Viewers who tuned in to the August 14, Season 5 premiere of 'Expedition: Bigfoot' noticed that one series mainstay, Ronny LeBlanc, was conspicuously absent. This is why.
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 bullsh*t."
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 who 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 sh*t 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. - thedirect.com
Below is my 2023 interview with Ronny just before the release of Season 4:
NOTE: I have known Ronny LeBlanc since he first published 'Monsterland.' I have always found him to be honest and forthcoming. I'm somewhat taken aback by the unfair controversy being thrust on Daniel Lee Barnett, but I'm not really surprised. The Bigfoot community, and many paranormal enthusiasts groups, usually push back when something original is proposed. The fact that they are pushing back against a 15-year-old autistic boy is ridiculous. Lon
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