TV Host Josh Gates Might Have Appeared in an Episode of 'Friends' as an Extra

Thanks to more than a decade of hosting experience, Josh Gates has made a name for himself as one of the best hosts in the Discovery Channel's arsenal. Josh began his hosting responsibilities in 2007 with Destination Truth, and has since gone on to host shows like Expedition Unknown and Legendary Locations.

Josh's cred in the Discovery Channel world is almost unmatched, but someone on TikTok might have surfaced an appearance from him in a more surprising location. Some people think he might have once been an extra on Friends. Here's what we know about whether that's real.

In a TikTok video posted by user @aldentuttle2 in October of 2024, he shares a screenshot of an extra that he claims is Josh Gates. The episode in question is "The One Where Rosita Dies," which is in the show's seventh season. Now, many are wondering whether Josh is really the man in that image.

We don't know for sure whether that's really Josh, though, because it's not listed in his credits on IMDb.

Given that that episode filmed in the early 2000s, though, it's definitely possible that Josh was an extra on it. It was five years before Destination Truth premiered, and Josh's IMDb does list him as an actor in several shorts in the years following that episode. It's possible, then, that he was hired as an extra to fill out a scene, and compensated for his time when he was still an anonymous actor trying to scrounge up a living.

Friends was a big enough show that people like Demi Moore and Julia Roberts came in for short arcs on the show, but there were also plenty of people who showed up on the show who didn't get famous until after their appearances.

Craig Robinson, for example, appeared in a Season 10 episode long before he became well-known for his role on The Office.

Ellen Pompeo was another actor who appeared in a Season 10 episode before going on to star in Grey's Anatomy. Indeed, everyone from Dakota Fanning to Mae Whitman popped up in at least one episode of the show and went on to be famous later.

When you're producing 240 episodes over the course of a decade, you're bound to hire some unknown actors who go on to do big things after appearing on the show.

While we don't know for sure whether Josh was one of those young actors or not, it's definitely plausible that he could be. The next time he appears in public, someone should ask him whether he ever appeared on Friends. And, if he did appear on one of the most popular sitcoms in the history of TV, then somebody should go through the trouble of adding that to his IMDb. It might not be a big part, but that doesn't mean it doesn't matter.