Expedition from Hell: The Lost Tapes exposes just how dangerous Mickey Grosman’s trek through the Amazon really was, but it seems like this expedition was not fatal.
Any docuseries that opens with far-off screams of pain is bound to have a looming sense of dread throughout and Discovery’s new documentary-of-a-documentary. Expedition from Hell: The Lost Tapes is certainly no different.
Expedition from Hell: A wild and unbelievable journey
The now-infamous 5000-mile trek through the Amazon featured in Expedition from Hell has been compared to Barnum & Bailey’s circus, Tiger King, or even some kind of combination between the failed Fyre Fest and Running Wild with Bear Grylls.
But, somehow, none of these descriptors even capture just how chaotic and confusing everything about Mickey Grosman’s 2012 mission truly was.
Even someone who has never travelled through the Amazon (or been for a hike) should be able to recognize that poor planning, boiling interpersonal conflicts, various ailments including diarrhea and blisters.
And a leader that was more concerned with making ‘good TV’ than leading the team to safety was no recipe for success during an almost year-long expedition.
However, the conditions that this team had to endure look so bad that a few questions have sprouted about whether they all made it out alive.
The Expedition from Hell expedition team
According to the opening credits of Expedition from Hell, the expedition 2012 expedition led by Mickey Grosman consisted of 14 explorers.
Some of the expedition members that we have seen (either in the original footage taken during the expedition, or through their current-day accounts of the events) includes:
| Expedition member | Role in the team |
| Mickey Grosman | Expedition Leader |
| Luciana Figueroa | World Traveler |
| Delfin Gualinga | Expedition Guide |
| Alex Hernandez | Banker |
| Kevin Jackson | Survivalist and Father |
| Dr. Kyle Ver Steeg | Plastic Surgeon |
| Joe Flowers | Snake Expert |
| Robert Finlay | Expert Kayaker |
The Expedition from Hell cameos we have seen already
According to the Expedition from Hell director, David Freid, many of the expedition members were initially skeptical about sharing their experiences, as “not everyone left this experience feeling great about it”.
Although, even with the seemingly endless native memories associated with the original Amazon 5000 mission, some former expedition members agreed to share their stories through Expedition from Hell.
This includes Robert Finlay (who was fired by Grosman early on in the journey), Delfin Gualinga (who was the group’s guide), and amateur explorers, Alex Hernandez, Kevin Jackson, Kyle Ver Steeg and Joe Flowers.
However, we have not heard any first-person accounts of the experience from Matt Saxman, Luciana Figueroa, or Grosman yet.
We have also not yet heard from many of the local guides, including Nixon (who was frequently at the receiving end of Grosman’s wrath) and Norma (the medicine woman who frequently treated the team).
What happened to Matt?
If you have tuned in to watch the first few episodes of Expedition from Hell, you will already know that even though the entire expedition team (seemingly except for Grosman) were struggling with the high elevation and lack of water, or over-supply of rain during their journey – Matt Saxman, found it particularly difficult to keep up with the ever-changing environment.
While Matt’s struggles have taken up a lot of the Expedition from Hell screen time so far, Matt has yet to appear on the show in his current-day form.
However, although there has been some speculation about what happened to Matt after he “quit” the expedition, there is some evidence to suggest that he did, in fact, make it out alive – though likely not unscathed.
Did Mickey Grosman make it out alive?
Although anyone who tuned in to watch the first few episodes of Expedition from Hell have heard and seen plenty of the former Special Forces operative turned extreme survivalist, Mickey Grosman, we have yet to actually see this expedition leader share his side of the story in this new series.
But regardless of how ill-prepared this entire expedition was, there are a few sources from back-in-the-day which confirm that the team’s truly fearless (probably a bit too fearless) leader really did make it out alive.
However, it seems like the last few miles of Grosman’s journey were even more dangerous than the bits-and-pieces that we have seen on Expedition from Hell so far and may have contained more dangerous river crossings, broken bones and even a kidnapping.
This is based on a 2013 interview from the West Orange Times. Grosman was celebrating the completion of this over 4,000 mile journey across South America and he was quoted as signing off the last few miles by saying “There were many times where I said, ‘what the heck am I doing here?”
