‘World’s Biggest Ghost Hunt: Pennhurst Asylum’ Investigators Think Their Experience Would Help Them on ‘Big Brother’ (Exclusive)

On Wednesday, A&E will air a new special called World’s Biggest Ghost Hunt: Pennhurst Asylum. The show puts five paranormal investigators into one of the most haunted places in the U.S. for two weeks with no reprieve. Ahead of the premiere, the stars spoke exclusively with PopCulture.com about how they think they would fare on other “lock-in” style shows.

Paranormal experts Zak Heino and Max Baumle spoke to PopCulture.com ahead of the premiere of World’s Biggest Ghost Hunt, an ambitious new special from A&E. It documents the longest continuous paranormal investigation on television, with them and three more specialists locked in Pennhurst Asylum for two straight weeks.

With that in mind, we thought it would be fun to ask them about other shows that center around a lock-in, such as Big Brother. Both Heino and Baumle were amused by the idea that, after being locked in an old campus full of apparitions, the Big Brother house should be no problem.

“I’d give it a shot. I don’t know,” Heino said. “I’ve never actually seen Big Brother. I mean, I have seen parts…”

Baumle agreed that it was not his first choice for a TV career jump, but they certainly had the experience. Heino thought of some other shows they could do well on.

“I’m kind of looking at like, Jersey Shore,” he joked, “I feel like there’s like, those personalities are so, like expanded, especially when you throw like alcohol into the mix… But I get along with everyone.”

Speculating further, Heino figured that the Ghost Hunt cast would do well on a reality show, and he would have a built-in ally in Austin, as he’s his cousin. “I would do it,” he decided. “If you guys do, I would do it, but it’d be a little different.”

Of course, a game show is a far cry from the experience Heino and Baumle had at Pennhurst Asylum. The two-hour special follows their investigation into paranormal phenomena around the old campus, including apparitions, electromagnetic activity and one harrowing encounter that may constitute contact.

At the same time, that is not to say that World’s Biggest Ghost Hunt has no emotional component to it. The show documents the cast’s reaction under stress as they spend all night investigating and all day pouring over their data, with precious little time for sleep. They all find themselves pushed to new limits in their conception of what is possible, even after years of investigative experience.

World’s Biggest Ghost Hunt: Pennhurst Asylum airs on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. ET on A&E.