Into the Unknown, on Discovery

Josh Bernstein, wearing a pin-striped suit, does not look like the kind of guy who would tell you, "I like to get dirty," but that's exactly how he described his enthusiasm for his work as host of his new series on the Discovery Channel at a luncheon in his honor at the Brasserie Ruhlmann hosted by Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch and Nancy Novogrod's Travel & Leisure Magazine. The first segment of "Into the Unknown," airing tonight, features the "secret life of gladiators," and good as his word, Bernstein dons a metal helmet, takes up the gladiators' essential weapons: sword, pitch fork and net, and jumps right into a gladiating class in Rome. Pointing out the helmet options, many of which hide the fighter's face, the instructor wisely adorns Bernstein's with the one kept for handsome warriors, open so that the ladies can ooh and ahh. Just as in our celebrity jousts today, good looks command more attention. Moving on to the archaeology, some experts tell Bernstein of a new find, a gladiator graveyard in Pompei, and show him some skulls that reveal just how each one met his end. Not all gladiators fought to the finish. And while most were slaves, some free men gave up their citizenship for their Warholian 15 minutes. Hollywood may have distorted the truth about gladiators in the famous Russell Crowe portrayal and with Kirk Douglas  as Spartacus, but history shows they were superstars in their day. As to Josh Bernstein, when he's not going to "places where no one else will go" –visits to Armenia, Israel, Sicily, and Cyprus are slated for a look at Noah's Biblical flood, as well as a walking trip into the Peruvian Andes to find out how the lost tribe of Chachapoya vanished--he divides his time between a yurt in Utah and an apartment in New York. He says that if you write his first name on an envelope with the name of his Utah town, the mail will get to him. Needless to say, that method will not work in Manhattan.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura