Champ to be featured on Nat Geo Wild

Starting Saturday, October 26th, Nat Geo Wild will begin a new series called "The Monster Project," a fun pop culture series hosted by Judah Friedlander that provides the ultimate guidebook to the world's most notorious monsters from Chupacabra to the Jersey Devil, including Lake Champlain's very own, Champ.

At 10:00 pm on Saturday the 26th, Nat Geo will feature Champ in The Monster Project's America's Loch Ness Monster, which will include footage of the Vermont Lake Monsters mascot.

Ping Pong Productions paid a visit to historic Centennial Field at the end of the 2012 season to shoot footage of Champ, the mascot for the New York-Penn League affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, while taking a tour of the facilities and talking to Lake Monsters General Manager Nate Cloutier about the impact the myth of Champ has on the community.

The Nat Geo Wild website currently features a photograph of the Lake Monsters' mascot, Champ and describes the special as "Judah Friedlander and researchers search for a notorious lake monster named Champ. Some believe it's a prehistoric animal that's escaped extinction by hiding deep in the waters of Vermont's Lake Champlain. The legend of this American Loch Ness Monster dates back to 1609, when it was supposedly spotted by Samuel de Champlain. Using side scan sonar, underwater video and other sensors, the team scours the lake for any sign of Champ and talk to locals who believe they've seen this elusive beast.

The series is produced by Ping Pong Productions, whose credits include the original series Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet and Destination Truth on Syfy.

Nat Geo Wild can be found on the following channels Comcast 150 (HD 727), Direct TV HD 283, Burlington Telecom 109 and Dish Network 190. Along with the original airing at 10:00 pm on Saturday, the show will replay at 1:00 am Sunday, 10:00 pm October 31st and 1:00 am November 1st.