Ronny LeBlanc abruptly departed the cast of Expedition: Bigfoot.
Whether one believes in Bigfoot or not, it is hard to argue that the mysterious cryptid has not captured the imaginations of millions over the decades.
So much so, that the crew of Discovery’s Expedition: Bigfoot has devoted five TV seasons to the pursuit of nature’s tall, furry friend (Read about the cast of Expedition: Bigfoot Season 5).
Where Is Expedition: Bigfoot's Ronny LeBlanc?
Viewers who tuned in to the August 14, Season 5 premiere of Expedition: Bigfoot noticed that one series mainstay, Ronny LeBlanc, was conspicuously absent.
Ronny LeBlanc, one of the world’s foremost experts on the unexplainable, first appeared on Expedition: Bigfoot during its second season and quickly became a favorite among audience members.
So, why was LeBlanc not present in the program's new episodes? As it turns out, the paranormal specialist exited Expedition: Bigfoot following Season 4. This is due to a sense of personal disgust that LeBlanc has felt over a specific situation regarding teenage cryptozoology enthusiast Daniel Lee Barnett.
Barnett ran a podcast called Mythical Legends, a show that chronicled the boy’s ongoing quest for evidence of Bigfoot and his fellow cryptids. He was also filming a documentary in the UK entitled My Bigfoot Life.
In recent weeks, the 15-year-old had come under fire from various Bigfoot circles for allegedly falsifying DNA evidence.
Ronny LeBlanc, being heavily entrenched in the study of cryptids himself, posted a lengthy statement to Instagram in response to this controversy. According to LeBlanc, this ordeal is what prompted him to walk away from Expedition: Bigfoot:
"Yes, I am no longer a part of ‘Expedition: Bigfoot’. I chose to leave for a multitude of reasons and secondly, what’s transpired in the past 48 hours concerning Daniel Lee Barnett out of the UK. 15-year-old kid who is now being attacked by people, being accused of faking E-DNA evidence. All of you should be really ashamed of yourselves, quite frankly. This is a kid that’s coming into the field and probably gonna exit it now because of all this bullshit."
LeBlanc expanded on his comments, remarking that it was "just disappointing" to witness the treatment of Barnett when the Bigfoot community should have been "supporting each other:"
"People need to own up to things and realize that you’re attacking a 15-year-old autistic kid from the UK. Who now who knows what’s gonna happen now? But it’s just disappointing to hear and see all this crap going on in the Bigfoot community where everyone should be supporting each other. But yet we’re starting to see this deteriorate. So, I’m just disgusted with what’s been going on. This is why you have independent researchers that are doing their own thing outside of the community and not being accepted by them because you have stuff like this. So, there’s a couple people and I’m not gonna name names, but you know who you are, and you need to stop the shit right now."
LeBlanc responded to a comment on the social media post questioning whether he was pushed out of Expedition: Bigfoot due to his ideas getting rejected by others on the series. But LeBlanc flat-out denied any such thing, noting that "it was my decision:"
"Nope…it was my decision. And it was the best one. Had the summer with my family. Can’t replace that with anything."
As for whether LeBlanc could ever crop up on Expedition: Bigfoot at some point in the future, that remains to be seen. But it also doesn’t seem too likely given his dismay.
Expedition: Bigfoot airs on Discovery Channel on Wednesdays. The series is streaming on Max.
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