‘7 Little Johnstons’ Stars Take a Walk on the Wild Side With Raptor Experience in Exclusive Sneak Peek

The stars of 7 Little Johnstons are embracing their adventurous sides with a face-to-face raptor encounter!

In a PopCulture.com exclusive sneak peek of Tuesday’s all-new episode of the TLC show, Johnston siblings Emma, Alex, and Jonah take Alex’s girlfriend Allie and Jonah’s girlfriend Ashley for a walk on the wild side with the Total Raptor Experience.

“Raptors are these oddities of nature that hunt with their back feet,” Total Raptor Experience’s Dave tells the group as they marvel at the bird sitting on his gloved arm. “Hawks and owls and eagles and falcons have got these really sharp, crazy talons on their back feet, and that’s all about grabbing the prey.”

With that in mind, it’s time for the TLC stars to get in on the action, donning heavy-duty gloves as they prepare for a close-up encounter with “hawk ambassador” Ollie.

Jonah admits it was scary “waiting for the bird to hopefully stick the landing on your arm and nowhere else on your body, because we have been informed about the talons that they have.”

As people with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, Jonah said the experience can be even more intimidating. “We don’t have the longest arms, so when this bird lands, and we have our arms out, it is closer to our face than the average person that does this,” he explains. “And then you have to look at the bird’s perspective too. Like, how often does this bird see little people? So it’s probably like, ‘What in the hell have I signed up for?’”

It might be a scary experience, but Dave reveals that having shorter arms might actually be a benefit for the 7 Little Johnstons stars. “I, for one, have never worked with little people before, but the fact that the folks today had relatively short arms actually made it easier,” he explains. “You want your arm in close to you anyway — it makes it much easier to hold the bird. The bird’s more comfortable because it’s nice and safe, and I think it’s actually an advantage.”

As Ollie flies from arm to arm, Jonah jokes that it’s his own girlfriend who is “the funniest” to watch, as she “ducks” every time it comes near.

Emma agrees that Ashley was “very scared” of the bird, mimicking her startled face, as Ashley owns up to her shock. “I mean, it comes at you, and you kind of jerk,” she tells the camera, “but I mean, it wasn’t like abrasive or anything. It didn’t hurt.”

7 Little Johnstons airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on TLC.