Lord Of The Rings - Monaghan Freaks Out Tv Show Host With Snake Accessory

LORD OF THE RINGS star DOMINIC MONAGHAN spooked U.S. chat show host JIMMY KIMMEL on TV on Wednesday night (11Nov09) by wearing his royal python pet as a wrist accessory during an appearance on the comedian's programme.

Kimmel joked, "I don't like your watch, I'm gonna tell you right now," prompting the actor to introduce the TV presenter to his "friend" Mojave.

Monaghan tried to calm Kimmel's nerves, telling the host, "She's supertame. You'd be in more danger from being hurt by a kitten... Isn't she beautiful?"

The actor is a well-known collector of reptiles and creepy-crawlies and admits his current menagerie includes two whip scorpions, called Indiana and Jones, a black widow spider, called Wichita, and a praying mantis, called Happiness.

He added, "I had a praying mantis called Happiness and a praying mantis called Smile and I put Happiness and Smile together, and, unfortunately, Happiness ate Smile."

Monaghan admits he started studying his preying mantis to perfect his creepy new character in U.S. sci-fi drama FlashForward.

He explained, "I tend to base characters that I play on animals and the reason why I wanted to get a praying mantis is because Simon..., I based on a praying mantis.

"He's like, single-track mind, he's got an idea what he wants to do, he's a killer, he's kinda a bad guy... I do specifically make body movements based on my praying mantis."

Monaghan explains his character in TV hit Lost was based on "a capucin monkey" and Merry from the Lord of The Rings trilogy was "kind of a koala bear".