In 2002, Josh Gates was a contestant on Beg, Borrow & Deal, a reality/game show on ESPN.

In 2006, he starred in Truly Famous, a series sponsored by Budweiser.

From 2007 to 2012, Gates was the host of Destination Truth on Syfy. The series premiered its second season with its best-ever telecast, delivering 1.7 million total viewers and making the show the highest-rated second season performance by a reality series on Syfy. The series ended after its fifth season.

In 2007, Gates hosted the Ghost Hunters Live Halloween special, and in 2008 he made a guest-appearance on the mid-first-season finale episode of Ghost Hunters International.

Gates hosted two round-table interviews with Ghost Hunters in 2007 (“Revelations”) and 2008 (“All Access”.) Gates returned as guest investigator on a 2009 episode wherein Essex County Penitentiary was investigated, a 2011 episode wherein Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum was investigated, a 2012 episode wherein Hammond Castle was investigated, and a 2013 episode wherein Mission San Juan Capistrano was investigated.

In 2008, Gates traveled to Walt Disney World in Florida to meet with Joe Rohde, Executive Designer of Walt Disney Imagineering. Gates presented Rohde with a cast of the “Yeti” footprint found during a Destination Truth episode. The cast is on display at Expedition Everest, a Himalayan-themed, high-speed, coaster-like attraction where guests come face-to-face with a Yeti.

He returned as the host of Ghost Hunters Live in 2008, where he helmed the live seven-hour broadcast from Ft. Delaware, a civil war POW camp in Delaware Bay. Both seasons garnered high ratings and 2008’s show made Syfy the #1 cable network in prime-time on Halloween night. Gates also returned as host of the Ghost Hunters Live Halloween specials in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

In May 2012, Josh was in 2 episodes of Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files where he investigated paranormal activity.

Gates was the creator, executive producer, and narrator of Stranded, a paranormal reality television series that premiered on the SyFy channel in February 2013. Gates produced the show in cooperation with Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions.

Gates is currently the host and executive producer of Expedition Unknown on Discovery Channel after having moved from Travel Channel, which premiered in January 2015 and is in its eighth season as of Oct 2020.

In 2020, a SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 2020 pandemic at-home variant of the show was created to fill the end of the season, and further network airtime, called Josh Gates Tonight, in which Gates vidoeconferences with guests about travel and life.

In February 2020, Gates premiered a new show “Expedition X” where fellow paranormal researcher Jessica Chobot and scientist Phil Torres investigate paranormal reports and other mysterious phenomena.

In April 2020, Gates premiered a new talk show, “Josh Gates Tonight”, where he videoconference interviews people from around the globe, including those previously featured on Expedition Unknown, and, travel and adventure figures. The new show as created to fill airtime due to the interruption of productions caused by the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 pandemic, and could be filmed while isolated during lockdown and travel restrictions.