ANIMAL PLANET REELS IN A CRAZY NEW SEASON OF "OFF THE HOOK: EXTREME CATCHES"

-- Showtime Eric Young Gets Back on the Water to Tackle New Fishing Foes with 18 New Episodes -

(New York, New York, October 9, 2012) - Animal Planet has ordered a second season of its ultimate fishing roadtrip adventure series featuring professional wrestler Showtime Eric Young. The sophomore season of OFF THE HOOK: EXTREME CATCHES will contain 18 half-hour episodes and return in the summer of 2013. In its first season, it reeled in more than 620,000 viewers per episode and ranks in the top five new series with men (#4 in M25-54 and M18-49).

In OFF THE HOOK: EXTREME CATCHES, Young, an avid yet novice outdoorsman, gets out of the ring and turns in his tights for some tackle. He's on the adventure of a lifetime to hear, smell and taste big and small stories of the one that got away. Using all sorts of unique bait, tackle, poles and transportation, Young aims to be the makeshift MacGyver of fishing while learning the best and most unique techniques this country has to offer as he crisscrosses the country to try his hand at various fishing practices, ranging from wildly dangerous to all-out weird! During his quest, he learns an interesting array of intricate and industrious methods employed by some of America's fishing masterminds. And he will come to embrace odd local traditions practiced for decades and centuries. And no matter how long it takes, how crazy it seems or how many bumps and bruises he gets along the way, Young won't stop 'til he catches the ultimate fish, including the one that got away...

OFF THE HOOK: EXTREME CATCHES is a production of part 2 pictures for Animal Planet. Gregory Henry and David Shadrack Smith are the executive producers for part2 pictures, and Vaibhav Bhatt is the supervising producer for Animal Planet. Charlie Foley is senior vice president of development for Animal Planet.

Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 96 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.