The Explorers Club and Discovery have expanded their partnership with a new series, Tales From the Explorers Club, along with a commitment to diversity with The Explorers Club 50: Fifty People Changing the World That the World Needs to Know About.
The news comes as the Explorers Club is set to host its annual dinner on April 23 in New York and as The Explorers Club Discovery Expedition Grants enters its second year “with its commitment to advance and showcase new expeditions, cutting-edge research and scientific achievements to audiences worldwide.”
Tales From the Explorers Club, which will be hosted by Expedition Unknown’s Josh Gates, will take viewers inside the headquarters of the Explorers Club to “relive the epic adventures of members who have pushed the bounds of human possibility venturing to Earth’s highest peaks, deepest ocean trenches, the North and South poles, and even into outer space.” It will detail accomplishments of such figures as Ernest Shackleton, Gertrude Bell, Sir Edmund Hillary, Jim Lovell and Jeff Bezos.
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“Our fearless adventurer Josh Gates is the perfect explorer to highlight the amazing work of the club members who have pushed boundaries in science and exploration,” said Nancy Daniels, chief brand officer, Discovery and Factual. “With Tales From the Explorers Club, we have an opportunity to introduce people to the journeys of the men and women who paved the way for scientific discovery. As we continue to support the work of explorers through the grant program, we are proud to have the opportunity to highlight their ground-breaking work through all of Discovery’s platforms.”
Added Richard Garriott, president of The Explorers Club: “We couldn’t be more excited to be working with Discovery, as we grow our membership, challenge the way we have traditionally thought about exploration, and expand our mission — to explore by all means possible. A founding tenet of the club is to communicate scientific discovery to the public, and we couldn’t have a better partner to bring that ideal into the future than Discovery.”
Said Gates, who also exec produces the show: “To me, The Explorers Club is a temple. I’ve often wandered through its history-filled rooms and thought, ‘if these walls could talk.’ In Tales From the Explorers Club, I’m thrilled to peel back the past and highlight the true adventure and inspirational accomplishments of our daring members.”
The show is produced by Ping Pong Productions for Discovery, where Gates, Brad Kuhlman and Casey Brumels are executive producers. John H. Kelleher and Lee Farber are co-executive producers for Ping Pong Productions. Michael Gara is executive producer and Emily Krakowski is coordinating producer for Discovery.
Meanwhile, last year The Explorers Club, with support from Discovery, launched another program, dubbed The Explorers Club 50: Fifty People Changing the World That the World Needs to Know About. This program was established to reflect “the great diversity of individuals on the cutting edge of exploration and to help amplify the voices of these trailblazers.”
Discovery and The Explorers Club said the honorees in the EC50 have have led conservation efforts in Iraq, promoted environmental stewardship to facilitate inter-tribal relations in Africa, produced leading research on orbital debris and space junk, decoded the secrets of Egyptian animal mummies, organized efforts to conserve large parts of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, and studied the pre-Hispanic Maya and contemporary perceptions of self-identity on Maya communities. Launched in mid-2020, The Explorers Club Discovery Expedition Grants were created to support “exceptional field-based exploration and science that has strong storytelling potential for The Explorers Club and Discovery’s many media platforms.” In its first year, the program awarded 21 grants at nearly $1 million to recipients from around the world.
