Expedition from Hell: The Lost Tapes – Why we have not seen Matt’s side of the story

Although no one has heard from Matt on Expedition from Hell: The Lost Tapes just yet, there are many reasons why he might be keeping his distance.

While any expedition through the Amazon will inevitably come with its fair share of challenges – it is very evident that the group of would-be explorers that joined Mickey Grosman for his 5000-mile trek through South America had absolutely no idea what they were getting themselves into.

Discovery’s new limited docuseries, Expedition from Hell: The Lost Tapes, sees series creators, Erin Gamble and David Freid, expose hours’ worth of “lost” footage taken during Grosman’s now-infamous 2012 expedition.

What happened to Matt Saxman from Expedition from Hell: The Lost Tapes?

You may have thought that snakes, spiders and torrential rain were the biggest threats to any large group heading deep into South America’s most remote areas.

But it turns out that any expedition headed up by Grosman also includes the threat of being killed by hostile tribes, dangerous wildlife, high-stakes water-crossings, and unknown ailments.

If Expedition from Hell: The Lost Tapes did not include the real-life footage taken during this truly near-death experience, it would be difficult to believe that any part of this journey was real.

As strange as it seems, Expedition from Hell is really real

And, if the expedition members did not share their real-life accounts of what happened, it would be difficult to comprehend how they must have felt throughout these unimaginable moments.

But, of course, not all of the original expedition members have come shared their sides of the story just yet.

This includes the team’s cameraman, Matt Saxman, who no one has reportedly heard from since he abandoned the expedition part-way through.

The Expedition from Hell: The Lost Tapes team members

The group of amateur explorers who signed on to accompany Grosman on his trek through the Amazon in 2012 were under the illusion that they were going to complete the hike to raise funds for cancer research – and star in a documentary aimed at raising awareness around the issue. However, the reality turned out to be much bleaker.

Besides Matt, some of the other team members who you would have seen in the footage shared in the first few episodes include:

Exposing the ‘Expedition from Hell’

The reality of this failed expedition certainly did not pan out the way that Grosman or any other members of the team anticipated.  Some of the real-life expedition members have shared how truly traumatic the entire journey was.

In fact, Hernandez shared in an interview with Headliner Chicago that it took him “a while” to “get back into society and have normal, regular conversations” after he got back from the trip.

And Expedition from Hell: The Lost Tapes certainly proves that this experience has stuck with the explorers even now, a decade later.

Why has Matt not shared his side of the story yet?

Although we have not seen the current-day Matt share his side of the story on the show just yet – the other expedition members have shared rather ominously that “no one has spoken or heard of Matt” after he left.

This radio-silence has led to a whole lot of speculation about what happened to Matt after he left the mission – and about whether Matt ever truly made it out alive.

We will get to why we now believe that Matt at least made it out of South America safely (all those years ago) a little later on.

But it is noteworthy that there are many different reasons why he may have chosen to stay silent about his experience.

For a start, Matt may not have been up to reliving all of these terrifying experiences in the same way as the other team members.

Not to mention, the fact that starring in a docuseries could invade Matt’s (and his family and friends’) privacy or cause scheduling issues with other major live-events, or even just seem too daunting for someone with a behind-the-camera personality.

It looks like Matt  made it out alive

Matt clearly prefers to keep his personal life under the radar. But, while he has not come out to share his side of the story publicly yet, there is a LinkedIn profile for a Matthew S., which bears a striking resemblance to this former ‘Expedition from Hell’ cameraman.

If this profile does belong to the same Matt, then it seems he has moved away from the documentary realm entirely and is now working as a Manager in the computer industry.

What will happen to Matt on Expedition from Hell: The Lost Tapes?