Nicki Minaj’s VMAs Dancer Recalls Horrifying Encounter With Rocky The Boa Constrictor

Nicki Minaj has an extremely memorable trip to the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards last month. Unfortunately for one of her backup dancers, what should have been a fabulous evening turned into a reptile-related nightmare.

The Inquisitr previously reported that one of the rapper’s dancers, who was on-tap to help bring Minaj’s rump-oriented tune “Anaconda” to life at the event, had a unique albeit terrifying encounter with one of the boa constrictors during the performance. Rocky, the six-foot snake in question, apparently got spooked at some point during the song, and responded by sinking its teeth into the dancer’s arm. Not only was she understandably freaked out, she also spent a few hours at a nearby hospital.

Instead of keeping this freaky experience all to herself, Nicki Minaj’s backup dancer recently opened up about what went down on that fateful evening. As you may already have guessed, it’s not something 25-year-old Genise Ruidiaz will soon forget.

Although Ruidiaz has performed with the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull, none of the musicians incorporated giant snakes into their sets. Nicki Minaj’s backup dancer told MTV News that she was warned beforehand that she might have to work with a snake, but she wasn’t going to let a boa constrictor stand in the way of such an opportunity.

“On Friday, the day that it happened, I was practicing the tricks with another contortionist and coming up with an alternate pose, and the snake was fine. We did it about four times before the incident happened and he was gripping me the way he was supposed to, but I felt like he was getting tired and didn’t want to hold on much.”

The dancer said the trainers warned her that snakes only attack when they feel threatened. When Genise attempted to do “one trick” in particular, Rocky decided it was time to sink his teeth into her left arm. That’s when things got especially interesting.

“They sat me down on one of the props and one of the first people I saw was Nicki Minaj in front of me, making sure that I was OK. And that was the one thing that I really appreciated, because some people can’t handle blood or an incident like that — especially when it’s their big performance — so the fact that she was one of the first people that I saw, I was really thankful.”

Fortunately for Nicki Minaj’s VMAs backup dancer, she didn’t suffer any permanent damage as a result of the snake bite. What’s more, she told MTV News that the encounter hasn’t turned her off to working with snakes again down the road.

[Lead image via Mark Davis / Statesman]