After traversing the globe, exploring ancient mysteries on his popular series Digging for the Truth, explorer and survival expert Josh Bernstein returned to the Discovery Channel airwaves on Monday for the premiere of his new eight episode expedition called Into the Unknown. Next week on Monday, August 25, Josh Bernstein travels to parts unknown to investigate a compelling new theory about the truth behind the story of Noah's Ark, exploring questions whether Noah actually existed and whether his gargantuan animal transport was real.

Although Josh cracked open a vault of secrets last week surrounding the world's Gladiators, we set out on our own expedition on a recent conference call with the survivalist to explore a number of new mysteries Into the Unknown has to offer and what Bernstein thinks of the mystery surrounding the new Bigfoot discovery.

THE DEADBOLT: What did you find out about gladiators that really surprised you?

JOSH BERNSTEIN: I didn’t know there were female gladiators. I don’t know if that made it into the show. I didn’t realize that they were mostly vegetarian, which was surprising. That was one of the data points we got out of the Stansky analysis that we looked at and their bones. And I didn’t realize that even though they were the lowest of the low in terms on their status and hierarchy in ancient Rome, they could also be simultaneously glorified as celebrities. It’s an interesting paradox and there’s a lot more. Obviously Hollywood has to focus on the stories to create a blockbuster, but there’s a lot more to a gladiator’s day-to-day life that I found fascinating. Plus the role that Christianity played in the decline of the gladiatorial games, I wasn’t aware of the religious connection.

THE DEADBOLT: You mentioned that the locations need to be beautiful because of HD. Was that always possible? You’re in the desert sometimes, which sometimes doesn’t really look that nice?

BERNSTEIN: Really? I don’t know, I like deserts. I think the cameraman, the DP’s job is to make the show visually exciting and that’s what I meant more than we don’t only shoot beautiful locations. But we want the cinematography to be compelling and to support the sense of bigness we hope the series represents. So even if we’re in a dark cave in Egypt exploring Akhenaten or the 18th Dynasty, we want it to be shot in a way that makes you say, "Dude, this is incredible, and I’m even more grateful it’s in High Definition."

THE DEADBOLT: Did you revisit places that you’re already been to in Digging for the Truth?

BERNSTEIN: Absolutely, yeah. It’s hard not to. I did a show in Peru where I’ve been several times. But I explored a region and a culture I had not explored previously, the Chachapoyas, the Cloud Warriors episode. Egypt, of course I’ve done what - seven, eight shows in Egypt for Digging. I worked with Dr. Zahi Hawass many times and I explored the 18th Dynasty. I looked at Nefertiti, I looked at King Tut, but I never really focused on Akhenaten. So if there’s any overlap, that’s direct in the sense that I’ve already done this. We just shoot it down and I don’t do that episode and we just move on to the next idea. It’s important that I feel like I can engage intellectually and honestly whatever material I’m exploring.

THE DEADBOLT: With the Noah’s Ark episode or any of the biblical [oriented expeditions], is there ever a worry about pissing certain people off?

BERNSTEIN: [laughs] Yeah, of course. There has to be because there are people who are going to be offended that you’re evaluating the word of God and questioning it in any sort of way. But I’ve faced that before when I did King David or King Solomon or any of the biblical stories I explored on Digging. I’m respectful of that. I understand it and I think I’m very clear upfront with any conversations I have with people that when it comes to biblical studies, it’s fairly binary. Either you think it’s all God’s word and shouldn’t be questioned at all or there’s interpretation there, and I’m in the latter camp. I think that exploring the bible is a fascinating story, some of it grounded in history and proven by archeology and some of it perhaps still to be proven.

When it comes to Noah and the flood, that’s the second oldest story. The only older, basically, is Adam and Eve and Cain and Able. So to get anything that to prove that in the landscape is an uphill challenge. That’s a battle, but I was up for it. I think it is unusual and a bit curious that so many cultures, Judeo Christian and others in the Mediterranean, have the same story. Why is that the case? If everyone says that someone was shot on the corner and then got hit by a car, if everyone says that then you think maybe it really happened. This is the same thing. But it was so many thousands of years ago, maybe there’s some truth to it. It’s worthy of my explorations.

THE DEADBOLT: You mentioned that you went to Israel for that story. Did you also go to Mount Ararat [to explore that theory]?

BERNSTEIN: Mount Ararat in Turkey, I did. I’ve been to Turkey and to Armenia exploring the - We decided to fall on the Armenian side so we’re certainly in view of Ararat and we shot up there. But we went to a church that believe they actually have a piece of the Ark, that’s where the show begins.

THE DEADBOLT: Can you let us know what the other six episodes are?

BERNSTEIN: Sure. I don’t know the run order, but gladiators, Noah’s flood, there’s one called Cloud Warriors on the Chachapoyas culture in Northern Peru, pre-Inca culture, and I went and explored its mysterious disappearance. Timbuktu, I went into Mali, the fabled City of Gold, to find out if it truly was as rich as people, legend would tell us. Akhenaten, the Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty who overturned all of the pantheon of Egypt to create monotheism. There’s another episode, elephants attacking in Kenya for no reason that people understand. Papua New Guinea, the dying wish of the chief of the Anga people - [he said] "No one has been mummified in fifty years. It’s a sacred tradition and I was the last person to do it to my father. I’m about to die, I want to teach my sons how we used to mummify." And so we came in with our cameras to document that. And the last episode is life on Earth, could it have come from Mars?

THE DEADBOLT: Is there anything you didn’t get to do on Digging for the Truth that you brought over to this one?

BERNSTEIN: No, not really. Well, I hope I get to Angkor Wat. That was on my list. Timbuktu I was happy to go to. I know that Digging did that in season four, and so, yeah, I’d love to go. And I was jealous when they called me from Mali and said, "Guess where we are?" And I’m thinking, "You guys suck." So yeah, I think it’s a little different series in that we don’t want to replicate Digging, we want to bring a fresh face to it. I guess the same face, but a fresh feel.

THE DEADBOLT: What are your thoughts on that recent Bigfoot story coming out of Georgia?

BERNSTEIN: [laughs] You know, if the timing was right maybe I could explore that eventually. I do think it’s fascinating that Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti - the different terminology that exists in different parts of the world - there does seem to be some pervasive story of larger than life. Even the Abominable Snowman, there seems to be something out there that people look to. I have not done any more research than reading about it on the internet. I don’t know what’s in the freezer. I don’t know what the story is about. These guys who claim to have shot it and seen others, I do think it certainly is water cooler conversation worthy. I don’t know if it can hold up to a full hour of credible analysis. But if this story is still kicking around when I get back in the game for Season Two, maybe I’ll go down there and take a look.