Did The Walking Dead’s Emily Kinney REALLY Eat Guinea Pig?
By Adam Carlson
When The Hunters were seen eating Bob’s leg, they weren’t eating human flesh. Instead, they substituted pork. This is a pretty common practice on The Walking Dead for most scenes. However, Emily Kinney wasn’t as lucky.
In Slabtown (season 5 episode 4), Emily Kinney’s character of Beth is kidnapped and taken to a demented hospital. As a meal in that hospital, the cafeteria had guinea pig as their meat choice. Beth had put some of the tiny meat on a plate for Dr. Steven Edwards as his dinner. In an act of kindness, Dr. Edwards offered some guinea pig to Beth.
But what did Beth actually eat? She told Entertainment Weekly all about it:
"“We actually did have real guinea pig. But we didn’t do guinea pig for every take because the pieces were so thin and not very able to cut off very easily off the bone, so we did have chicken for some takes.”"
Hold on. Emily Kinney really ate guinea pig? Ms. Kinney is a known vegetarian when not on The Walking Dead. The only time she consumes meat is when it is a requirement of the show. To go from not eating meat at all to eating guinea pig was is a HUGE transition.
So what did Emily Kinney think of the guinea pig meat?
"“It was so gross.”"
The gross factor might go beyond the fact that is was guinea pig meat. Part of the problem might have been that Emily Kinney spent some time with some of the caged animals prior to consuming the meat.
"“What was interesting for that scene is the day that we shot that scene is the same day that we shot the scene where Noah and I are talking in the room with all the guinea pigs in the cages. So in the morning of that day we were shooting scenes with live guinea pigs running around and making noises, and then that evening we’re eating dead guinea pig.”"
It’s strange that they wouldn’t substitute the meat for Emily Kinney in that scene. Instead, we got to see a young lady eat a common household pet.
Did they go too far in having Emily Kinney eat real guinea pig in that scene? Was it even necessary? Discuss it in the comments below.