Josh Bernstein
Encyclopedia
Josh Bernstein is an American
explorer, author
, survival
expert, and TV
host best known as the host of Digging for the Truth
. He now appears as the host of the Discovery Channel
's Into the Unknown with Josh Bernstein
.
, and attended the Horace Mann School
. In 1989, he went to Cornell University
where he double-majored in Anthropology
and Psychology
, and double minored in Native American
and Near Eastern Studies. He served two terms as president of the Beta Theta chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha
Fraternity. After graduating from college, he spent a year in a post-graduate program in Jerusalem studying, among other things, mysticism
and ancient texts. His ancestry is Jewish. His father was born in Jerusalem's Old City and his paternal grandparents and great-grandparents are buried in Israel
.
Bernstein's father died of a heart attack six weeks before Bernstein's 15th birthday. A year later, his three-year-old sister was killed in an automobile accident. Bernstein has a identical twin brother, Andrew.
Bernstein has an apartment in New York City, and a yurt
in southern Utah.
adventure-archaeology series that explored ancient mysteries around the world. The series premiered with Bernstein as host in January, 2005 and quickly became the highest-rated series in the history of The History Channel. Season 3 premiered on January 22, 2007, again setting a record for the network with the highest-rated series/season premiere to date (over 2.1 million viewers). The April 16, 2007 episode marked Bernstein's final appearance as host of Digging for the Truth. The series continued for a 4th season without Bernstein before it was removed from primetime and then cancelled.
Digging for the Truth: One Man's Epic Adventure Exploring the World's Greatest Archaeological Mysteries is a print companion to the television series, authored by Bernstein, that reveals much more of the personal trials and challenges he faced making the series. It received critical acclaim and was released in hardcover in Winter 2006, and paperback in the Fall, 2007.
, the oldest and largest traditional living skills/survival school in the world. Bernstein first attended BOSS as a student in 1988, when he was 17. He returned in 1989 as an apprentice, then worked his way up to instructor, marketing director and finally CEO in 1997.
, ABC
, and CBS
News programs, including Good Morning America
and The Today Show. He appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
on January 15, 2007. Bernstein is known for wearing many hats, mostly cowboy hat
s, which has led to him being likened to Indiana Jones
. Although the History Channel played up the comparison in its promotion of Digging For The Truth
, Bernstein frowns on this comparison, pointing out that he never wears a fedora
(Indiana Jones' trademark cap), and his fashion sense has nothing to do with the fictional archaeologist.
He has also been featured in the premiere issue of Men’s Vogue magazine, the cover of the Style
section of The New York Times
, and People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive issue.
Bernstein is a fellow of The Explorers Club
and the Royal Geographical Society
. He is a passionate traveler, technical SCUBA diver, and professional
photographer, with published credits in Vogue magazine, USA Today
, Sports Illustrated
, Forbes
, Men's Health Magazine, Self, Marie Claire
, Men's Fitness
, Outside
, and Backpacker magazines.
Engaged to Lily Snyder of Sotheby's Manhattan (July 2010). Married to Lily Snyder in a ceremony in Jerusalem, Israel (September 2011).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
explorer, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, survival
Survival skills
Survival skills are techniques a person may use in a dangerous situation to save themselves or others...
expert, and TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
host best known as the host of Digging for the Truth
Digging for the Truth
Digging for the Truth is a History Channel documentary television series. The first three seasons of the show focused on host Josh Bernstein, who journeyed on various explorations of historical icons and mysteries. Bernstein is the president and CEO of BOSS and has a degree in anthropology and...
. He now appears as the host of the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
's Into the Unknown with Josh Bernstein
Into the Unknown with Josh Bernstein
Into the Unknown with Josh Bernstein is a 2008 documentary television series hosted by American explorer Josh Bernstein and written by Bernadette McDaid. The series was created for Discovery Channel...
.
Personal life
Josh Bernstein was born and raised in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, and attended the Horace Mann School
Horace Mann School
Horace Mann School is an independent college preparatory school in New York City, New York, United States founded in 1887 known for its rigorous course of studies. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from all across the New York tri-state area from...
. In 1989, he went to Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
where he double-majored in Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, and double minored in Native American
Native American Studies
Native American Studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that examines the history, culture, politics, issues and contemporary experience of Native peoples in North America, or, taking a hemispheric approach, the Americas...
and Near Eastern Studies. He served two terms as president of the Beta Theta chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha is a Greek social fraternity with over 230 chapters and colonies and over 250,000 lifetime initiates in the United States and Canada.-History:...
Fraternity. After graduating from college, he spent a year in a post-graduate program in Jerusalem studying, among other things, mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
and ancient texts. His ancestry is Jewish. His father was born in Jerusalem's Old City and his paternal grandparents and great-grandparents are buried in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Bernstein's father died of a heart attack six weeks before Bernstein's 15th birthday. A year later, his three-year-old sister was killed in an automobile accident. Bernstein has a identical twin brother, Andrew.
Bernstein has an apartment in New York City, and a yurt
Yurt
A yurt is a portable, bent wood-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by Turkic nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure comprises a crown or compression wheel usually steam bent, supported by roof ribs which are bent down at the end where they meet the lattice wall...
in southern Utah.
The History Channel: Digging for the Truth
Digging for the Truth was a History ChannelThe History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
adventure-archaeology series that explored ancient mysteries around the world. The series premiered with Bernstein as host in January, 2005 and quickly became the highest-rated series in the history of The History Channel. Season 3 premiered on January 22, 2007, again setting a record for the network with the highest-rated series/season premiere to date (over 2.1 million viewers). The April 16, 2007 episode marked Bernstein's final appearance as host of Digging for the Truth. The series continued for a 4th season without Bernstein before it was removed from primetime and then cancelled.
Digging for the Truth: One Man's Epic Adventure Exploring the World's Greatest Archaeological Mysteries is a print companion to the television series, authored by Bernstein, that reveals much more of the personal trials and challenges he faced making the series. It received critical acclaim and was released in hardcover in Winter 2006, and paperback in the Fall, 2007.
Boulder Outdoor Survival School
In addition to his former role as host of Digging for the Truth, Bernstein is the president and CEO of BOSS, the Boulder Outdoor Survival SchoolBoulder Outdoor Survival School
The Boulder Outdoor Survival School is the oldest outdoor survival school in the world. BOSS is based in the small town of Boulder, Utah, where it has operated since 1968. In 1994, BOSS opened a marketing office in Boulder, Colorado...
, the oldest and largest traditional living skills/survival school in the world. Bernstein first attended BOSS as a student in 1988, when he was 17. He returned in 1989 as an apprentice, then worked his way up to instructor, marketing director and finally CEO in 1997.
Discovery Channel: Into The Unknown With Josh Bernstein
On February 20, 2007, Bernstein announced that he was leaving The History Channel and Digging for the Truth to join the Discovery Channel as an executive producer and host of specials as well as a new prime-time series called "Into the Unknown with Josh Bernstein." The new series premiered on August 18, 2008. The show was canceled after a short run.Media appearances
Bernstein has appeared on NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
News programs, including Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
and The Today Show. He appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
on January 15, 2007. Bernstein is known for wearing many hats, mostly cowboy hat
Cowboy hat
The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the western and southern United States, western Canada and northern Mexico, with...
s, which has led to him being likened to Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
. Although the History Channel played up the comparison in its promotion of Digging For The Truth
Digging for the Truth
Digging for the Truth is a History Channel documentary television series. The first three seasons of the show focused on host Josh Bernstein, who journeyed on various explorations of historical icons and mysteries. Bernstein is the president and CEO of BOSS and has a degree in anthropology and...
, Bernstein frowns on this comparison, pointing out that he never wears a fedora
Fedora (hat)
A fedora is a men's felt hat. In reality, "fedora" describes most any men's hat that does not already have another name; quite a few fedoras have famous names of their own including the famous Trilby....
(Indiana Jones' trademark cap), and his fashion sense has nothing to do with the fictional archaeologist.
He has also been featured in the premiere issue of Men’s Vogue magazine, the cover of the Style
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
section of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, and People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive issue.
Bernstein is a fellow of The Explorers Club
The Explorers Club
The Explorers Club is a professional society dedicated to scientific exploration of Earth, its oceans, and outer space. Founded in 1904 in New York City, it currently has 30 branches world wide...
and the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
. He is a passionate traveler, technical SCUBA diver, and professional
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
photographer, with published credits in Vogue magazine, USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
, Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
, Men's Health Magazine, Self, Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Marie Claire is a monthly women's magazine first published in France but also distributed in other countries with editions specific to them and in their languages. While each country shares its own special voice with its audience, the United States edition focuses on women around the world and...
, Men's Fitness
Men's Fitness
Men's Fitness is a men's magazine published by American Media, Inc and founded in the United States in 1987. The premier issue featured Michael Pare from the television series The Greatest American Hero....
, Outside
Outside (magazine)
Outside is an American magazine focused on the outdoors. The first issue debuted in September 1977 with its mission statement declaring that the publication was "dedicated to covering the people, sports and activities, politics, art, literature, and hardware of the outdoors..."Its founders were...
, and Backpacker magazines.
Engaged to Lily Snyder of Sotheby's Manhattan (July 2010). Married to Lily Snyder in a ceremony in Jerusalem, Israel (September 2011).