Ramon Rodriguez Shares Wild Story of Being Stung by a Scorpion Three Times While Filming in South Africa
While Viola Davis may be known for her fierce fighting skills in her upcoming action movie G20, her co-star Ramon Rodriguez had his own terrifying encounter on set — one involving a scorpion. Rodriguez, best known for his role in the Will Trent series, recently shared the harrowing details of the experience during an appearance on Good Morning America.
The incident occurred while the cast was filming in Cape Town, South Africa. Rodriguez recalled, “We had just arrived there, and the time difference was like nine hours. I was finally falling asleep when I felt something on my back, a little tingling. I swiped at it, and then I felt like a hot needle stabbing my shoulder.”
Startled, he jumped out of bed, turned on his phone’s flashlight, and discovered a scorpion in his bed. “It stung me in my sleep. I swiped it, I killed it,” he said. But his “New Yorker” instincts kicked in, and he feared there might be more scorpions lurking. “If there’s one, there’s more. I didn’t find any others, so I went back to bed,” he admitted.
Rodriguez didn’t immediately seek medical help. However, when he called a friend back home, she urged him to see a local doctor. “A doctor came, checked the scorpion, and said, ‘You’re lucky. If a scorpion has big pincers, the venom is low. If it has small pincers, the venom is high,'” Rodriguez explained. “Mine had big pincers, so I was fortunate. The scorpion had stung me three times, and I saw three welts on my back.”
As a result, the cast dubbed him the “Scorpion King” for the remainder of the shoot. In addition to this wild encounter, Rodriguez shared a lighthearted moment with G20 co-star Anthony Anderson, who also had a mishap on set, humorously falling over a chair when the cameras weren’t rolling.
While Rodriguez was dealing with the sting, he’s also been busy with his Will Trent role. The ABC series, which airs on Tuesdays, has been renewed for a fourth season, keeping Rodriguez in the spotlight as he continues to navigate both the wild world of action films and unpredictable scorpion encounters.
