Making some sense of the Croc Hunter

Seems odd to do this, bear with me...
but I really liked to watch the Croc Hunter for a while. You'd flip on the TV and here is this incredibly chipper but clearly crazy man tackling a crocodile and telling you that it was beautiful (debateable) and dangerous (of course!).

So I have several thoughts going on here;
I guess I'm surprised that he made it as far as he did.
And I just don't think he was in it for the fame.
And he was completely devoted to the cause of wild animals and their conservation.
And lets face it...not a lot of people love crocodiles and their ilk.
And I feel terribly for his family.

I've thought about how watching him made me think of NASCAR, where you just know they're "gonna wreck". But that's so commercial and casual.

And I thought about the Roman gladiators and how maybe watching his show is sort of our culture's version of that vicarious blood-lust. But, that was coerced, vicious and somehow more brutal.

And its not remotely like missionaries either, putting themselves in danger because of their belief that they are doing the right thing for the world by caring for those that no one else does.

I guess when I come down to it,
I think I can understand the devotion, although perhaps not the object of it.
Rest in peace.