RESCUE snakes from Dovercourt made their television debut giving a reality TV star a massage.

Snakey Sue Coleman was called by the makers of the ITV show, Tanya’s Extreme Therapies, who were looking for a snake masseuse.

The alternative therapy is popular in Asia and America but there are currently none in the UK.

The programme, available on ITV player now, features Tanya Bardsley from the Real Housewives of Cheshire getting up close to Mexican black king snake Truffle, two royal pythons and Bou the albino Burmese python.

Sue, of Main Road, Dovercourt, said: "They contacted me as to get this massage they would have to go to America or Israel.

"They asked me as they had seen something on my website about snake massage.

"I had contacted a few beauty parlours to see if anyone would be interested in doing it but nobody was.

"It is really very good for you, they relax you when you are holding them."

But Sue doesn't think the programme is a very good advert for the benefits of snake massage as star Tanya was so scared she jumped off the massage table, clutching a sheet to cover herself.

She said: "The programme was a bit silly really.

"It's not a great advert for this with a woman falling all over the place.

"In Asia they get people to lay down and bring half a dozen really big pythons and lay them all over them.

"In Israel they use corn snakes.

"But it doesn't really matter what snakes you use in a sense."