Summary

• Billy the Exterminator's sunglasses had a practical purpose against the camera lights.
• Billy may have been married in the '80s, but remains guarded about his personal life.
• The show was redirected to focus more on extermination and less on family drama.

After his breakthrough exposure on a few episodes of the reality series Dirty Jobs, A&E approached Billy the Exterminator to have a show of his own. Initially called The Exterminators — a strangely generic name given that Billy himself is the obvious star attraction — producers changed the title to the more fitting Billy the Exterminator following the first season. Like any compelling reality show, Billy the Exterminator isn't just about its lead character but the people around him, in this case, his colleagues.

This consists largely of his own family. Billy's partner in rodent removal is his brother Ricky, whose ex-wife Pam was briefly still part of the show despite their already being divorced. Billy's parents — Big Bill and Donnie — are a frequent source of comic relief. And in keeping with the tradition of spouses quickly exiting, Billy's wife, Mary, also left after the first season under somewhat contested circumstances, though the pair remain married. Getting rid of pests is a dirty job, as the unique business documentary showed, and the series was bound to have some dirty secrets.

Billy's Sunglasses Have An Importance

The Lighting Of Reality TV Caused Problems

Billy the Exterminator's personality is similar to a metal head, wearing leather jackets, t-shirts featuring metal bands, and chunky jewelry, as well as sporting a mullet. Given Billy's stylistic choices, it's easy to assume his ever-present sunglasses are another component of his rock-n-roll ensemble. In reality, there was a functional purpose for his sunglasses — to combat the bright lights of the camera crew.

Billy has said that the "hot lights" behind the cameras irritate his eyes, and he started wearing sunglasses all the time as a result. At A&E's insistence, he even had to custom-make sunglasses that wouldn't constantly reflect the lights and the camera crew (via Bullz-Eye).

"They’ve got hot lights on me constantly, and I just can’t look into the lights. It drives me insane. I started wearing sunglasses, but they said, 'No, you can’t do that, because you can see the reflection of the camera.' I said, 'If I can get a pair that doesn’t reflect, can I wear them?' They said, 'Sure.' So I slimmed up a pair of safety glasses and, using a grinder, I shaved them down…and they couldn’t see any reflection."

Billy's Might've Been Married In The 80s

Was Mary Billy's First Wife?

For a reality star, Billy the Exterminator is famously guarded about his personal life. It proved tough to even confirm whether he was still married to Mary following her departure from the show — and asking him such questions point-blank doesn't get anyone very far. There were also rumors that Mary wasn't Billy's first wife and the exterminator was briefly married in the '80s following his time in the military. Billy never officially denied that rumor, and it remains one of many mysterious aspects of his private life.

Billy Only Saves The Cute Animals

Billy Acts Humanely In Only Certain Circumstances

Much has been made of the lengths Billy is willing to go to, so he can save some of the animals he "exterminates," humanely catching and relocating them whenever possible. He has also been an outspoken supporter of natural methods of pest and rodent control. However, as many viewers have noticed, Billy can be a bit inconsistent in his supposed love for living things. He doesn't think twice about lethally gassing insects and cockroaches.

Few would fault him for the latter, but some have an issue with him not trying harder to rescue bees and wasps, as they can be essential components of local ecosystems. When it comes to pests of the furry kind, Billy seems to favor the cuter animals. He once told an interviewer, "I'll never love a rat," (via Bullz-Eye) despite his insistence that he doesn't show preference for one animal over another.

"I’m firmly of the belief that those are curses and plagues, not parts of the natural order that we should love. I’ll never love a rat, and I’ll never love a cockroach."

He Over Explains Things For The Audience

Billy The Exterminator Uses Billy & Ricky To Deliver Exposition

Reality shows need to have a little bit of exposition to get the audience up to speed on certain things, and various shows have different ways of dealing with this problem. It is most commonly via a narrator or on-screen text that relays the essential information that audiences need to know. In Billy the Exterminator, that exposition comes from those chats between Billy and Ricky on the way to each job.

The brothers are skilled veterans of the pest control field, and they don't need to go into great detail with each other about how to lure a raccoon out of a crawlspace or why a fox would take up residence in someone's attic. But they do so during the show, and that's entirely for the audience's benefit. This allows viewers to know all the relevant information before they arrive at their destination.

Scenes Are Cleverly Edit-Proofed

Billy & Ricky Once Again Over-Explains To Fix Editing Choices

In addition to the pre-job oversharing, the ins and outs of filming a television show also make the duo repeat themselves a lot more than they normally would. While a job is filmed, nobody has any way of knowing which shots will make it to air. It can prove tricky trying to edit together shots that may be slightly out of sequence because it makes a scene flow better. It's also risky to cut a shot out entirely as it may omit essential info.

As a way around this, producers of Billy the Exterminator have Billy and Ricky continually re-explain what they're doing, the facts of the creatures at hand, and so on, as a way to ensure that no key information is lost, no matter what shots or scenes end up being cut.

There Was A Blow-Up Over Pregnancy Rumors

The Reason Billy's Wife Left The Show

The closest thing to an official explanation of Mary Bretherton's departure from the show is that she just wasn't a big fan of being on television. An entirely believable story, as not everyone is built to be a reality TV star but some buzz has suggested that Mary's departure from Billy the Exterminator was at Billy's insistence. It was reportedly due to a major fight between him and Mary over (false) rumors around the office that she was pregnant.

That she was punished for rumors about herself seems strange, though the theory is that Billy has zero tolerance for office gossip and Mary ended up being the fall guy for that particular round of rumor-mongering.

Billy's "Dirty Jobs" Haircut Was Different

Why Was Billy The Exterminator Missing His Mullet?

Billy Bretherton's television debut came by way of his appearance on the TV series Dirty Jobs, which follows a variety of people with tough and/or unorthodox professions. While a lot of the style and persona that came to define Billy as a reality TV star was intact from the moment he was on camera, there was one noticeable difference: the length of his hair.

As Billy would later explain, his mother insisted he cut his long rocker locks to have a more clean-cut appearance on television (via Bullz-Eye). Billy says that Donnie also tried to talk him into toning down his edgy look even further by wearing a polo and khakis instead of his trademark uniform of leather and zippers, but he didn't budge on that. The haircut was as far as he was willing to go to placate his mom.

Ricky's Mom May Have Caused His Divorce From Pam

What Led To Rock's Divorce?

A lot of reports indicated that Billy the Exterminator's mother, Donnie, frequently butted heads with Ricky's wife, Pam, even while they were married. Ricky was known to play that down as the pair were too much alike and the bickering was mostly good-natured. Other sources close to the clan have claimed that Donnie's disdain for Pam was a major factor in Ricky and Pam's eventual divorce. However, while it seemed none of the family liked Pam, everyone seemed to get along with Mary (via Celebrity Dig).

Billy Has A Tendency To Push Women Off The Show

Very Few Women Lasted On Billy The Exterminator

After Pam and Ricky saw their marriage end, it caused a backlash when it came to Billy the Exterminator. Pam and Ricky divorced before the show even started. There was a point in time when all parties involved decided that Pam could keep working for Vexcon even after her divorce from Ricky, up to and including being cast on the show.

It was a source of dramatic tension to have a pair of ex-spouses working together. Once the first season ended, Billy had her removed from the show. The reason for Pam's departure is reportedly due, once again, to Billy's seemingly low patience for drama involving women. Pam was gone, and some claimed she was forced to resign by Billy, who just wasn't fond of her and didn't want to deal with her anymore.

Billy & Ricky Fake Being Shocked

Billy & Ricky Know What Is Coming & Act Shocked For Drama

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that the producers of Billy the Exterminator pick which jobs are TV-worthy and which ones aren't. It wouldn't be interesting to watch a routine cockroach fumigation or a quick, incident-free rodent removal. The jobs that are chosen to be featured on the show are naturally going to be a bit more interesting/dangerous than the average extermination job.

The fact that Billy and Ricky — who have been doing this for years and look as though they love what they do — seem to have a "What have we gotten ourselves into?" attitude before and/or during every job on the reality show feels a little disingenuous. That's because it is, with their supposed shock at the twists and turns of each job played up for dramatic tension.

Billy Is Freaked Out By Crowds

Billy Is More Of An Introvert

People who are into animals aren't always particularly fond of their fellow humans. That is somewhat the case with Billy, as he revealed to an interviewer that he isn't a big fan of large gatherings of people. Billy told the blog Bullz-Eye that he has always been "tripped out in large crowds" and that he tends to avoid going to things like concerts and sporting events because he isn't comfortable being in settings with a lot of other people.

He went on to say that his uneasiness with group settings has been exacerbated since becoming famous, as he is often mobbed when he's out in public — though he tries his best to always be patient with his fans, even when he's feeling "tripped out" by them.

Billy Redirected The Show Away From Family Drama

Billy Wanted Less Personal Drama On The Show

Just because a person agrees to be on a reality show, it doesn't necessarily mean that they want it to get too into their personal lives. That's where Billy was afraid that his show was headed in its early episodes, focusing too much on the interpersonal drama between himself and his family and not enough on rodent removal.

The stubbornly private Billy didn't like how much of his private life-- and the lives of his loved ones-- was on display during The Exterminator's first season. He insisted the show be retooled going forward to be more about the ins and outs of the extermination business and less about relationships and drama. While some of that certainly remained in the transition to Billy the Exterminator and beyond, the series has never again been as soapy as it was during season one.

Billy The Exterminator Has A Rabid Fan

Lilith, The Mystical Fan

A common question for a star of any kind is whether they are aware of any fans that people may find surprising. Typically, this question gives a subject the excuse to name-drop some celebrity who is a fan, or otherwise tell some kind of interesting anecdote. When you ask a guy like Billy Bretherton if he has any surprising fans, he gives a weird response.

IBilly initially replied with, "I'd have to say Lilith." Pressed for clarification, Billy said there is a woman who goes by Lilith who is a fan of the show and went on to not only explain the mythological significance of the name but even claimed that his fan Lilith has "glowing eyes."

The Show Never Had An Off-Season

Good TV Doesn't Take A Sick Day

Surprisingly, being sick on TV makes Billy more interesting for the viewer. In what must not have been Billy's idea, there have been several episodes of Billy the Exterminator in which he is sick or otherwise isn't at his usual physical or mental capacity. It makes Billy mess up and do things that make the job a little more dangerous than it needs to be. It seems unnecessary to add to an already risky job, but it creates exciting television.

Ricky Had Substance Charges

Ricky Was Arrested For Drug Possession

In April 2010, Ricky Bretherton was pulled over for a routine traffic stop in his native Louisiana when the officers found something more illegal than a moving violation. Ricky was in possession of illegal substances, and he and the unnamed woman he was traveling with were charged with felony marijuana possession and felony drug paraphernalia possession.

The judge set Ricky's bail at nearly $5,000, which was quickly paid, and he was released shortly thereafter on his own recognizance (via TMZ). Nothing is known about whether the female passenger was booked, made bail, or any other information.

Billy & Mary Were Also Arrested

The Billy The Exterminator Star Also Had Drug Violations

Ricky isn't the only Bretherton to get arrested on drug charges. Two years after his brother's run-in with the law, Billy and his wife Mary were arrested after a 911 call led police to the couple's hotel room where they found synthetic marijuana as well as a device commonly used to smoke it. Billy was hit with a $500 fine, which meant he didn't have to serve his 60-day prison sentence (via TMZ). He was also ordered to complete community service and rehab as he served out his probation.

Conversely, for reasons not made publicly clear, the drug charge against Mary was dropped, as was the paraphernalia charge for both of them. It is widely assumed the arrest and ensuing rehab were at the root of the personal time off that Ricky took from the show in 2015 before returning with the retooled, Canada-based Billy Goes North, which eventually morphed back into Billy the Exterminator.