‘Expedition Unknown’ Host Josh Gates Refused to Film OceanGate Submersible Trip to Titanic Over Safety Concerns

Expedition Unknown host Josh Gates revealed that he once had the opportunity to film an episode of his show on the Titanic submersible now lost at sea.

The submersible was carrying five passengers who all signed up for the voyage in order to see the ship wreck remains of the RMS Titanic but part way into their mission, the vessel lost communication and their location is now unknown.

Gates, whose Discovery Channel show features him partaking in daredevil expeditions and adventures across the globe, is no stranger to risky endeavors. The host revealed on Wednesday he once met Stockton Rush the CEO of the OceanGate Expedition company — one of the five passengers lost at sea.

Gates had the opportunity to travel down in the submersible while it was still in the testing phase for the Titanic dive, in hopes of filming the descent to the ship as part of a future episode.

Gates said the submersible did not perform well during his trip and he decided against filming it altogether due to safety concerns.

“To those asking, #Titan did not perform well on my dive. Ultimately, I walked away from a huge opportunity to film Titanic due to my safety concerns w/ the @OceanGate platform. There’s more to the history and design of Titan that has not been made public – much of it concerning,” Gates warned.

Despite his own drawbacks about the submersible vessel, he did defend those who would still take the opportunity to visit the Titanic.