''Expedition Unknown'' is an American reality television series produced by Ping Pong Productions, that follows

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

, archeologist and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

Josh Gates Joshua Gates is an American television presenter-actor and television producer who hosts and co-executive produces The Discovery Channel (and former Travel Channel) series '' Expedition: Unknown'' and also ''Legendary Locations''. He is also the ...

as he investigates mysteries and legends. The series premiered on January 8, 2015 and originally aired on

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

before moving to

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

in 2018. The thirteenth season premiered on June 19, 2024.

History

''Expedition Unknown'' premiered on January 8, 2015, on the Travel Channel and broadcast four seasons through 2017. At the start of the fifth season in 2018, the series moved to Discovery Channel, which became the new home for the series. In February 2020, a spinoff '' Expedition X'' premiered on Discovery. The series focuses on paranormal subjects and is hosted by Gates with Phil Torres,

Jessica Chobot Jessica Chobot (born Jessica Lynn Horn; July 7, 1977) is an American on-camera host and writer. She has hosted the IGN shows ''IGN Strategize'' and ''Weekly Wood'', which also runs on Xbox Live; she previously worked as presenter of the ''IGN D ...

(season 1-7), and Heather Amaro (season 8-). The eighth season of ''Expedition X'' premiered on August 14, 2024. In April 2020, Gates debuted '' Josh Gates Tonight'', a talk show spinoff on Discovery which originated as replacement programming during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The series features Gates interviewing celebrity guests via videoconference. The series last aired in 2022 with its fifth season.

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1 (2015)

Season 2 (2015–16)

Season 3 (2016–17)

Season 4 (2017–18)

Season 5 (2018)

Season 5 started on Tuesday May 29, 2018. The series moved to the Discovery Channel for its 5th season.

Season 6 (2019)

Season 7 (2019)

Season 8 (2020)

Season 9 (2021)

Season 10 (2022)

Season 11 (2023)

Season 12 (2023)

Season 13 (2024)

Season 14 (2024)

Season 15 (2025)

Extra Finds (2016–17)

Extra Finds episodes involve viewers interacting with Gates.

Hunt for the Yeti (2016)

Hunt for Extraterrestrials (2017)

Search for the Afterlife (2018)

Expedition: Back to the Future (2021)

In this four-part

Discovery+ Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discov ...

miniseries, Josh Gates is joined by ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985 ...

'' star

Christopher Lloyd Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and television shows since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future (franchise), ''B ...

as they journey across the U.S. in search of all surviving

DMC DeLorean The DMC DeLorean is a rear-engine, two–seat sports car manufactured and marketed by John DeLorean's DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) for the American market from 1981 until 1983—ultimately the only car brought to market by the fledgling compa ...

vehicles which were used in the film trilogy. Their mission is to sell a time machine at auction to benefit The Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Aftershows

After the Hunt is a series of aftershows for ''Expedition Unknown''.

Hunt for Extraterrestrials: After the Hunt (2017)

Expedition Unknown: After the Hunt — Season 6 (2020)

Season 6 of ''After the Hunt'', aftershows for season 8 of ''Expedition Unknown''

Shark Week Specials

''Expedition Unknown'' special episodes aired during Discovery's

Shark Week Shark Week is an annual week-long programming block on the Discovery Channel focusing on shark-themed programming. It originally premiered on July 17, 1988. The block is featured annually in the summer, and was originally devoted to conservati ...

in 2019 and 2021. These two specials are not classified as belonging to any season. Additionally, a shark-themed episode "Sharks vs. Nazis in Paradise" aired as part of Shark Week 2024, and is listed as the fourth episode of season 13.

''Josh Gates Tonight''

''Josh Gates Tonight'' is a spinoff series originally created to fill in the end of season 8 of ''Expedition Unknown'' in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown period. Initially considered part of ''Expedition Unknown'', ''Josh Gates Tonight'' later was classified as a separate series. The fifth season premiered in May 2022. This talk show features Josh Gates interviewing celebrity guests via videoconference, field segments, comedy bits, and cocktail recipes. At the start of the pandemic, the program was recorded in Gates' home, though production moved to the "Expedition Headquarters" studio starting with episode 14 of the first season.

Season 1 (2020)

''Josh Gates Tonight: Shark Week'' (2020)

Season 2 (2020)

A second season of seven episodes premiered in November 2020.

Season 3 (2021)

The third season premiered in April 2021.

''Josh Gates Tonight: Shark Week'' (2021)

Season 4 (2021)

Season 5 (2022)

''Expedition X''

''Expedition X'' is an American

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imagination, imaginary. Different Culture, cultures and Academic discipline, academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions abo ...

series which premiered on

on February 12, 2020. A spinoff of ''Expedition Unknown'', ''Expedition X'' exclusively explores paranormal topics. The program is hosted by Josh Gates, biologist Phil Torres, television personality/writer

(season 1-7), and paranormal investigator Heather Amaro (season 8-). Gates presents the program from the Expedition HQ studio, though he does not usually accompany the team in the field, with the exceptions of the two-part episodes that opened seasons three, six and eight. While Josh Gates was hosting ''Josh Gates Tonight'' in summer 2020, his regular camera crew were filming the second season of ''Expedition X'' after the initial

COVID-19 lockdown During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

cleared. The second season premiered on November 11, 2020. The eighth season premiered on August 14, 2024.

Season 1 (2020)

Season 2 (2020)

Season 3 (2021)

Season 4 (2021)

Season 5 (2022)

Season 6 (2023)

Season 7 (2024)

Season 8 (2024)

Season 9 (2025)

References

External links

*Travel Channel: *Discovery Channel: * * {{Archaeology 2010s American reality television series 2020s American reality television series 2015 American television series debuts Josh Gates Tonight Adventure travel American adventure television series Travel Channel original programming Discovery Channel original programming