If you have been into video games, paranormal media, or simply love the geek side of the internet, chances are that you know Jessica Chobot very well. As a host and writer for famous video-game-focused platforms, Jessica rose to international fame for her charisma and passion for geek things, though at some point she was also an accidentally divisive figure in the industry.
Those times are far gone though, as nowadays, Jessica is a renowned voice not only in the video game communication industry but also in the niche of paranormal media, being involved with TV shows in the genre and starting her own productions as well.
If you have lost track of Jessica Chobot’s whereabouts since her days as a video game reviewer and on-screen personality in all-geek-related events, then you’re in the right place. Keep watching to learn more about her current projects, her career, controversies, and a lot more!
What Is Jessica Chobot Doing Now?
Everyone who has ever been a loyal reader of video game-specialized websites such as IGN or Kotaku, then you’ve surely missed reading about Jessica Chobot for some time. Her rise to fame in those aforementioned platforms and as a personality in comic and geek events took place during the mid-2000s, but Jessica managed to turn that momentum into a stable career which has taken her to diverse professional and personal paths.
One of those amazing paths has been becoming a TV personality through and through by taking part in Discovery’s “Expedition X”, a paranormal-centered TV show which includes field investigations. Jessica was in the show from 2020 to 2024 when she left and focused on other projects. She’s also the creator and host of the “Bizarre States: Resurrected” podcast, which not only focuses on paranormal but also weird and nerdy topics. This podcast is a revival of her now-disappeared podcast “Bizarre States”, which she produced from 2014 to 2018.
Update: I’ve just been told Expedition X doesn’t air till 9:40pm. Still in that same block of time on your TV menus tho, alongside Expedition Unknown! pic.twitter.com/gK9sHLWrjR
— Jessica Chobot (@JessicaChobot) February 13, 2020
Following her exit from “Expedition X”, Jessica announced she was working on another project with Discovery, but didn’t reveal many details about it. Nonetheless, you can keep up to date with Jessica by following her on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.
Why Did She Leave “Expedition X”?
There’s no denying that Jessica Chobot’s work in Discovery’s “Expedition X” was positive for her career. Not only did it get her close to the paranormal entertainment niche but also showed her talents away from video games, which her followers were most used to seeing in her beginnings.
Unfortunately, Jessica’s time in “Expedition X” came to an end in 2024, when she chose to leave after four years and seven seasons in the show. At first, not much was said about the reasons leading to her exit, as she just revealed she was working on other projects while her fellow co-star Phil Torres affirmed he and Jessica remained ‘close friends’ in August 2024.
Later in an interview with the podcast “The Creaking Door Paranormal Radio” in September 2024, Jessica revealed further details about her exit from the show, admitting that the winter before the eighth season has been ‘rough’, though she refrained from affirming if it was an issue with her fellow co-stars or something else. She also thanked the show’s production staff for their work.
However, rumors about a fallout between Jessica and “Expedition X” main host Josh Gates, as not only didn’t she mention him in her goodbye post from the show but also unfollowed him on Instagram.
Before Fame
Long before Jessica Chobot became known in the video game industry for her writing and on-camera hosting, she struggled a lot to figure out what she wanted out of life. As she revealed in an interview with Polygon in 2013, in her early 20s she was a fresh fine arts graduate, but her inability to make her artistic passion pay off led her to marry and work at a real estate company as a secretary.
https://www.facebook.com/ign/photos/a.10150300764211633/10150300764291633/
Life wasn’t good for Jessica back then, as not only didn’t she consider her marriage a good decision but she also felt lost professionally. When her goal of getting an art teaching certification was truncated by bureaucracy, Jessica entered what she described as a ‘quarter-life crisis’, which led her to reconsider her relationship with her then-husband, immerse herself in video games all-nighters, and take a sudden trip to Japan, a country she admired from afar for the longest time.
It was during her three-week-long trip to the Asian country that Jessica found the courage within herself to follow her dreams and find her identity away from her romantic relationship. That’s why she returned to the US and set the goal of working in the video game industry, though she still had a long way to go.
Beginnings In The Industry & Controversy
Jessica Chobot’s rise in the entertainment industry was a mix of good luck and being at the right place, at the right time. Following her life crisis in her mid-20s, Jessica began looking for jobs in the video game industry, sending uncountable emails while trying to network her way into the E3, an annual video game trade event.
At the same time, Jessica’s look gained her various small modeling jobs that didn’t exactly make her proud, as she told Polygon. It was during a photoshoot session that she received her Playstation Portable console and in a genuine impulse, had someone take a photo of her while licking the device.
She sent the pic to the video game media platform Kotaku, and soon enough, the pic was making rounds on the internet. It didn’t take long from there for Jessica to start getting calls from Kotaku and similar platforms, eventually getting jobs as a host and model in industry events. Things advanced even more when she became a writer and reviewer for IGN and at some point, she divorced her first husband.
Unfortunately, Jessica’s unorthodox rise to fame wasn’t exactly welcomed by everyone in the industry. As she also affirmed to Polygon, it was hard to get rid of the stigma she got when she was initially promoted as the prototype of a video-game girlfriend, even getting harsh criticism after getting involved with the creative side of video games later in the 2010s.
Other Projects & The Future
Despite the backlash Jessica Chobot has received over the years, there’s no denying that she has worked to build a career in the video game industry. After nearly two decades of being involved with it, Jessica has worked with big brand names such as Xbox and Playstation and collaborated in the scripting of several video games including “Mass Effect 3”, “Soul Code” and “Daylight”. She was also a host for “Nerdist News” for several years.
Regarding the personal side, Jessica got married to TV host Blair Herter, with whom she welcomed a son in 2013.
So what does the future have in store for Jessica Chobot? That’s yet to be seen, but her talent and creativity will keep pushing her forward to new and exciting projects.
