'Dirty Jobs' to feature Purdue forensic entomology program
"Dirty Jobs" producer Dave Barsky used his shirt to block the stench from a trash bin when he and other crew members of the television show were at Purdue in July to prepare for filming of the show. Holding open the bin's top is entomology professor Ralph Williams, head of Purdue's forensic entomology team. The team will be featured Sunday (Nov. 28) on Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs." (Purdue Agricultural Communication photo/Tom Campbell)
"I didn't know what to expect ahead of time," Kristi Bugajski, a forensic entomology graduate student, says of taping "Dirty Jobs." "The camera crew turned on their equipment and just said, 'Take Mike through a day in your life.'"
A day in Bugajski's life consists of collecting and analyzing maggots and other insects from dead pigs to determine time of death and other information about crime scene scenarios that forensic entomologists might encounter.
The premise of the Discovery Channel reality series is to showcase the men and women who do the dirtiest jobs in America. From garbage collectors and chimney sweeps to animal barbers, bologna makers and goose down pluckers, Mike Rowe, the show's host, has seen it all. But until taping the episode "Bug Detective," which will air at 9 p.m. Sunday (Nov. 28), he had not smelled it all.
"The smells have never really had an effect on me," Bugajski says, "but Mike and his crew weren't used to the stench so there was definitely some gagging going on. You just learn to breathe through your mouth and get through it."
In the hourlong, unscripted episode, viewers will see Bugajski and Clayton Nolting, another forensic entomology graduate student, take Rowe through four crime scene scenarios -- a pig in a field, one in a garbage can, one wrapped in a tarp and one in a large towable trash container -- at the forensic entomology research compound, located 1.5 miles west of campus.
"We had Mike guess how long each pig had been out just by looking at them, and he was very wrong," Bugajski says. "By analyzing the maggots, we can get a pretty accurate time-of-death estimate."
Ralph Williams, professor of entomology, says, "It is really important for the audience to know that the pigs we use come to us after they are already dead or are dying of natural causes or fatal diseases. We don't breed pigs for the research we do."
Williams and Patrick Jones, forensic laboratory director, join the students in the lab during the analyzing and calculating portion of their research. "The students really did all the dirty work," Williams says. "We wanted the students to be the main focus of the episode. We wanted to really show how much our students are involved in research."
Instead of dwelling on maggots or rancid pigs, Rowe emphasized the educational aspects and the applications of forensic work.
"The 'Dirty Jobs' crew was excited to come to Purdue because of the learning and teaching opportunities associated with what we do," Williams says. "It's not just a dirty job; there is an educational twist. Insects are a natural part of the decomposition process, and understanding their biology and how they develop helps us solve crimes."
For more information on "Dirty Jobs" and additional times that "Bug Detective" will air, visit dsc.discovery.com/tv/dirty-jobs/.
