Vikings, Chowda, and Josh Gates’ Wild New England Detour
Writing about Boston’s quirks and accents made me think of an episode of Expedition Unknown with host Josh Gates, a Massachusetts native son. The episode I’m thinking of—“Viking Secrets” (Season 4, Episode 1), which originally aired in December 2017—was packed with Boston jokes and New England flavor. One bit in particular, a hilarious monologue Josh delivered about coming home to Boston, aired once or twice and then vanished from later edits.
I don’t remember every word after all these years, but the spirit of it stuck with me. What follows isn’t a transcript — it’s my best memory of the tone, the rhythm, and the jokes he tossed out in that moment.
🦞 “I’m headin’ to Boston, baby—my home town.”
Josh delivered that line with the kind of grin only a true Boston kid can pull off. And then he launched into a hometown riff that hit every note:
“I’m headin’ to Boston, baby — my home town.
Nothin’ like comin’ back to a place where you can walk down the street wearin’ a giant foam lobstah hat and nobody bats an eye. Half the time someone’ll stop ya just to ask if the packie had ’em on sale.And the sports, my God. You step off the plane at Logan and within five minutes you’ve got two guys in Brady and Ortiz jerseys arguin’ about which championship parade had bettah weathah.
The seafood? Forget it. You can’t throw a rock without hittin’ a place claimin’ they’ve got the best chowda in New England. And honestly? They’re not wrong.
But the real sign you’re home? Dunkin’. There’s one on every cornah, like they’re multiplyin’. You leave for five minutes and suddenly there’s a new one across from the old one, just in case you needed backup.
So yeah — Vikings, longships, ancient mysteries… but first I’m grabbin’ an iced regulah and maybe swingin’ by Kowloon. You can’t staht an expedition on an empty stomach.”
It was Boston in a nutshell—accent, attitude, seafood, sports, and caffeine. And then, as quickly as it appeared, the riff disappeared from later versions of the episode. Lost media, Boston edition.
🌳 Comm Ave, Memory Lane, and the Boston That Stays With You
Hearing Josh talk about coming home made me think about my own Boston moments. Walking down
two Swan Boats 2017
Comm Ave in the fall, leaves crunching underfoot. The Public Garden swan boats. The way the city glows at dusk, all brownstones and lamplight. The stubborn pride that makes Bostonians argue about everything from sports stats to the correct way to pronounce “car.”
(For the record: cah.)
Boston isn’t just a place—it’s a personality. And Josh taps into that every time he comes back.
🏰 From Chowda to the Newport Tower: New England Mysteries
Once Josh finished his iced regulah, he headed south to Rhode Island to investigate the Newport Tower—one of New England’s most persistent historical head‑scratchers.
Is it:
- A colonial windmill?
- A Viking structure?
- A Portuguese relic?
- A medieval tower built by someone who got very lost?
Depends on who you ask.
Josh did what Josh does best: climbed it, measured it, poked it, and interviewed everyone from historians to enthusiastic theorists. The result? A delightful blend of science, speculation, and “well, it could be Vikings… maybe.”
🦈 Nomans Land: Where Josh Gates Nearly Becomes Shark Chowda
But nothing—and I mean nothing—beats the segment where Josh heads to Nomans Land, the forbidden island off Martha’s Vineyard.
This place has:
- Rough seas
- Unexploded WWII bombs
- Restricted access
- A coastline patrolled by great white sharks
Naturally, Josh decides this is the perfect place to investigate Viking legends.
Watching him bounce around on a boat in choppy water while the captain casually mentions, “Oh yeah, this whole area is full of unexploded ordnance,” is peak Expedition Unknown. Add in the sharks circling like they’re waiting for him to drop a snack, and it becomes comedy gold.
I laughed out loud then, and I still do now. Only Josh could turn “bombs and sharks” into a charming travelogue.
⚓ Why This Episode Feels So Boston
It’s not just the accent or the Dunkin’ jokes. It’s the spirit of the thing.
Boston—and New England in general—is a place where:
- History is always underfoot
- Mystery is always around the corner
- The ocean is always waiting to surprise you
- And the locals are always ready to argue about something
Josh captured that perfectly. Even when the intro got cut, the episode still carries that unmistakable New England energy: a mix of curiosity, grit, humor, and “yeah, we’ll go check out the island full of bombs, why not?”
📝 Closing Thoughts
Revisiting this episode reminded me why I love Boston—and why Josh Gates remains one of my favorite storytellers. He gets it. He gets us. Josh knows that New England isn’t just a backdrop; it’s a character.
And even if that original Boston riff is lost to the editing room floor, it lives on in the hearts of those of us who heard it the first time and thought:
“Yep. That’s home.”
