Giorgio A. Tsoukalos (, el, Γεώργιος Τσούκαλος; born 14 March 1978) is a Swiss-born

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...

and producer. He is a

ufologist Ufology ( ) is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial alien visitors). While there are instances of government, private, and f ...

and a promoter of the

ancient astronauts Ancient astronauts (or ancient aliens) refers to a pseudoscientific hypothesis which holds that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times. Proponents suggest that this ...

hypothesis. He is best known for his appearances on ''Ancient Aliens'', a

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

channel series which he is also producer.

Career

Tsoukalos is of Greek-Austrian heritage. He is a 1998 graduate of

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, with a bachelor's degree in Communications. For several years he worked as a

bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...

promoter and a volunteer in IFBB sanctioned bodybuilding contests, including

Mr. Olympia Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend—an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation ...

. He produced and directed the annual IFBB San Francisco Pro Grand Prix from 2001 to 2005. Since 2002, Tsoukalos has appeared in programs broadcast by

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

, and

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

. He was the editor of ''Legendary Times'' magazine from 1999 to 2008. He is a co-executive producer of ''

Ancient Aliens ''Ancient Aliens'' is an American television series that explores the pseudohistorical and pseudoarchaeological ancient astronauts hypothesis, past human- extraterrestrial contact, UFOs, government conspiracies and related pseudoscientific top ...

'', and he has appeared in more than 200 episodes since 2009. He presented and co-produced the 2014 H2 series ''

In Search of Aliens ''In Search of Aliens'' is an American television series that premiered on July 25, 2014 on the H2 channel. Produced by Prometheus Entertainment, the program features Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, a leading contributor to the television show '' Ancient ...

''.

''Ancient Aliens'' meme

Tsoukalos's appearances in ''Ancient Aliens'' inspired a

meme A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...

highlighting his unusual hairstyle overlaid with the caption: "I'm not saying it was aliens … but …" Variations of the meme were uploaded by users as early as November 2010. According to

Dictionary.com Dictionary.com is an online dictionary whose domain was first registered on May 14, 1995. The primary content on Dictionary.com is a proprietary dictionary based on ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'', with editors for the site providing new ...

, the meme mimicked "the tone of conviction used by Tsoukalos to present unfounded far-fetched pseudo-logic as fact." In a 2015

Reddit AMA r/IAmA is a subreddit for question-and-answer interactive interviews termed "AMA" (short for "Ask Me Anything"). AMA interviewees have ranged from various celebrities to everyday people in several lines of work. Founded in May 2009, the subredd ...

, Tsoukalos said he loved the meme, adding "it's a great honor to have been embraced" by Internet users. During a 2016 appearance on

CNN Philippines CNN Philippines (abbreviated as CNN PH) is a commercial broadcast, cable and satellite television network in the Philippines. It is owned and operated by Nine Media Corporation, together with Radio Philippines Network (RPN) as the main content ...

, Tsoukalos's meme-''ification'' was discussed at length. A partial transcript of the interview was later published online as "Meet the Hair Guy from ''Ancient Aliens''." In 2021, Tsoukalos made a cameo appearance in the ''Resident Alien'' episode "Welcome Aliens". He was described by the lead character as "that high-haired gentleman". The episode included several references to ''Ancient Aliens'', the ancient astronauts hypothesis, and to the meme Tsoukalos reprised his cameo in the episode "Best of Enemies" which aired in 2022.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsoukalos, Giorgio A. 1978 births Ancient astronauts proponents Internet memes Ithaca College alumni Living people Mythographers People from Lucerne Swiss editors Swiss conspiracy theorists Swiss emigrants to the United States Swiss people of Greek descent Swiss people of Austrian descent Ufologists Pseudohistorians