Jamie Coots was a Pentecostal pastor who starred on the National Geographic Channel reality show Snake Salvation. Coots was a third-generation snake handler who died died February 15, 2014, in Middlesboro, Kentucky, as a result of a snake bite.
Coots intended to pass the tradition, and his Kentucky church, Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name, on to his son, Little Cody.
The practice of snake handling as a component of religious worship is derived from biblical passages in Chapter 16 of the Gospel of Mark that include the statement that followers who "take up serpents" will not be harmed. It is illegal in most states, but is still practiced in some parts of the South.