The distraught widow of a man who filmed himself dying after letting a mamba bite him when she left him says she cannot bring herself to watch the footage.
Well-known Russian snake expert Arslan Valeev, 31, pleaded with viewers to call Ekaterina ‘Katya’ Pyatyzhkina as he visibly deteriorated live on YouTube.
Katya, 24, has now revealed that she rushed to the home they used to share when she got a call but was too late as her husband been taken to hospital where he immediately died.
Ex: Valeev and his former wife Ekaterina ‘Katya’ Pyatyzhkina, who ran the channels with him, broke up after he beat her up following accusations that she cheated on him
Ms Pyatyzhkina filed for divorce and had since moved on to a new relationsh
Happier times: Valeev and Ms Pyatyzhkina on their wedding day at an unknown date
She said: ‘I loved him very much. I cannot for now comprehend what happened.’
‘I didn’t see his last broadcast. I got a call from our subscribers after Arslan gave my phone number and they said he had been bitten by a snake.
‘I rushed to his house, but Arslan had been taken to hospital already.’
The camera was still rolling and she stopped it. Weeping, she admitted: ‘Of course, I loved him.’
Denying earlier reports they had divorced, she said: ‘We had disagreements, but we were still husband and wife.
‘We saw each other a few hours before this horror.’ She admitted: ‘I still did not watch this last broadcast. I just cannot make myself do this.’
The couple were famous for YouTube channels on animals with hundreds of thousands of followers, but she moved out of their marital home in April and stopped having sexual relations in July after which she began dating a new man, a broken Arslan had claimed in postings before he died .
Heartbreaking: Valeev made several pleas on camera for viewers to contact his ex-wife, pictured with some of their pet snakes, before he would pass
Live death: Russian YouTuber Arslan Valeev, 31, from St Petersburg, allegedly let his pet black mamba bite him on purpose, before he live streamed his final moments
Online fame: Valeev was a snake expert and former zoo employee who ran a YouTube channel with his ex-wife about exotic animals
He had also publicly apologised to her for beating her – from which she suffered concussion – after accusing her of cheating on him.
After the snake bit his hand, he told viewers: ‘If I die, then I die.’
He gave Katya’s mobile phone number and pleaded with those watching: ‘If someone manages to call her, if she has time to come to me and see me, I would be happy.
‘In fact I’m already dying. Farewell. I would be glad to see Katya. Damn, I’m shaking.’
Showing his bloodied bitten finger on an agonising broadcast made five days short of their second wedding anniversary, he said: ‘Pass on to Katya that I loved her very much.’
Valeev stumbled off camera and onto the street, and was rushed to hospital by his parents, but died soon afterwards.
In the posting when he apologised to Katya, he also wrote: ‘I see that everything is over for you, a new life began with someone you have long been close to.’
Her lover has been named as Kirill Kravchenko, involved in trading rare animals.
Valeev told his followers: ‘There were no betrayals, we had no sex since July, we parted even earlier.
‘They started to date at the end of July and I believe Katya about this.’
Happier times: The couple owned several reptiles as well as bobcats, who they ran another YouTube channel for
Bite: The moment of the bite itself was not shown, but Valeev showed his bitten finger to the camera during the broadcast
Mystery: A friend has claimed that Valeev was bitten by accident, but others say he killed himself after being unable to get over the divorce
He told her: ‘I am sincerely happy about it, but too weak not to react with stupidities. ‘Without her, he said he was ‘hurt and lonely’ adding:
‘I cannot describe the shock that I experience every day when I wake up in this new world without someone I have lost – and deserved to lose.’
His mother Darikha Nurkushova told Channel 5: ‘His father blames Katya for them having poisonous snakes in the home.
‘But it is not true. He says that when there was no Katya, there were no poisonous snakes.
‘When Katya has appeared, she allegedly made him to buy poisonous snakes. But I do not blame Katya for anything.
‘Katya is not guilty. We just need to care for Katya now. She is like a daughter for me. I got the daughter, having lost my son.
‘They created this collection together. They survived together so much. I do not know how Katya is enduring all this. They loved each other.’
Katya left him because the conditions in their home with the snakes he used for TV streaming were appalling, she said.
His father Murat said he had a feeling of ‘hatred’ for those who encouraged him to keep poisonous snakes at home for his TV broadcasts.
Heartbreak: The couple broke up earlier this year after Ekaterina obtained a divorce on the grounds of domestic violence
Valeev reportedly beat his ex partner so badly that was left with a concussion