''Billy the Exterminator'' (formerly ''The Exterminators'') is an American

reality television series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

which aired on the A&E network. The show followed the professional life of William "Billy" Bretherton, an entomologist,

pest control Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the damage done and will range ...

technician, and the proprietor of Vexcon Animal and Pest Control in

Benton, Louisiana Benton is a town in, and the parish seat of, Bossier Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 2,048 in 2020. The town is named for 19th century U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton, a Democrat from Missouri and an ally of U.S. Pre ...

, which serves the

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...

- Bossier metropolitan area. Bretherton, a former Senior Airman in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, had previously been featured on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

's ''

Dirty Jobs ''Dirty Jobs'' is an American television series that originally aired on the Discovery Channel in which host Mike Rowe is shown performing difficult, strange, disgusting, or messy occupational duties alongside the job's current employees. The sh ...

'' series on the season 1 episode "Vexcon", and the season 2 episode "Termite Controller". Both previously and in his current show, Bretherton is known for his unusual fashion style, consisting mostly of

Goth A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were: *Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history *Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history Goth or Goths may also refer to: * Goth (surname) ...

-like black garments (many of them leather) with large silver jewelry and steel studs and spikes in various configurations. Many members of Bretherton's family, such as his parents, "Big" Bill and Donnie, and his brother, Ricky, as well as other employees, make frequent appearances. Donnie Bretherton normally acts as Vexcon's

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and rarely goes out on jobs. Ricky's ex-wife, Pam, resigned during the production of the first season. As noted in many episodes, Bretherton prefers, if at all possible, to relocate captured animals and is a proponent of

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...

methods of control. He frequently gives a description of the pests, their preferred environment, and any diseases (usually using their

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

names) associated with them. Ricky Bretherton acquired an allergy to bee and

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

stings due to being stung so many times. However Ricky found that this allergy has somewhat vanished/subsided as of 2015. Billy Bretherton entered the

at age nineteen intent on a career in

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...

. However, his military entrance examination indicated that he had an aptitude for

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

, and he was sent to study both biology and

entomology Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...

. His extermination career began in earnest while stationed at

Nellis Air Force Base Nellis Air Force Base ("Nellis" colloq.) is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in " Military ...

in North Las Vegas, Nevada.

Show history

"Back in 2004

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contacted us and wanted to shoot a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

for Discovery Channel (that was a) reality pest control show", said Bretherton. "They had interviewed about 200 different companies and found us and liked us. They sent scouts out that rode around with us for a day, made the determination that we would be good for filming, and we ended up on ''Dirty Jobs'' with Mike Rowe". The

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

network was also approached about picking up the series. Originally called ''The Exterminators'' during its first season in 2009 on A&E, the show was renamed ''Billy the Exterminator'' before the second season. The title change is reflected in repeats of season one episodes. Beginning in the show's fourth season, the Bretherton brothers go to various places throughout the United States to assist with local exterminators and wildlife rescue services in the removal of local vermin and wildlife, in addition to tending to a few jobs back in Louisiana. The program's opening credits have also been redone to better reflect Bretherton's attitude; the new credits omit Bretherton's wife, Mary, who resigned during the show's first season. The show's fifth season ran from February 11, 2012 to March 10, 2012, with two new episodes on Saturdays at 10PM ET. The show's sixth season began October 6, 2012, in the same

timeslot Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) of broadcast media shows, typically radio and television, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or season-long schedule. Modern broadcasters use broadcast automation ...

. On December 15, 2012, the show's sixth season timeslot moved one hour ahead to 11PM ET. In late 2012, Bretherton left Vexcon because of personal family issues and moved to Illinois; officially ending the show after six seasons. In October 2015, Billy's brother Ricky started hosting a YouTube series titled ''Vexcon The Exterminators''. In 2016,

Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. It is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Onta ...

and Proper Television began airing an original series starring Billy Bretherton for CMT in Canada titled ''Billy Goes North''. The show premiered in the United States on April 5, 2017 as the seventh season of ''Billy The Exterminator''. In 2020 Billy’s brother Ricky started airing season 2 of his web series on YouTube, now featuring Billy and Billy’s son Bryce as reoccurring cast members. In 2021 Billy’s son Bryce started a TikTok account that features Billy and Ricky as frequent guests. As of October 2022 the account “@brycebretherton” has amassed 117,500 followers.

Vexcon team

* Billy * Ricky: Billy's brother * Bill Sr.: Billy's dad * Donnie: Billy's mom * Mary: Billy’s Wife

Recurring assistants

* "Gator" Dave Wilson - Licensed Gator Hunter * "Danger" Dave Milliken - Animal Control Officer * "Killy" Kim Link * "Doc" Jim Holmes

Episodes

DVD releases

There have been four seasons of the show released on DVD. Season five is available on instant video online.

References

External links

* at A&E
Vexcon website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Billy The Exterminator 2000s American reality television series 2009 American television series debuts 2010s American reality television series 2012 American television series endings A&E (TV network) original programming Culture of Shreveport, Louisiana Documentary television series about industry English-language television shows Pest control Television shows set in Louisiana Wildlife rehabilitation