Teasers Galore: A Chat with Travel Channel’s “Expedition Bigfoot” Team

Travel Channel’s new eight-part investigative-adventure series,  Expedition Bigfoot, premiers on Sunday, December 8 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. An elite team of skilled searchers spent three weeks in a remote, 90,000-acre swath of land in central Oregon hunting for Bigfoot.

I had the chance to talk to the team about their new show and what viewers can expect. Here’s who was on the call:

• Bryce Johnson (Expedition Operations)
• Dr. Mireya Mayor (Primatologist)
• Russell Acord (Ex-Military/Survivalist)
• Ronny LeBlanc (Bigfoot Researcher)

I’ll hit the highlights of our chat here, but if you’d like to hear it for yourself, I’ve included embeds of the podcast and YouTube episodes below.

New Tracking Approach

As I told the team during the call, something that fascinated me right away when I heard about Expedition Bigfoot was their use of algorithms. Their theory is, “Let’s figure out not only where the hot spots for most sightings are, but when.” By pinpointing that, they could narrow down the best time to search.

I wasn’t the only one excited about this approach. As I shared the show, others also said, “Wow! That’s something we’ve never seen before. Exciting! Can’t wait to see what happens with this kind of a tracking technique.”

When I asked how they came up with this idea/whose was it, Bryce answered. He felt that if you asked the common man how would you go about looking for Bigfoot, most would agree you’d want to be wherever it showed up before it got there, right?

I’d never thought about it before like that, but it makes perfect sense.

Any Dangerous Bigfoot Encounters?

I wondered as a survivalist if Russell was prepared in case they did find Bigfoot and discovered they were dealing with a dangerous creature. Were they prepared? Had he prepared everyone in any special way or with any particular tactics?

No. They all had bear spray, but didn’t need to use it on bears or Bigfoot. In that regard, they had no sensational experiences.

That’s not to say they didn’t have experiences, however. Both Bigfoot related as well as paranormal/un-explainable during their three week expedition. They emphasized again and again people would not be disappointed and would be hooked from the first episode.

Is Bigfoot a Primate?

As I wrote about in “Could Bigfoot be a Hybrid Humanzee?”:

The more I learn about Bigfoot, the more I believe it exists. I don’t think it’s a monster, though. I truly believe in my heart one day it will be found and it’ll turn out to be a new species of ape. (Or at least one previously undiscovered.)

That’s what I was interested to learn from Dr. Mayor. Did she believe Bigfoot was a yet as undiscovered primate of some sort?

She said all she has is eye-witness accounts to go on for now, but she had researched gorillas in the field in the Congo and could employ the same methodology in locating them in the wild to this search. Which she did.

Do They Believe in Bigfoot?

At different points during the call they all volunteered whether they believe or not.

Dr. Mayor and Russell seemed the most skeptical –until this expedition. (As Russell said, he’s a “hard sell.”) Now both have been swayed a little more to the “it’s possible” spectrum.

Ronny and Bryce both seemed to sit more in the believing camp.

Which is a big spoiler in its own way, right? Something happened out there. Speaking of…

When’s the Bingo Moment?

The press release about the show emphasized that: “All of it leads the team to a hot spot where inexplicable events occurred –and to capturing one of the greatest pieces of video evidence ever recorded in Bigfoot history.”

I wanted to ask –and sort of did (although I knew what the answer would be)– “When will get to see this moment?”

As I predicted, they of course couldn’t give that away.

Mireya alluded to this, though. Something major develops when they find a place that is wild with activity. As she put it, they hit one spot where the activity and evidence were like pieces of puzzles coming together. She also felt people will be pleased with what they found.

Dr. Mayor’s Quote

I loved speaking with everyone and hearing all of their answers to my various questions, but the one that blew me away and was my absolute favorite was from Mireya.

I asked if their approach to looking for Bigfoot would change the way it’s done going forward. Dr. Mayor said she had been asked at the start of the project if she even believed in Bigfoot. She responded, “Ask me in three weeks.”

Then she went on to say:

The truth is, it doesn’t matter what I believe, because, you know, this isn’t a religion, right? So I’m only interested in facts and evidence. And what I saw out there, and the evidence we collected really changed my views on Bigfoot in very many different ways. For one, there was things out there we saw that science couldn’t explain. In fact, science couldn’t explain it at all.

Wow. That’s powerful on many levels, right? And intriguing. What the heck did they see and experience out there? Hope it translates to video well and we get to find out!

Questions I Wish I’d Asked

As always, once an interview is over, there’s always a question or two I wish I’d thought of at the time of the interview. This time’s there were these:

1. Were you really prepared to find Bigfoot? Besides trying to catch it with a camera or video recording, were you emotionally and mentally ready for such a find?
2. And if you do find it, what’s next? Capturing one? Continuing to study it in its habitat? Putting it in a zoo or other research facility under observation?
3. Did Mireya see any similarities between the gorillas she studied in the field in the Congo to the mythical beast they were tracking in central Oregon?

Bottom Line

They all agree they found compelling evidence to back up the claims by the thousands of eyewitnesses claiming to have seen Bigfoot. Something is out there. Perhaps a very elusive species of ape, humanoid or some combo thereof.

Tune in to Travel Channel Sunday nights starting December 8 at 10 p.m. ET/PT to join them and see what they find.

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