DT Fan Radio - Remainder of Transcript for Josh & Brad special

Interview conducted by: Amanda Rosenblatt

Transcribed by: Amanda White & Stephanie Moravecs

Edited by: Alyssia Dawn Garber, Aubrey Lynne & Amanda Rosenblatt

 
Amanda: Caller 808, you’re on the air.

Caller 808: Hello?

Josh Gates & Brad Kuhlman: Hello.

Caller 808: Hi. Thanks for having me on. I have a question for you guys. How long do you normally spend out when you’re researching a certain subject?

Brad: Well, we have a research period that we do in our offices in Los Angeles and typically it’s about anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks, depending on how many episodes are ordered. And we spend that time, you know, finding the stories that we’re going to cover, finding local people in the countries we’re going to, to sort of aid us in our trip there, and it’s a bit of a jigsaw puzzle trying to put a trip like that together. It’s a bunch of countries, one after the other, and it’s a lot of travel. So it’s about six weeks, actually.

Caller 808: when you’re on location, how long do you guys spend on location?

Josh: That’s also kind of a difficult question to answer because it changes depending on the story. One of the criticisms we get a lot on the show is, like, why don’t you spend more time at each location? And believe me, we feel the same way. We wish we could spend a week doing overnight investigations looking for these creatures, but unfortunately, the production schedule dictates a certain time table, and I guess out feeling in the end is that it’s better to spend a few nights than none at all. So, in some places, we will film, if it’s a story let’s say closer to civilization, as it were, it could be as few as four days. And we went to Bhutan in an episode that will be airing later this season and that was about a 12 day expedition, so it really depends on the story and how hard it is to get to the story.

Caller 808: Josh, have you ever come across anything where you think there’s something to this?

Josh: Yeah, I think that very often, I feel as though I come across people who really have had some sort of genuine experience. I think that’s very common. I think that the people we meet, more often than not, really have believe that they’ve had some sort of encounter and I think in most cases, they have. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re having an encounter with an unknown animal, and sometimes that’s just part of the fun of the mystery is figuring out, “what is really going on here?”

Josh (cont.): In terms of unknown or crypto zoological animals out in the world, I think there are a few cases over the last few seasons of the show where I do genuinely believe that it’s a real possibility. I think the Orang Pendek story we did in Indonesia, we certainly met a lot of credible researchers there, a National Geographic team, who feel as though there may be something uncatalogued in the jungles of Indonesia –

Caller 808: Yeah, that was my favorite episode.

Josh: yeah, I think that story has real legs to it. I think there’s a possibility that something could be going on there, and I think that some of the lake stories – I mean, not all of them, but some of them, where the lakes really could support life, there may be, you know, I’m sure they’re not going to end up being enormous sea serpents, but there may be uncatalogued fauna in these lakes.

Amanda: Alright, well thank you very much, caller 808. The next caller that we have is Ashley from Florida. Ashley, are you there?

Ashley: Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?

Josh: Hello! We can hear you. What’s going on, Ashley?

Ashley:  HI! I actually have two questions for Josh.

 

Josh: What do you got?

 

Ashley: Well I wanted to know what your major was in, like you went to school, so are you an archaeologist or what?

 

Josh:  Yeah, I went to Tufts University in Boston and I double-majored in archeology and drama. So I have dual degrees from there, and then I worked out of college, and a little bit in college as an excavator at a site overseas on the coast of Israel and then you know, fell into television and travel hosting a little bit after that. So, I do have some background in archeology.

 

Ashley: Oh wow, because I'm a college student in Florida and I want to be an archaeologist. 

 

Josh: Great!

 

Ashley: And I want to double major in oceanography because I want to salvage things like ships and things like that, but I don't get any help.

 

(Ashley and Josh both chuckle)

 

Ashley: Do you have any advice?

 

Josh: Well are you an archeology major? 

 

Ashley: Well they don't really have archeology majors in Florida. 

 

Josh: Right. Well then you know, I would say...Look, I also think that the notion of combining oceanography and archeology is really smart. I think that some of the big discoveries that are going to be happening in this era of archeology are going to be happening in sub-sea archeology, it’s really at the, you know, the very beginning stages due to technology to actually get down to so many things that have yet to be excavated from the ocean floor.  There are some universities in the country that have great programs that deal with oceanography and deal with archeology, I think probably the best one is in Texas and A & M, has the kind of best underwater archeology school in the country, and it may be a question of studying whatever is most applicable in Florida, whether its anthropology or history or you know,  something that your university does offer, and then trying to figure out a way to post-scribe to an environment to get yourself to Texas A & M or to another school where you can where you can really get interested and invested in specifically ocean based archeology. In the meantime, you can always volunteer to work at excavations that are doing underwater archeology and if you are scuba certified, or you get scuba certified...Certainly the excavation that I worked at, which is the city of Caesarea in Israel, that's how I started there, they take volunteers, and if you can cover your airfare and a couple other things, you won't get paid for the summer, but you'll get a real hands on education. 

 

Ashley: Oh, I don't care about getting paid...

 

Josh: Well that's what I would do, I would look for underwater archeology sites to volunteer at and then I would maybe try to figure out a way to get, you know, a degree aligned a little bit in the future after you get out of school in Florida. 

 

Ashley: Alright, well thanks very much. I love the show, by the way.

 

Josh: Thank you so much!

 

Ashley: Bye!

 

 

 

 

Amanda: Thank you for calling in. Alright, the next caller we have is actually an international caller, she's my friend Aislynn [pronounced AYS-LYNN], she's away with her husband who's in the military, so I'm gonna put her on....Aislynn, are you there?

 

Aislynn: Yeah, it’s Aislynn [pronounced] AS-LYNN, by the way...

 

Amanda: Oh! My bad...

 

(Both Amanda and Aislynn chuckle)

 

Aislynn: It’s alright, it doesn't look like Aislynn [the way it is pronounced]... anyway, my question was, what is the initial response that you have when people accuse Ghost Hunters and Destination Truth for being staged?

 

Josh:  Well I think that, you know, that is something that happens from time to time because obviously the shows are dealing with topics that are not necessarily cut and dry, we're dealing with the unknown, and look, we're also making a television show, and I think that one of the things that... and look, this might be a different answer for guys like Jason and Grant than it is for me, but in the case of Destination Truth, we are trying to serve a couple of different masters.  We have a real mandate from ourselves and from the SyFy channel to be legitimate. We want to go out there and really get our hands dirty and set up a credible investigation for whatever we're looking for.  But we're also are cognitive of the fact that we are making a show to entertain people, and so it’s always important that we, you know, present something that isn't strictly cut and dry field work. There has to be some excitement to it. And so some people say "Well, how come you got a person on the team who gets scared or runs away or does this and does that?"   Fundamentally all those things kind of add to the flavor of the show.   But when it comes to the things that we find or the experiences we're having out there, all of that is "what you see is what you get,"  because we're certainly not going to, you know, fabricate any of the evidence that we collect on the show and I think that bears out in the fact that a lot of the things that we find end up being hair fibers from known animals or evidence of things that, at the end of the day, we do have an answer for.  Certainly, I think that if we wanted to fabricate things I'd be out there in an animatronic Bigfoot suit.

 

Brad: Yeah. (Laughs)

 

(Aislynn laughs as well)

 

Josh:  You know, but I think at the end of the day that's an important thing that people have to realize is that we are trying to do something that is illuminating on some sort of an academic level, that we are showing people cultures they have never seen before, we're talking about important stories in folklore, but at the same time if nobody tunes in and watches it, because it’s just me talking for an hour about the history of a certain civilization, then we don't have a show to put on the air.  So, we certainly try to highlight all the comedic and dramatic moments that happen out there, and make that a part of the show, but that's a far cry from making things up which we certainly don't do. 

 

Aislynn: I can appreciate that, and I also want to say that I am really enjoying the team's dynamics this season. I miss Casey, I enjoyed him there, but I really like the way your team works this season. 

 

Josh: Casey was actually in here a few minutes ago, he would have liked to have heard that. He just stepped out for a meeting.  But we really appreciate that, and we really think that building a team dynamic is an important part of the show, and I think you'll see more of that in the season to come. So, that's great to hear, we appreciate it. 

 

Aislynn: Alright, thank you. 

 

 

 

 

 

Amanda: Alright, thanks girl... Alright next on the show we have Chasity. Chasity, are you there?

 

Chasity: I'm here.

 

Amanda: Great, how are you doing tonight?

 

Chasity: I'm good, how are you?

 

Amanda: Good, Good.

 

(A moment of silence passes)

 

(At the same time) Amanda: Are you still there?

 

                                       Chasity: Can you hear me?

 

Chasity: Ha, yeah, I'm still here. Can you hear me now?

 

Amanda: Yeah.

 

Chasity: Good!

 

(Amanda and Chasity laugh)

 

Josh:  What's your question?

 

 

 

Chasity:  Ok, Josh, my question for you is do you have any religious preference, and you don' t have to tell me what it is, but I was just wondering with all the witch doctors and countries that you cross paths with, you always seem so sure of yourself, kind of like you're untouchable.  Do you ever encounter any strange things happening or symptoms after you're blessed by a strange witch or medicine man?

 

Josh:  That's a great question!  I grew up on the north shore of Massachusetts.  I was raised in a family where we went to an Episcopal church, I was baptized Episcopalian and for the most part, you know, I went to Sunday school and stuff like that as a kid and then, you know, I'm kind of one of those, you know, major holiday Christians at this point.  I go for Easter and Christmas services and I'm not an overly practicing individual when it comes to religion.  And I'm certainly a very open minded person.  I think that the more that you travel, especially when you travel to places where some of the world's really great religions are in full force.  When you travel to Buddhist countries and Islamic countries and Hindu countries, you start to... at least I, you know, fundamentally feel a bit more open minded because you recognize that there's a lot of people around the world that aren't, in a lot of ways, worshipping along the same guidelines, you know, and the same sort of messages of what religion's about and the same kind of penance of peace and kindness and all those sorts of things.  So, I've become pretty  open minded when it comes to experiencing different religions, and I certainly go into religious ceremonies that we observe on the show with as much reverence as I can for the individuals and the beliefs that go into them.  And sure, you know, there have been a lot of cases where we've partaken in religious ceremonies where they do feel like very special moments and they feel as though they are very powerful ceremonies, and I think that we, everyone on our team tries to take away from that.  I'm sure it’s different for everybody, but I think we just try to be very open minded.  And certainly I don't feel untouchable. I think that, um...  But at the same time we, for the most part partake in ceremonies that are positive experiences at work.

 

Chasity: Okay.  Do you have any like, symptoms or anything, do a lot of the team members...have you ever come back and all kind of had the same symptoms or strange things happening or anything like that?

 

Josh:  We had, ya know, on the first season of the show, we met with a sort of a local healer, in Africa on an episode who, you know, rattled around bones in a basket...he had a bunch of sort of arcane, you know, ritualistic things that he did and then he told me certain things about my life that were actually pretty accurate.  It was kind of an interesting moment for me, and he had a lot of interesting things to say and I sort of walked away from that a little bit shaken up by the accuracy of some of the stuff that he told me.  But in terms of symptoms from anything sort of paranormal, no, I can't really point to a lot of things that have happened. Other than, you know Evan, this season obviously had an experience in the circle in Romania.  We certainly have a lot of symptoms from food poisoning and things like that....

 

(Everyone laughs)

 

Josh (cont.): ...I think more than from religious events though.

 

Chasity: Ok, well thank you so much for answering my question, and I love your show.

 

Josh: Well I really appreciate it, thanks for tuning in. 

 

Chasity: Thank you.

 

 

 

Amanda:  Alright, next we have Rob. You there, Rob?

 

Rob:  Yeah, it’s actually Billie.  

 

Amanda:  Oh, Ok! 

 

Billie:  It's okay. We share the same Facebook. I don't trust him. So, ha ha...

 

Amanda: Whoa! 

 

(Both Amanda and Billie laugh)

 

Billie: ..Just joking! Ha! First I want to say, I really love your guys' show. It’s really neat to experience different cultures.  I myself, I live in Michigan in a very rural community and don't get to experience much, so it's really neat to be able to sit down and watch your guys' show and just kind of see the different things happening, so thank you for that.   My question is, how come you guys don't stay on location longer than I guess, what is portrayed on the show?  I just think it would be really neat to see maybe three days of investigations opposed to possibly like a day or two, just to collect more evidence?

 

Brad:  Yeah, you know, we would love that too!  And you know, I think Josh talked a little bit earlier about that and it really just sort of comes down to a production schedule and it really comes down to dollars.   You know, it costs a lot of money to go out on the road and be out there and travel to all those places and stay the night and get local assistance and you know, pay Josh Gates' salary......

 

(Josh laughs heartily)

 

(Billie laughs in response to Josh laughing)

 

Brad (cont.): ......  and you know, the longer you're out there, the more expensive it is.  You know, any show, whether it’s a show like ours, or even a scripted show, you know, they have a certain amount of days that they can, that you know, where,  the clock is ticking.  And the meter's running, so you know, we try and pack a lot in across the season and you know, we definitely try, and you know, a couple times a season we really sort of dig in and go the extra mile and a good example is the Bhutan episode last season where we looked for the Yeti again.  You know, I think  we were in Bhutan for 10 days.  And you know, I know we made an hour out of the show, but we really, the team traversed the entire country, investigated multiple nights, really every night that they were out there.  So, you know, we just can't do that every single time.  We wouldn't be able to make the show fast enough, or it wouldn't make sense economically and the show wouldn't be on the air at all.  So, you know...

 

Billie: Yeah...

 

Brad: ...we have to figure a way. 

 

(Josh and Billie start talking at the same time...)

 

Billie: Go ahead, I'm sorry.

 

Josh:  I was just going to say in an interesting kind of comparison, I was just up in Vancouver the last couple days, SyFy had an event up there and I was lucky enough to be able to go visit some of the sets of their scripted shows.  And it was interesting talking with the cast and the producers who work on Stargate and Sanctuary and Caprica that there is this common thread of "Oh I wish I had more time to make this, we're on a tight schedule and our shooting schedule is a little bit tighter than what we want it to be."  And I think sometimes it’s difficult to recognize that extends to all types of television and I think because you are seeing what is a non-scripted show and you're seeing really people out in the real world, sometimes that line gets a little bit blurry, but we're really constrained by the same sorts of things that scripted shows are constrained by, which is just that there's a budget behind all of this and there's just so much we can do.  And I think as I said earlier, I agree. I think that, you know, it’s not easy to throw a net over an animal if you're there for a few nights but I think better to go and even if in some cases its scratching the surface, it’s certainly bringing these interesting stories to our viewers and letting them see places they've never seen before, and we hope that excites people and encourages them to go and invest in these stories and in these cultures and you know, that hopefully keeps the search going. 

 

Billie:  Oh definitely, and you know, I think one of the neatest things to see are I guess, maybe not.....what I'm trying to say,  is from where I'm sitting, it’s like "Oh my gosh, I can't believe they're leaving!"  Obviously you know, I know there's budgets and everything, it’s like I'm sure you guys are more than probably frustrated too when you kind of get a hot spot, like the caves.  I'm sure you probably try to stay probably a lot longer than what you have the opportunity to, I'm like "Man, I just wish they could stay a little bit longer, I just want to know more."   So I mean it’s really, it got me to Google a lot of things today while I was at work. 

 

Josh: yeah...

 

Billie:  So thanks guys, you know, thanks, guys. I just wanted to really say thank you, and appreciate the show, it’s neat. 

 

Josh:  That's great to hear, we really appreciate it. 

 

Billie: Thank you. 

 

Brad: Yeah.

 

 

Amanda: Thank you very much for calling in. Next we have Steven. Steven, are you there?

 

Steven: Yeah

 

Amanda: Alright Steven, what's your question?

 

Steven:  My question was, if Josh is going to be starting anything like the Ghost Hunters Academy I heard about on last night's episode?

 

Josh:  That's an interesting question. Ya know, we have talked about at length actually, ways in which we can you know, involve viewers and fans of the show on the show.  We've certainly talked about everything from, you know, contests, to inviting people to participate, to format changes where things like that would happen and the reality is, is that it's a long conversation that we have with the channel, that we have with ourselves and I think we'd like nothing more than to be able to go out into the field with some folks who've never been out there before.  You know, our medic on the show this year Rex, who you see in the episodes, he is a guy who was a real fan of the show and had not been extensively well traveled before we hired him to join us this season and being able to be out there with him and see his experiences...someone who'd watched the show, and was now getting the chance to not only travel to these places but to see how the show was made was a really fun experience for us.  And we'd love to do more of that and find ways to bring new folks onto the show and I think it's just something that hopefully happens in time. 

 

Brad:  It's Brad...yeah I think that the longer the show is on the air, and you know, the ratings continue to go in the direction that they're going, and if we're on the air for a long, long time something like that is likely to happen, I would say, because it's definitely something we've already talked about and they're doing it on the channel for another show, so I would say, you know, it’s likely to happen. 

 

Steven:  Well I really hope so, I've been into cryptids way before I saw your show and after that I really wanted to get a chance to meet you guys.

 

Josh:  Well yeah, I wish I had a more definite answer but I think stay tuned, you know, it’s something that we are definitely cognizant of and that we would love to figure out a way to do, and I think Brad is right, the more episodes we can make and the more we can find new ways of changing the show up and hopefully that will be a part of it. 

 

Steven:  Thanks for answering my question. 

 

Josh: Thanks for calling in!

 

Brad: You bet!

 

 

 

Amanda:  Thanks so much for calling in!  Next we have Joe...you there Joe?

 

Joe:  You bet I am. How you guys doing tonight?

 

Josh and Brad: Doing great, thanks.

 

Joe:  Good, good.  I just want to ask, what is the reason for the large gap in between the seasons for Destination Truth?  I know you kind of touched on that a couple of questions ago, but I was wondering if I could get more of a definitive answer. 

 

Brad:  You know, that's a great question.  We would love the gap to be shorter also.  The truth is, it’s a tough show to make and we can only make so many of them in a year.  It takes a good chunk of time to get the travel in, to do the research, and to get the show on tape.  It also takes an extraordinary amount of time to edit just due to the amount of tape we do shoot, so by the time we sort of get the order from the network to the time that we can deliver that order and then re-mount and get back out and go do them again, it’s just...we just can't seem to shorten the gap any more than we already have. So, we would love to figure out a way, we’re always trying to fine-tune the production schedule and figure out a way..... You know, everybody wants us to stay out longer and invest more into the investigations and that sort of, that doesn't help the scheduling, you know the longer we're out there shooting and running around the world, the fewer we can make and the longer that gap is going to be.  But um, we appreciate you noticing the gap.  We always hope that nobody notices and are "Oh those guys are back on again," but we think about it a lot.  And the folks at the network are great about trying to keep the show sort of fresh and alive through the website, and sort of keeping the content on the site new while the new season approaches, so that helps a little bit, but we're really aware of the gap on our end.  And believe me, if we can figure out a way to shorten that gap, we're gonna do it. 

 

Joe:  Excellent, excellent, that's good to hear.  I do have one more question, if that's ok.  

 

Brad:  Sure.

 

Joe:  Particularly for Josh...  How am I able to get an autograph from you?  

 

Josh:  You can send a request via email if you want.  My email is digitalgates@hotmail.com...that's the easiest way to reach me is to send your mailing information there and I'll try to get an autographed photo out to you.  And thanks for asking!  We really appreciate all the fan support that our show has, so I'm more than happy to, as much as I can, be in touch with the fans and to send you an autograph is a real easy thing to do, so just shoot us an email.  

 

Joe:  Ok, Thanks a lot.  You know, every chance I get on Wednesdays I tell everyone that I watch Destination Truth so you're getting free promos from me. Ha!!

 

Josh: We really appreciate that.

 

Brad: Keep it up! Thank you!

 

Joe:  Yep, thanks a lot. I'm a big fan and keep doing what you're doing dude, we love it. 

 

Josh:  Thanks, man!

 

Joe:  Yep, thanks for your time.  Bye. 

 

 

 

Amanda:  Just to let the fans know, if you go to my fan site, there is actually a page that has the mailing address to send fan mail, you know, autograph requests, anything of that nature, so if you guys want that, feel free to contact me later and I'll let you know. The next caller we have is James.  James, are you there?

 

James:  I'm here, how you doing?  

 

Amanda:  Pretty good, how about you?

 

James: I'm good.  How y'all doing out there?

 

Brad: Doing good, what's going on?

 

Josh:  Doing great, James.

 

James:  Not much.  Just excited to you know, be able to talk to you guys, it’s a thrill for me and I appreciate you guys coming on the radio for it.  

 

Brad:  It's our pleasure!

 

James:  Great!  I have a quick question...on last night's show, you guys had some weird noises on the parabolic dish.  Did you guys ever figure out what that was?

 

Josh:  You know, someone else just asked that today in an email and it's one of those things that we actually did break down and try to look at it just didn't make the final edit of the show.  It was a wild thing and I think that's one of the moments of the show....you know I was talking to our director of photography today about last night's episode and you know, sometimes you feel like the show really captures the moment and sometimes, sometimes the cameras don't do it justice and that was one of those moments where you know, there's not great footage of what we were looking across the way on the other canyon and there's not really great audio coverage of the sounds that we heard either, but it was this very loud, kind of electronic, also kind of mechanical sound that actually came out of the parabolic dish which, as you see in the episode, our sound guy Mike was standing in front of, but he had disconnected.  And so this crazy moment where it seemed like a lot of the electrical equipment…you know, Mike's wearing an audio pack and a couple of the shooters are wearing headphones and stuff....got this really funny feedback and we took that feedback and we played around with it and tried to open it up and listen to it and we couldn't make anything out of it in the end.  It sounded, as I said, very much like some sort of electrical interference and it’s just one of those interesting hanging threads that we just really don't have an answer for.  

 

James:  Yeah, I was kind of wondering because like you said before, you didn't say anything at the end of the show about it, so I just didn't know if you guys had figured anything out with it or not. 

 

Josh:  Yeah I know, it’s a great question.  To us it was sort of a dead-end street.  We had a couple other folks listen to it that are audio experts and just couldn't really make heads or tails of it. 

 

Brad:  I'll tell you this though, you know, I've known Josh for a long time and he's fairly skeptical about almost everything that we come across.  He called me the day after that shoot and he's like "Dude, I had a close encounter."  He's like, "I saw a UFO."  

 

James:  Wow.

 

Josh:  And its funny...its looks like....

 

Brad:  It’s not that dramatic, but like....

 

Josh: ....it sort of looked like the thing is actually on the ground across the way....

 

James: Yeah, that's what it looks like...

 

Josh:  ...It’s just above the... there's sort of a plateau across the way that goes way back and these mountains come up, so it gives the appearance, the way you're looking at it is kind of on the ground, whereas it was very distinct to us that it was above the rim of this canyon and it was pulsing and it moved around a bit making these weird lateral moves, and it was one of those things where we were so kind of taken aback by it that A: the camera's had a hard time dealing with it because it’s so dark out there and B: both of my camera guys were just sort of staring at it and not necessarily filming it.  

 

James: Yeah...

 

(James and Josh both chuckle)

 

Josh:  So I wish we had better footage, but I guess...  isn't that always the way when it comes to UFOs? Is that it's never, never great footage. 

 

James: (chuckling) yeah, it seems to be a common underlying factor there.   And so what would you guys say has been the scariest place you've ever gone to?  Because I would say, you know, this season's been a great season by the way, but I would say the doll island.  That one really creeped me out, those things would open up their eyes and everything...  Ha.

 

Josh:  I think for me is Chernobyl. 

 

James:  That was a really good episode.

 

Josh:  Yeah, and that's another place where some of the stuff that you see, like the old amusement park and some of the buildings are obviously, really give you a flavor for how scary it is, but I think the other thing that is hard for us to translate through the camera is how big that place is.  And you're literally walking street after street after street of utterly abandoned buildings and empty black windows looking down on you and it was a really unnerving place. 

 

James:  Well if it’s any consolation for you I spent my chemistry class looking up Chernobyl after that Wednesday, so that was on that Thursday, because I was just fascinated by it.  

 

Josh:  It's a pretty wild spot. It's a, really disturbing environment to be in. Very isolating.

 

James:  Yeah.  Well thanks again for having me on, and keep up the good work.  This season has been a real treat, I appreciate it a lot. 

 

Josh:  Well great, we're glad you're enjoying it, and stay tuned.

 

James:  Ok, thank you so much!  Ok, bye.  

 

 

 

 

Amanda:  Thank you for calling in.  Next we have Matt, are you there? 

 

Matt:  I am.  How you guys doing?

 

Brad:  We're doing great, how you doing?

 

Matt:  I'm fine thank you.  Thank you for taking my call.  

 

Brad:  Of course!

 

Matt:  I have a real simple question.  I was just wondering personally what your favorite cryptids were?

 

Josh:  For me, it’s the Yeti.

 

Brad:  Yeah, I think for both of us it's the Yeti.

 

Josh:  Yeah, I love that story, I love the culture up in the Himalayas, love the reverence that they have for it...

 

Brad:  Mmmhmmm....

 

Josh:  I even love the sort of, the way it's been kind of romanticized, you know, and it's turned into the abominable snowman and the way the explorers kind of brought that story back to Europe and to America and now it's become this kind of protector of the mountains.  I just think it's a neat story. 

 

Brad:  Yeah.  Yeah me too, for sure.

 

Matt:  Are there any that you guys really want to do but you have to like, I guess, put before people first? 

 

Josh:  Missed the last part of your question.... Things that we really want to do, but what?

 

Matt:  I suppose you have to, you know, present them to the network first, but are there any that you want to do?

 

Josh:  Yeah. Well we do present them to the network and we try to work together to figure out the stuff that makes the most sense.  I think there are some big stories that have been done a lot like Loch Ness is a good example, where we're interested in doing it, but we really feel strongly that unless we can figure out a way to bring a new angle to the story or new technology that hasn't been done before, then we probably should leave well enough alone, because it's really been done to death in a lot of ways. So, you know, once we get our, you know, personal submarine up and running, we may head over to Scotland.

 

(Matt laughs)

 

Brad:  It's still in R and D right now...they're almost done with it.

 

Josh: Yeah.

 

Matt:  Alright excellent guys, thank you very much.

 

Josh:  Thank you, have a good one, man!

 

Matt:  You too!

 

 

 

 

Amanda:  Alright, thanks so much.  We might have a few more callers on later, but for now I have some questions that the fans have written down because they either can't get to a phone right now or they're too shy to get on the air.  

 

(Brad laughs)

 

Amanda:  And I don't understand why.  You know, you guys are just people.  I tell them that and they're all like "I can't, I'm gonna crap my pants,” and I’m like "Uh...ok."

 

Josh:  Well, Brad's intimidating.

 

Brad:  Yeah, I'm pretty fierce.

 

Amanda:  Let's see....a really good question from Jeff who lives in Canada.  Just so we can kind of get an official answer.  Do you guys have any, sort of, news or tips on when retail or when a DVD box set will come out for the show?  

 

Josh:  Yeah.

 

Brad:  We do, yeah.

 

Josh:  The DVD thing is without a doubt the single most asked question for Destination Truth.   I get emails about it, people twitter about it... I just have no information about that.  You know, I know that for Ghost Hunters, actually a third party got involved to release the DVD's. They weren't released by the channel.  What I can say is that Destination Truth is on iTunes, and it can be downloaded and purchased there and obviously it’s on Hulu and SyFy.com as well.  I wish I had some DVD info you, I don't.  I think in the mean time, iTunes is probably the way to go.  In terms of merchandise, we've had a lot of conversations over the last couple of years about merchandising for the show and everyone at the channel is really excited about it because there seems like there is a lot of natural ways to promote DT through gear, through all kinds of outdoorsy stuff.  It’s just been a very slow process.  It looks like some t-shirts are going to be coming to the online store at SyFy.com.

 

Amanda: Whoo!!

 

Josh:  And that's about the only, you know, merchandising news that I've got, but at least that's  happening, which is something.

 

Brad:  Amanda, I really like the pens you make. 

 

Amanda:  Aww, thanks a lot.  Hahaha!

 

Brad:  I've got mine right now, actually, I use it every day.  It's awesome, thank you.

 

AMANDA:  Well that’s awesome.  I use mine at work.

JOSH:  Yeah, they’re great.

BRAD:  Yeah, they’re nice pens.  They’re comfortable, writes well, very sturdy, smart looking—nice job.

BRAD:  Did we lose her?

JOSH:  Did we lose you?  You there?  Call back in.

[DEAD AIR - 27 seconds (1:00:57-1:01:24)]

AMANDA:  Okay, well, that was a weird technical…

[DEAD AIR - 31 seconds (1:01:28-1:01:59)]

AMANDA:  Okay, that was the most epic fail of technical difficulties ever.  Brad and Josh are you there?  Hello?  Hello?  Oh my gosh.  Caller 816 are you on the air?  Hello?  Oh Josh, are you there?

BRAD:  Yeah, we’re here.  Amanda, can you hear us?

AMANDA:  Hello?

[DEAD AIR - 2 minutes (1:02:38-1:04:47)]

AMANDA:  Okay, hopefully I am back on the air.  I literally have no idea what just happened.  Let’s see—Brad and Josh, are you there?

BRAD:  Yeah we’re here, can you hear us? 

AMANDA:  Hallelujah!  Oh my goodness.  Anyway, we’re just gonna pretend that didn’t happen.

BRAD:  Alright.

AMANDA:  Whew!

JOSH:  What are you gonna do, technical snafus can and will happen.

AMANDA:  Yeah, I don’t know, I think maybe some mythological creature doesn’t want us talking about your show and it shows that my calls keep getting lost, but I have a signal.

BRAD:  Josh go get the gear.

AMANDA:  (unintelligible)  Oh my goodness.

JOSH:  Well listen to me…

AMANDA:  So guys, sorry.  My listeners were like freaking out.

JOSH:  Well while you were trying to get the show back on the air, we headed over to Syfy.com and we discovered that there is a Destination Truth backpack that is for sale right now, and there is a t-shirt which is coming in late October and a travel journal that is coming in early November.

AMANDA:  Oh no way, that’s awesome!

JOSH:  We just—I knew the t-shirt was coming, I didn’t realize the backpack and other stuff, you know…

AMANDA:  That is really cool.  I was wondering when you guys were going to get some retail in finally.

JOSH:  Yeah, I know right.  So look who’s  got a backpack and a t-shirt and a journal.

AMANDA:  Whoo!  Alright time to start pulling in some more money from the retail, how ‘bout that?

JOSH:  Yeah, time to get everyone shopping at Syfy.com.

AMANDA:  For sure.  Alright, so getting to the fan questions now, people who were too nervous to ask—did you guys get the last one that I got or was that before my phone decided to take a nosedive?

JOSH:  I think it was before your phone took a nosedive.

AMANDA:  Aright, so the first question that one of the fans had was Josh, why are you obsessed with scarves?

BRAD:  (laughs)

JOSH:  Boy, I took a lot of heat for that scarf the other day too from somebody.  I’m not obsessed with scarves, but you know, they are kinda standard part of the adventurer kit, right?  It’s like, scarves are good for sopping up sweat.

AMANDA:  Pretty much.

BRAD:  They keep dust out of your mouth and nose.

JOSH:  Yeah.  You know, they can be used for all sorts of things.  You can wrap one around your head when trying to keep radioactive Chernobyl dust out of your mouth, and you can wear them on camels when you’re trying to avoid the stink of horrible camels, and they’re a pretty multi-purpose tool to have out there.

AMANDA:  Very cool.  Yeah, I agree.  I like the scarves thing.  Let’s see, what other questions do we have…dear lord.  Let me see, another question that the fans had were, one fan says Josh are you an animal lover  because you seem to have an excellent report with camels, and I’m guessing that that was sarcastic.

JOSH:  I’m a dog lover, I’m not a cat person per se, and I’m not a camel person.  I do not like camels.  Love dogs.

AMANDA:  Alright, let’s see what other questions we have.  Oh, actually one of your big fans, I’m actually friends with him online, Kent, he wrote this novel kind of loosely based on the adventures you guys have on DT and I know that he had given you a copy of his book, but I was wondering Josh if you had actually read that or not.

JOSH:  I have a copy of it.  I’m actually really glad you brought that up because I haven’t had a chance to double back with him.  I have a copy of it, I have not read it yet.  We spent the last, you know, eight weeks getting ready for a new season.  It is coming with me, it is in my bag, it’s going on the road with me, so I will definitely get to it when we head out in the field.

AMANDA:  Yeah I know, you’ve got to catch up on that because he’s actually writing the second installation of his book, so…

JOSH:  I love it.

AMANDA:  It’s okay, you know what, I haven’t read it either Kent—I’m sorry! (Laughs)

BRAD:  (laughs)

AMANDA:  Let’s see, other questions that we have…Okay, so we have a question from Christian Ellen, do you have a favorite place for margaritas in Los Angeles?  That’s funny.

JOSH:  Absolutely!  That’s easy.  It’s close by, it’s El Capadre on Sunset.

BRAD:  Four doors down from the office.  Best in the city.

JOSH:  Best margaritas in the city.  El Capadre on Sunset. 

BRAD:  A close second—what’s that joint on Third Street?  The little place--

JOSH:  Oh, El Carmen.

BRAD:  El Carmen on Third Street.  That’s a pretty close second.

JOSH:  That’s pretty good too.  But at El Capadre they light them on fire.

AMANDA:  I like how that’s a few doors down.  You’d be like ‘we need to go do some off site research’ and then you go and get drunk. (Laughs)

JOSH:  There’ll be a little off site research tonight now that you mention it.

BRAD:  (laughs)

AMANDA:  A question for Brad, what are your thoughts about the Yeti episode and do you think that the footprint made you a believer? 

BRAD:  Well, the first Yeti episode when we went to Nepal, I guess it what you’re talking about, yeah?

AMANDA:  Yeah.

BRAD:  You know, I think it made all of us really question that story like we hadn’t, you know, up until the point of finding the footprint.  You know, it’s just one of those moments where you kinda had to be there.  It’s kinda like the story Josh was talking about with the, with the parabolic dish and seeing the lights when they were in Chile.  And, you know, I know it was just a footprint, or three footprints, but if you had been there, it just was so eerie sounding, er, it was just such an eerie feeling being there, seeing those prints in the sand.  And the thing about the one print that cast so well was, you know, it was a pristine print, you know.  It just was perfect, perfect, perfect in every way.  It was so perfect that it was just eerie.  Because, you know, a lot of those prints that people cast that they attribute to the Yeti, you know, are often, you know, misidentified bear prints, where you’ve got a front paw of a bear and then the back paw steps in the, you know, in the print that the front paw left and it makes this elongated print that kinda looks like one big giant, you know, unknown, you know, print.  But the problem with those is that they usually don’t line up perfectly.  You know, the back foot is sorta casted a bit differently than the front foot, it just doesn’t line up absolutely perfectly so it’s kinda dodgy looking.  But the thing about the prints that we found, is the one anyway, was just absolutely perfect.  I mean, the heal all the way to the toe, everything lined up absolutely perfectly, it was all symmetrical and it just was super weird and where we were there was just no explanation for how the hell those prints got down there.  So you know, it was definitely, it was kind of a lucky find to be honest with you.  I mean we were up there for ten days, looking every night, high and low, in caves and on riverbeds and everywhere else.  You know, the fact that we found those was sort of a shot in the dark but we did and it was a strange, strange experience.  I don’t if it made me say ‘oh yes, the Yeti is real’ but I certainly don’t have an explanation for how those, you know, prints were made and who made them and what made them and how and how they got there, and you know, I don’t know.  I think of all the stories that we’ve covered, the Yeti is probably, you know, got the best shot to be a real guy, you know, it could be a real animal.  If I had to pick one and say this is the one I most believe in, it would be the Yeti. 

AMANDA:  Okay, one really popular question from the fans is about the alien body that you guys found out in Chile.  Is there, has there been a definitive answer yet or is it still unsolved?

JOSH:  Well, that’s a heartbreaker in some ways, because that corpse, and that—that’s what it is, it’s a corpse, I mean it stank to high hell, it was in a state of decomposition—Rex, who’s a paramedic, took a good look at it, he basically felt on site that it wasn’t a bird even though it sorta looked like a chicken in some ways but we felt like it was not, we felt like it was not human,  certainly the anatomy looked wrong for it to be human, and we couldn’t, you know, bring it back here and put it on a lab table.  You just can’t transport like something, you know, something like that legally.  And so we photographed it and sampled it to death and you know left it with local authorities.  We’re still in contact with them and trying to get an answer on what their findings are.   In the meantime, we were sort of amazed that we stumped our experts here but at the same time a little discouraged because then we really wish we had the actual sample back with us again.  So I think hopefully more information to come about the alien corpse. 

AMANDA:  Let’s see, another question.  One of the viewers has a creature suggestion:  the flying humanoids of New Mexico. 

JOSH:  Brad pitched a flying humanoid story a couple years ago.  The channel did not like it.

BRAD:  Yeah, I did.  Yeah, yeah I did.

AMANDA:  Really?  Why?

BRAD:  I don’t know. 

JOSH:  It was in Romania, I think.

BRAD:  It was in Romania.  They were seeing something similar in Romania.

JOSH:  It was Superman.

BRAD:  The people were actually saying they were seeing Superman.  And I was like we’ve got to go look  for Superman in Romania, and they literally said they were seeing this thing that was flying above houses and it was in the shape of a human and it was all blue with a red cape and people thought it was Superman.  But I, we’re aware of the story of the flying humanoids and, you know, I suspect that before too long we’ll , you know, we’ll have to re-pitch that one and maybe we’ll get down there and take a stab at it. 

AMANDA:  Well there was, there was another discovery, probably I’d say in the last couple of weeks in, where was it again, I think it was Guatemala or somewhere, these kids were playing by the river and they saw what they thought was like a creature coming out of the water and they killed it with stones and they think it’s like an alien or something?  Have you heard about that?

JOSH:  Yeah, I saw the photos of it, which you know, I think with most of those stories it’s usually good to wait like a week and see if it shapes up to be a hoax.  But I haven’t seen a follow up on it yet.  I mean, it certainly looked pretty dramatic, the photos I saw of it, and so we’ve actually kind of got a pin in that story and we’re trying to kinda keep up with it and see where it goes.

AMANDA:  Okay, let’s see, another suggestion are the brown mountain lights of North Carolina, I don’t know if that one’s on there yet or not.

JOSH:  Nope, that’s a first.  I don’t really know that story.

BRAD:  No.

AMANDA:  Okay, we’ll have to, you guys’ll have to look that up then.

JOSH:  Yeah.

AMANDA:  Another question…oh, this question was interesting:  can you guys find any honest politicians in Washington, D.C.? (Laughs)

BRAD:  (laughs)

JOSH:  I don’t think we’re up to the task.  That’s a difficult, difficult task.  I would have a better chance of finding the Yeti, I think.

AMANDA:  I think you’d have a better chance of finding Lindsay Lohan’s career rather than finding an honest politician.  Oh let’s see.  I just want to see if there are any more callers.  If anyone else wants to call in feel free.  I, you know, kinda screwed up on the phone calls, so I’ll get you on as fast as I can.  Let’s see, Caller 816, are you there?

CALLER 816:  Hello?

AMANDA:  Hello?

BRAD AND JOSH:  Hello!

AMANDA:  Hello, are you there?

CALLER 816:  Hello, I’m here.

JOSH:  How are ya? (Pause) We can hear you.

CALLER 816:  Hello?

AMANDA:  Yes, go ahead with your question. (Pause)  We won’t bite, I promise.

CALLER 816:  (laughs)  My first, the first thing is I totally love the show.  My original question was about the little alien body they found last night, but I’m just kinda curious if he could give us any idea of what might be coming up?  Any new shows that will be exciting?

JOSH:  Yeah, we have a few episodes left in the season.  You’ll be seeing, there’s a great episode, another episode that takes place in Chile for a dinosaur-like creature, we have a one-hour episode on the Yeti in Bhutan, which we think—that’s the last episode of the season—and we’re really excited about that, that’s a great closeout to the season.  It’s a really neat episode and the country is just spectacular.  So there’s definitely good stuff on the way still.  And then we’re getting ready right now to head out to film all new episodes.  So definitely great stuff in the pipeline, we’re really excited about some of the stuff we’re developing over here, and hopefully we’ll have some announcements on that front pretty soon.

CALLER 816:  Awesome, well thank you very much.

JOSH:  Of course.

CALLER 816:  Bye-bye.

AMANDA:  Alright, another fan question that we have is, have you guys ever permanently lost any luggage at all or does it always end up coming back?

BRAD:  Did we lose anything? 

JOSH:  I’ve been pretty lucky over the years.  We’ve had our luggage on the show get misplaced a couple of times or misrouted or miss a plane here or there, but I’ve been pretty lucky with things just vanishing, hasn’t happened to me much. 

BRAD:  We’ve had our, we’ve had most of, if not all of our equipment held up at customs—last season, I don’t know if you remember that, when we went to the Gambia. 

JOSH:  Yeah

BRAD:  They pretty much thought we were American spies with all the equipment we had, with the infrared imagers and infrared cameras.  And they literally wouldn’t let any of it into the country and we made the whole episode with essentially a, well it was like this little underwater camera that we had been able to get in and a couple of handy cams.  That was a first and a challenge, but they gave the stuff back to us, they just wouldn’t let it in the country.  I don’t know what secrets we would steal from the Gambia.  I mean, what’s going on there, what technology are we going to crack over there.

JOSH:  (laughs)  It’s true.  And then yeah, I’ve had a couple bags go awry but they always seem to make it back to me.  Knock on wood.

BRAD:  Did we lose you again?  Yes.

[DEAD AIR - 1 minute (1:20:07-1:21:02)]

AMANDA:  Okay, another technical issue, this is like a record right now.  Alright, Brand and Josh are you there? 

BRAD:  Yeah we’re here.

AMANDA:  Wow.  Well, at least there’s only 7 minutes left.  There’s no possible way it could disconnect me again.  So…

JOSH:  Eh, we’re having a great time.

AMANDA:  I know, but it’s like ‘uh, what just happened, what just happened.’  It’s kinda like being on DT, like ‘what was that?’

BRAD:  (laughs)

AMANDA:  You guys need to trademark that.

BRAD:  In case we get cut off again, we’ll just take the opportunity to thank you Amanda we really appreciate all your support of, you know, of the show and all the work that you do and you know, really you’re a great outlet for people who are interested in the show and fans of the show to sort of you know, reach out through this you know, venue and e-mails and snail mails and all that.  We just really appreciate all the work you do for the show.

AMANDA:  Aw, I really appreciate that you guys, I really do.

JOSH:  Yeah you know, Amanda, it’s nice.  You really help get the Twitter word out there and I think that that, you know, it really helps, it really, you know, makes a measurable difference to the ratings.  And I think that, you know, we certainly attribute a lot of the success that we have with the show to the people who watch it and you are obviously a real ambassador to the show and we really appreciate it.  It’s really been great.

AMANDA:  Well I really appreciate it you guys.  Thanks so much for, you know, just saying thanks.  Sometimes that kinda helps, especially after your phone decides to die.  Gotta at least have a sense of humor about it.  Okay, so a couple more fan questions.  Someone asked, Josh are you going to write a book at any point?

JOSH:  Yeah, you know I would really love to and that’s something that I’ve certainly thought about, and the way the last year or so has been with the show I’m not sure I would have had time to.  We keep sort of, we’re either in pre-production or we’re shooting or we’re in post.  So I would love to do that, I think there’s a lot of great stories to tell about Destination Truth that have not made their way on the air, and so stand by, you know, I think that’s something I’d love to try to work out.

AMANDA:  And then another question from a fan:  Josh, did you ever consider going into comedy at any point?

JOSH:  Yeah.  In fact, you know, I never really…there was a time I thought about doing stand-up but I’m not sure I have the nerve for it, but certainly when I was just sort of trying to you know, hawk my wares as an actor I was gravitating towards more comedic stuff and doing funnier, more sort of improv-y commercials.  And that was a world that I, that I was and am interested in and I’m really happy that the show has provided a great outlet for not just my sense of humor but the crew’s sense of humor and it’s really given us a chance to bring that to the show because I do think that myth, adventure and comedy, those are both a big part of travel and it’s great that we’re able to make that a part of the show and let the show not take itself too seriously. 

AMANDA:  Alright, and the last question.  This is, this is something that everyone’s getting on my back about and they tell me to ask and I’m kinda scared to ask but the cameo thing that came up around last month, everyone keeps asking me to ask you guys, and I’m so scared but just hit me with it.  Am I going to be on or not?

JOSH:  Yeah, well I think it goes back to what we said earlier.  I think we’d love to find a way to do that.  We had said to the channel earlier, it was this year or the end of last year, about trying to do some sort of a, like a contest originally.  Like that was something we had thought of.  And of course there’s an enormous amount of legal issues that go into things like that and insurance and those kinds of things, so we’ve really taken a step back and we’re re-approaching it again and trying to see how can we integrate people that are fans of the show into the show, what are the ways we can do that.  And as soon as we figure that out, you know, we’ll certainly let you know.  I mean, that is a priority for us because we feel like so much of the success of the show can be attributed to people that are really interested in the material, they’re really interested in the subject matter, and so we can find a way to, you know, bring those folks out into the field with us then we want to do it.  And, you know, definitely it’s in our minds Amanda, that’s something that we’ve certainly thought a lot about.

AMANDA:  Ah, man.  That would be really, really cool, just cause like, I know, like, at work everyone’s like ‘Amanda when are you going to be on’ and I’m like ‘I don’t know if that’s going to happen.’  But at least I asked.  My heart’s going like 50 miles a minute.  But, yeah, if you guys hear about that feel free to let me know.

BRAD:  We definitely will.  We for sure will.  Look, Casey Brumels!  He just stopped into the office.

JOSH:  Casey Brumels, ladies and gentlemen!

BRAD:  Hey!  Give him some of those cheers, give him cheers.

AMANDA:  Oh yeah, hold on I’ll get him some cheers.

(applause)

AMANDA:  There you go.  I feel bad Ryder didn’t get any cheers, so we’ll do those for her late.  Alright, so we’ve had Casey in the office, we’ve had Ryder in the office, and it looks like we only have a couple of minutes left but the fans just want to thank you guys.  They said about 50 million "Josh we love you’’s and people agreeing with the contest idea and yeah.  Just looks good. 

JOSH:  Well terrific.  We, you know, I think Brad put it very well earlier but we’re really happy to be here and it’s really a treat for us to be able to come on and connect with the fans of the show and we’re really excited the show’s been so well received this season.  It’s gratifying for us because we put a lot a lot of hard work into it and we’re really so happy not just that it’s doing well on the ratings but that people are really enjoying it.  So thank you for all the support.

AMANDA:  Alright guys.  Well I think that I am going to let you go before my phone cuts out again, but really thanks so much for being on the show and hope to hear back from some of the other cast members so that I can interview some of the other guys, but thanks a lot for coming on, I really appreciate it.

BRAD:  Thanks Amanda, I really appreciate it.

JOSH:  Absolutely Amanda, we’ll talk to you soon.

BRAD:  And take care.

AMANDA:  Alright, bye guys.  Okay listeners, so I am going to get off the air before—my cell phone decided to crap out on me tonight, so did my home phone, so I am going to probably go and eat a quart of ice cream and go cry.  No, I’m just kidding.  Stuff happens, technical difficulties happen.  Probably just call Verizon and, you know, yell at them.  So thanks so much for listening guys.  Thanks so much for watching Destination Truth, and I promise you’ll get more exclusives from me if you go to Facebook and join the Destination Truth Fans group or if you look me up on Twitter as DTonSYFYfans then you’ll be able to find me to find more exclusives.  For now have a great night, and I’ll see you soon.