Tonight, one of the summer’s most exciting reality docuseries returns to Discovery — and here’s an exclusive preview.
Cooper’s Treasure follows Darrell Miklos, treasure hunter by trade and by birth, as he searches for lost bullion using maps drawn by astronaut Gordon Cooper from space.
It’s thought the maps show the locations of lost ships laden with precious cargo. Miklos ended the show’s first season with the discovery of an anchor believed to be from one of the ships that Christopher Columbus used to explore the New World.
Ahead of Season 2, watch our exclusive sneak peek above and read below for a rundown of what’s to come.
Who is Darrell Miklos?
A devoted husband, father, and son, Darrell Miklos was raised in an interesting family dynamic.
His father, Roger Miklos, was a famous explorer who appeared on TV and had a very interesting circle of friends, including astronaut Gordon Cooper. Roger met Cooper while booked on the same Merv Griffin talk show back in 1978.
Younger Miklos was fascinated by his eccentric dad’s career. In 1970, seven-year-old Miklos hid on his father and uncle’s boat while they recovered spent booster rockets for NASA’s Apollo Program.
One of his childhood chores was looking for “pieces of eight” (gold coins) along the Treasure Coast shoreline with his sisters.
Through his father Roger, young Darrell formed a friendship with Cooper and learned of his secret mission while he was working for NASA up in space. Cooper’s insanely detailed maps were plotted while he was launched in Earth’s orbit.
Darrell worked with Cooper in the late 1990s on a Bahamian wreck that he believed contained treasure. He also worked on other projects in the USA, Mexico and South America with Cooper until the astronaut’s health deteriorated. Sadly Cooper died in 2004. In Season 1, Darrell expressed his grief over Cooper’s passing, saying he “was like a second father” to him.
Later, Miklos and his father worked with the Mel Fisher estate on the discovered Nuestra Señora de Atocha of the 1622 Spanish Fleet near the Marquesas Keys in 1979 and 1980.
Completely sold on Cooper’s claims about billions laying just under the shallow pristine blue coastal waters between North and South America, Darrell was hooked. With a treasure map showing Cooper’s underwater anomalies he began a lifelong quest to find the treasure.
The reality series is the filmed and documented quest to find the bullion, as well as Miklos’s efforts to reconcile his complex relationship with his own father Roger. Darrell is filmed following breadcrumbs using high tech gear in a bid to track down the whereabouts of shipwrecks potentially worth hundreds of millions, loaded with priceless treasures, precious metals, and gems.
What is Darrell’s mission in Season 2?
More treasure hunting and validation of Cooper’s hard work! In a voiceover in our exclusive clip, Darrell says: “I truly feel we are on the trail where Gordon believed there were hundreds of wrecks, treasure-laden wrecks, motherlode shipwrecks that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars — and we’re going to find them.”
Season 2 photos
What happened last season?
Last season, Miklos amazingly located a shipwreck most experts believe is tied to Christopher Columbus’s vast fleet of ships that set sail from Spain. To find it Darrell used Cooper’s maps, which proved to be accurate and informative.
Darrell also introduced us to his family, his wife, two daughters and his colorful father Roger Miklos. The series ended on a high note with the discovery of the anchor.
This season’s experts
In Season 2, Darrell is joined by shipwreck recovery specialist Eric Schmitt, marine archeologist Jim Sinclair, and survey expert Mike Perna, to finish the hunt Gordon started decades ago.
Will they find anything in Season 2?
Yes! Watch for the episodes as they uncover gold coins, gold ore, and “dozens of priceless artifacts from a multitude of historic wrecks” — and more!
Cooper’s Treasure returns Friday, June 22 at 9 pm ET/PT on Discovery.