Gold Rushmight focus on miners and their quest to find gold in various locations, but theDiscovery Channelhas struck metaphorical gold with the series.Gold Rushhas beenone of Discovery’s top-rated seriesthrough the years, resulting in a fleet of spinoffs includingHoffman Family Goldand the flagship series in it’s 15th season. It’s not surprising, since a big draw ofGold Rushis seeing how the miners work to get the most gold for their buck, as well as how the show hasmanaged to stay relevant over the years. One question has lingered overGold Rush:hHw much gold do the miners find?On screen, miners have managed to pull nuggets that areworth thousands of dollars— but according to some, it’s not as big of a payday as viewers might expect.
A Former ‘Gold Rush’ Contestant Claims the Show Is Heavily Scripted
If the massive hauls thatGold Rush’s miners pull in seem a little too good to be true, former cast memberJimmy Dorseyhas some revelations.In an interviewconducted after he left the series, Dorsey claimed thatGold Rushis heavily scripted, including some of the more dangerous moments:
“It is scripted from the beginning. They knew exactly what they wanted to see out of the program….The plans were made, but the footsteps were ours.”
To Dorsey’s credit, he does admit that some moments on the show are actually real, particularly when he got into a fight with another miner and broke his ribs. But producerEd Gorsuchclaimed that while some elements are embellished,producers like to put the focus on the miners. “We don’t just turn the cameras on and shoot randomly. We do focus on a story or character; we do try to have a plan each day or at least each week on what we want to emphasize,“Gorsuch told Reality Blurred. “There’s no scripts written; the edit doesn’t feed them what to do. It comes the other way around; the miners do what they’re going to do, and we give shape to it. And that is the ideal thing,”
‘Gold Rush’ Films in Areas That Are Rich With Gold
Even if the merits ofGold Rushcould be argued, there’s also the fact thatgold remains one of the rarest substances on Earth.There are very few places where one could find a significant source of gold, andGold Rushfilms in one of those locations: the Yukon River in Alaska, which has been a hot spot for miners over the years. In fact,Gold Rushwas originally calledGold Rush: Alaskawhen it first started airing! Alaska’s Bureau of Land Management even hasa list of areas that are high in gold, which might come in handy for theGold Rushminers.
Other gold-rich areas whereGold Rushhas been filmed include Oregon,which has a wide history of gold mines, and Colorado. This means that most of the hauls that are shown actually do come from gold-rich areas, but it turns out thatthe miners might not keep all of their profits.Parker Schnabel, one of theGold Rushstars, said that he tends to sell what he collects based on the ever-shifting economy. “My approach is to sell everything before start up of the next season, regardless of cash requirements or gold price,“he wrote on Reddit. Schnabel also said that he makes more from his mining business than onGold Rushproper and that the variety of the hauls varies. The saying “everything that glitters isn’t gold” has never been more apt — especially when it comes to reality TV.
Parker Schnabel Has the Biggest Hauls of ‘Gold Rush’
Despite Schnabel advising others to sell their gold,he wound up having some of the biggest hauls inGold Rushhistory. Schnabel even broke aGold Rushrecord during Season 9, where he and his crewdug up $8.4 million in gold. He managed to top that in Season 10, hauling in $1 million more than his previous record (it also didn’t hurt thatgold prices were rising at the time). Schnabel would continue to pull down impressive hauls onGold Rush; Season 14 saw him and his crew pull offa $24 million haul, with Schnabel even commissioning a friend to make some personal itemson his Instagram account.
Parker Schnabel’s gold mining success isn’t just limited toGold Rush.In the vein of other successful miners, he received his own spin-off series in 2017,Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail.Parker’s Trailfollowed Schnabelas he traveled across the world, mining in different locations, including Australia, where he teamed up withAussie Gold HuntersstarTyler Mahoney.Schnabel’s success is proof that the miners onGold Rushcan strike gold, figuratively and literally, but it also shows that luck is a major part of the process, right next to hard work.
Gold Rushis available to stream on Discovery Go in the U.S.
Watch on Discovery Go
Follow a group of determined miners as they search for gold in remote corners of the world. With high stakes and unpredictable challenges, each season captures their relentless pursuit of fortune and the dramatic ups and downs of mining life.
