The Truth About Jamie Hyneman's Beret

"I might be that guy from that show," says MythBusters co-host Adam Savage in a YouTube clip,  explaining why he gets recognized more often if he's with the other half of the duo, Jamie Hyneman. "But he is, without a doubt, that guy from that show."

Adam is right about Jamie's look. It's undeniable. He's got the rimless glasses, the big, bushy mustache and, of course, the iconic beret. (Now that you think of it, you've never seen the top of his head, have you?) But, Jamie, we're still curious: What's up with the beret? Was it part of the uniform from one of your previous careers? Are you a mime? A sea-bound mercenary? What's the story?

The decision to top his noggin with a beret was really up to nature, rather than fashion sense. Jamie started going bald, so he had to cover up. "It was kind of by default," Jamie tells Adam while beret shopping on the aforementioned episode of MythBusters.

Part of it has to do with simple personal preference. "Because I don't like baseball caps, and I'm sure not gonna wear one of those things," he says, nodding to the broad-rimmed, Indiana Jones-looking fedora atop Adam's head.

For Jamie, the beret is "a nice, simple hat," but Adam thinks there's something deeper going on. "It's not necessarily such a simple explanation, is it?" he asks Jamie. "There are military connotations. I mean, you're definitely making a statement." Jamie responds in his characteristic matter-of-fact way: "It's a hat."

Adam still isn't buying it, but realizes he's not the one who is going to get to the bottom of the mystery. He shakes his head at the camera and says, "I don't think we've gotten to the root of it at all. I think there's something deeper and more, you know. But we'll leave that for Barbara Walters." Until she sits down with Jamie to get to the bottom of it, we may never know the real truth about Jamie Hyneman's iconic beret.