Originally Posted by Theagenes
Exactly. I am in no way trying to make light of this at all. I've been a fan of Oleg since his debut. But, there are many fishy things about this story. I hope to God this is just publicity stunt. I've been doing a little more research since my last post and now I'm even more inclined to disbelieve this story. Consider the following:

This is a UPDATE from the KABC page:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/06...ing_africa.html

A key excerpt:

When the pilot did show up, he "found a note in a bag saying (the campers) were headed west toward the coast," presumably on foot, Spillane said. Also left behind was a video the crew had been shooting for the witchcraft project.

Spillane said the witchcraft documentary project "had been going haywire" when the crew decided to go camping. At one point, the crew had been chased out of a village.

A video shows a woman screaming at the group as they scrambled into a van, followed by shaken Lodge translating her "death" curse for the rest of the team.

The video brought back by crew member Charlie Solomon -- who recently returned to Los Angeles -- also shows the documentarians fleeing after an unidentified substance was thrown on them.

"It could be poisonous," a woman is heard saying on the tape, which was aired on ABC7.

"This stuff stinks," a man says.

"Let's go, go, go, go," another man says. "Let's just get out of here."

In the original story all that was found was a note. Now we have a dramatic video as well that has the crew having the mojo put on them by some witchdoctor. (Good call JohnBlack!)

Some other things to consider:

-Natasha Terry is well-known radio personality and frequent guest of Howard Stern and others. Her disappearce should have made more of a ripple. She often appears on KLSX in LA, yet there is no mention of her disappearance on their webpage.

- Surely this group would have had a sat phone. Why didn't they call someone when the helicopter didn't show up instead of leaving behind a note and their video?

- Sherri Spillane has a somewhat shady reputation. She is an agent who specializes in people who are involved in scandals. Her clients have included Joey Buttafuoco, Tonya Harding, Amy Fisher, John Wayne Bobbitt, Gennifer Flowers, Tammy Faye Bakker, and Kato Kaelin. Here's an article about her and Joey Buttafuoco from New York Magazine circa 1998, complete with a quote or two from Ron Jeremy:

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/new.../features/2666/

I'll feel pretty bad if this thing turns out to be legit, but taking all of this into account, I'm going to have to call "work." And I very much hope that I am right.

An international film team which apparently disappeared while on assignment in a remote part of Namibia has been found safe in a bizarre case said to involve a Hollywood sex guru, a Russian Rambo, a British businessman and African witchcraft, The Associated Press reported.

U.S. and British diplomatic officials said Saturday that a group of foreigners — comprising two Americans, a Briton, a South African and a Russian — were located in the Epupa region of northwestern Namibia.

“The crew members were rescued this afternoon, and they are generally in good health,” said the U.S. embassy spokesman in Namibia, Stan Harsher. A British embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, concurred and said the embassy hoped to speak to the crew on Sunday.

The team apparently went missing early last week while trying to film a documentary on witchcraft, according to a Los Angeles-based publicist, Sherri Spillane, who said they were chased out of a village where they were trying to film.

Spillane, who represents people who gained prominence on reality TV, identified the missing as Los Angeles pilot Christopher Banninger; British-born businessman Mike Edson; Russian actor Oleg Taktarov; South African athlete K.J. Lodge; and a sex therapist and radio host who goes by the name of Natasha Terry.

Spillane said the witchcraft documentary project “had been going haywire” when the crew decided to go camping last week. At one point, the crew had been chased out of a village, she said. They failed to connect with their helicopter pilot and disappeared without trace, she said.

However, local officials and newspapers voiced doubt about the whole scenario. The claims were barely reported in the Namibian press and were met with scepticism by local southern African newspapers. However, the Russian Embassy in Namibia investigated the disappearance of Taktarov, according to the Interfax news agency.

“Desert puzzle of sex guru and the Bear,” said Cape Town’s evening Argus newspaper on Friday. It described Terry as a “sultry sex therapist and talk show host” and Taktarov as a “Russian bear” who was a champion fighter born in Siberia and was subsequently protected by the KGB secret service before moving to the United States.