Jamie Coots, who was the star of the National Geographic Channel reality TV show “Snake Salvation,” has died after being bitten by a snake during a weekend service.

Coots was bitten by a rattlesnake during a service Saturday night in Middlesboro, Kentucky.  Emergency personnel arrived at the church from a 911 call but Coots had left the church and gone home.   Police and medical crews arrived at the pastor’s home around 9 p.m. and urged him to accept treatment but he refused.  A return visit by paramedics an hour later found the pastor dead.

His son Cody told FoxNews that his father had been bitten eight times before by rattlesnakes but never had such a severe reaction.

“In following Pastor Coots,” National Geographic channel said in a statement, “we were constantly struck by his devout religious convictions despite the health and legal peril he often faced.  Those risks were always worth it to him and his congregants as a means to demonstrate their unwavering faith.”

Snake handling is illegal in most states including Kentucky.