Swamp People” show since 2010, Troy Landry hasn’t been absent from the franchise’s spin-off series either. The first one was “Swamp Mysteries With Troy Landry”, premiered in 2018 and which focused on Troy’s adventures as he investigates and catches some of the most terrible and fear-inducing creatures from the southern US.
While searching for fearful animals such as the Mississippi-based ‘El Diablo’ ‘gator, and the Louisiana-famous or wild and incredibly big garfishes is different from what we’re used to seeing in “Swamp People”, the truth is that Troy has always been quite open about his fascination for the unknown. As he recalled during an interview with TV Tango, some Southern legends such as the bear-like creature ‘One Eye’, and Big Foot, have been fueling his interest for a long time: ‘There are things out there that I’ve heard that I don’t know. I’m not scared, but I wonder what ‘it’ is’, he said.
Besides his one-season-long mystery hunting series, Troy also appears in “Serpent Invasion”, a 2020-premiered “Swamp People” spin-off series which takes him and other hunters to Florida’s Everglades National Park to capture Burmese pythons, considered an invasive species in the area for threatening its ecosystem in recent years. Of course, Troy is always up for a challenge regardless of wherever it takes him.
What Does Troy Do Off-Season?
Troy Landry’s adventures in the swamps are worthy of praise, but hunting ‘gators isn’t the only thing he loves doing.
When he’s not harvesting gators on his own or filming the show, Troy spends his time fishing and supplying crawfish all around Louisiana. This activity takes place a little after ‘gator season is over, taking Troy and his family to fish in rivers in Lafayette and to the Atchafalaya River Basin every November, and during the first couple of months of every year.
While it’s unclear how profitable is the crawfish business for the Landrys, fishing is in the family’s blood. As Troy admitted in an interview with the New York Post, before retiring, his grandfather owned two fishing boats that were passed down to his father, who also taught the occupation to Troy from an early age: ‘he had a little fish factory, we’d skin all the fish he would catch, we’d work until 10 or 11 almost every night when I was growing up’, affirmed, adding that at least eight months per year he is catching crawfish and sometimes shrimps too.
Keeping family traditions seems to be the Landrys’ thing, hence why Troy’s grandchildren have learned the hunting and fishing arts from the man himself, as he proudly shows on his Facebook page.
What Happened To Troy’s Lawsuit?
It isn’t unusual for reality stars to be involved in some type of legal issue, and Troy Landry is no exception, though in his case it wasn’t him who was supposedly at fault. As seen in episodes of “Swamp People”, Troy’s sayings are memorable and have started a trend of catch phrases which have become recognizable by the show’s audience over the years.
Phrases such as ‘mudda fricka’ and ‘choot em’ among others were registered by Troy back in 2010, using them to produce a line of merchandise of T-shirts, mugs and hats under his company Troy Landry Productions, In 2012, Troy was left with no option but to sue the companies Ripple Junction Design, Halpern Import and National Cap and Sportswear for allegedly copying his registered phrases, accusing them of ‘soliciting business, executing contracts, licenses and selling infringing goods’, according to The Advocate report on the case.
The report also revealed that back then Troy owned the rights to this name, along with nine phrases in total, out of which four were used by the aforementioned brands. While it’s unclear who won the lawsuit or whether the parts came to an out-of-court agreement, nowadays Troy continues to sell items with his trademark phrases in retail stores all around Louisiana, and through online shops.
Other Legal Issues
Despite being a veteran in the field, Troy Landry has faced some issues when it comes to his hunting escapades. Back in November 2012, he was cited by the State of Arkansas for importing products from another state which were considered illegal and dangerous to the general public, but there’s more than just that.
As it happened, Troy was returning from a hunting trip fin Nebraska along with his sons Chase and Jacob when he was stopped by officers while passing through Arkansas on their way to Louisiana. As reported by authorities, the Landrys were transporting deer meat in coolers, and six heads of their recently-hunted animals on a truck, all of which totaled thousands of dollars in value.
Though the load was considered usual for any experienced hunter, the Landrys weren’t aware that importing deer carcasses was prohibited in Arkansas to prevent the spread of the incurable and highly contagious Chronic wasting disease, which is believed to affect elks and deers.
While neither Troy nor his sons were arrested for breaking said regulation, their meat was confiscated and the racks were released only after the family paid hundreds of dollars in fines. The Landrys accepted that they were at fault, though not without complaints: ‘I could understand it if we stopped in Arkansas in the night and processed a deer or something, but we were doing 75 miles per hour coming home’, as Troy told Arkansas Online back then.
Headed up to Erie, Pa for the Field and Stream Grand Opening of their new store!! Come by and say hi from 4-7 today!! pic.twitter.com/JqSQ2JMEv0
— Jacob & Troy Landry (@JacobandLyndsi) June 13, 2014
How Did Troy Get Into Hunting?
Gator hunting is more than just a business for those involved in it. For people particularly around the Atchafalaya River Basin, and all Louisiana, harvesting and tailing gators for a living is something they take very seriously, not only for the dangers that such a profession entails, but also because it’s their way of keeping a centuries-old tradition alive, as well as a stable population of alligators.
It isn’t different for Troy Landry, whose family has been living in Pierre Part for centuries, and has passed their fishing and ‘gator hunting knowledge down through generation after generation: ‘People ask me, ‘How you got into that?’ I didn’t get into it, I was raised in it’, he told The New York Post. However, Troy also admits that while chasing ‘gators is profitable these days, decades ago he and his family did it for a different reason: ‘We (used to) hunt for the meat, it was different. Now, we hunt ‘em because we can sell the hides more than the meat’. he affirmed.
Whether or not they do it for money or survival, the truth is that there’s no such thing as taking ‘gator hunting for granted for these people, hence why Troy and many other hunters take it upon themselves to expand their business to fishing and tourism.
Has Troy Been Arrested?
As far as it’s known, Troy hasn’t been arrested, but that doesn’t mean that his family hasn’t faced some serious legal issues. As it happens, in September 2016, Troy’s son Chase was accused of shooting at a shrimp boat in Louisiana and then left the area.
It didn’t take long for authorities to arrest the on-the-run Chase, who admitted shooting at the boat, thinking he was in danger of being run over by it. Further police reports stated that despite not having any human losses during the incident, the shrimp boat was severely damaged by the bullets, and leaked gasoline.
Chase was scheduled to appear in court later in December 2017 and faced charges of wrongful use of a firearm. However, failing to appear in his trial only brought more trouble for Chase and an arrest warrant was ultimately issued for him.
Unfortunately, it’s unclear what Chase’s legal problems were resolved, but he eventually returned to his spot in “Swamp People”, and is also nowadays featured in the spin-off “Serpent Invasion”.
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“Swamp People” Firing Scandal
While reality TV is not free from scandals, many of those involve personal issues between cast members and rarely have anything to do with the franchise itself. However, things took an unexpected and somewhat ugly turn for “Swamp People” when the show fired several of its cast members before the seventh season premiere.
According to one of the affected cast members, Liz Choate, the show’s then-newly renewed production was solely responsible for the decision, which took her and the other hunters by surprise. Other cast members such as Willie and Junior Edwards were accused of asking for a pay raise before being fired, though the pair denied those claims.
Although the Landrys weren’t affected by the massive layoffs from the show, enraged fans accused the family of being responsible for the firings, something that cast members Jeromy Pruitt and David LaDart disagreed with: ‘We have never encouraged any negativity towards your family because we consider y’all our family’, they wrote on a Facebook post directed to Jacob Landry, also admitting that some other cast member hadn’t been quite so solid behind the affected hunters.
Despite the huge scandal, cast members Liz Choate, Tommy Chauvin and Junior and Willie Edwards eventually returned to the series, but others weren’t as lucky. However, the Landrys, and especially Troy, have always maintained a stable position in the cast, and that doesn’t seem likely to changed any time soon.
