As Gold Rush: Alaska season 2 began, it quickly became apparent that this was not the same series that captivated audiences during its first season. In many ways, it had become much more.
Instead of simply focusing on the Hoffman crew’s endeavors at their new claim, the Jim Nail Placer mine, Gold Rush season 2 brought in two additional, concurrent stories that wonderfully supplemented the compelling tales of a mining season: the Big Nugget mine with Parker Schnabel and the Quartz Creek with “Dakota” Fred.
Transitioning itself from a single tale of the Hoffman crew attempting to provide for their families by striking it rich from mining gold into three concurrent stories, the amount of earnest storytelling that Gold Rush was able to achieve during season 2 is truly awe-inspiring – especially for a reality series.
By revealing the many levels of growth that one goes through in their lifetime, the challenges and complications that the three groups faced while attempting to mine gold served to elevate the series beyond any “get rich quick” stigma that it may have been given during its first season.
The Hoffman Crew
For the Hoffman crew, their second season attempt at gold mining provided audiences with an earnest tale of remaining resolute against all odds. With “Dakota” Fred taking over the mine that the Hoffmans used during the first season, the amateur gold miners were forced to start over.
Beginning the mining season behind schedule, though with new-found knowledge, Gold Rush season 2 reveals the immense work and dedication that the Hoffmans had to put in to their mining efforts, and what exactly it takes to reach the goals they set for themselves, not matter what challenges may arise.
Dakota Fred
“Dakota” Fred, like many things in life, is a complicated tale. Initially portrayed as an antagonist figure during the start of season 2, the true story of “Dakota” Fred was slowly revealed through the season. Arguably receiving the least amount of on air time when compared to the rest of the groups, the “mining expert” that “Dakota” Fred was presented as during the first season was soon replaced by the notion that he’s simply a man that needs to succeed, perhaps more so than the Hoffmans.
That being said, the full story of “Dakota” Fred is not truly revealed until the final moments of the Gold Rush season 2 finale, in which “Dakota” Fred tells his son that he appreciates what he has done, even if he never said it. This moment, while easily looked over by audiences wanting to choose sides more than wanting to be told a story, conveys the complicated nature of “Dakota” Fred – a nature that many may negatively label, but one that almost everyone is familiar with in their own life.
Parker Schnabel
For all intents and purposes, Parker Schnabel could be seen as the breakout figure in the entirety of the series. What began as an interesting tale of a 17 year-old attempting to take over his grandfather’s mine quickly became one of the most beautiful coming-of-age stories that television has seen.
With the constant backing of his always loving grandfather John Schnabel, who mirrors his grandson’s excitement and enthusiasm (even at the age of 91), Parker experienced the complications, difficulties and mistakes that one not only goes through while attempting to mine gold, but by also growing up.
From the moments of uncertainty as to what to do next, to dealing with the pressures of making his grandfather’s gold mine profitable, to regretting certain conversations with various family members, Parker Schnabel had to grow up on camera, with the entire world watching and judging him – something that most would never want to happen.
But with his grandfather always there to support him, no matter what the problem may be, Parker was able to persevere this year’s rough season of mining and set up a potentially profitable mining season next year. As John Schnabel says, “I don’t care about the money, because I can’t take it with me – I might as well spend it here.”
Final Counts
In the end, all three groups were successful, even if it wasn’t monetarily. While both the Hoffmans and “Dakota” Fred were able to turn a profit and Parker Schnabel came up a little short, the story that was presented in each of the three groups provided the growth and foundation that everyone needed to help make them successful (or even more so) in the future.
And while it won’t be another year until we find out whether or not the groups see success next year in Alaska, one can only hope that Gold Rush, as a series, continues to grow and evolve itself as much as the people that they document have.
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Gold Rush: Alaska season 3 premieres Fall 2012
Follow Anthony on Twitter @anthonyocasio
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I agree like I said in my last statment That Dave should be the boss and Ferber should follow in the leadership of the Hoffman Crew because Todd doesn’n know what he is doing.But,for all the mistakes that were made the first year was truly to be expected from Rookies, no suprise there at all.As for the mechanic he won’t be back,He should have been servicing all the equiptment every day and by the looks of things I would bet they never Had been serviced at all the whole time they ran.without the equiptment they’ll never get the gold wway down low.you can bet there is probably plenty of gold still in cuts 1&2.I agree with you that I would not trust Jack counting the gold behind closed curtains.I also said that it is not fair that because they, not taking care of the equiptment, to have the guys waite for their cut againif they have to buy new equiptment because the lack of up keep,& after cost of operations were paid that’s common in business any one who owns a business knows that, because of poor up keep.I don’t think it is fair to them at all,but if new is bout to better production then that is a different story.PARKER is the best how could anyone not admire the young man who loves his Grandfather so much and works so hard to keep his dreams going.Fred is a man that I would but heads with if I were to meat him in person because he is so Cocky, just not my Kind of person I like to be around.Well i’m looking foreward to the 3rd season to see if any changes come or if they just keep messing up big time mostly the hoffman crew,Todd & Jack who I believe have no common sence.
I am impressed by Sheila’s take on this. Dave should be #1 boss, Ferber #2,Todd is a joke! Man he had Dave trash a perfectly good dozer for what? There went the so called profits. The mechanic is just plain lazy and childish. What he gets a girl friend and keeps her up there all the time while he should be doing all the maintenance? Give me a break! Jack would not be counting anything without me or a hidden video on him. The other two guys seem like good worker bees with supervision expecially the cigar smoker.
If Todd say he lost weight I have to laugh, he weights 400 lbs. min.
Can him as boss and tell hime to get his fat A– to work or else and for God’s sake get Jack off that stupid backhoe( give him a season off)
As for Parker and John, what a great story. I love the whole family and even though I am 61 I would gladly go work everyday with those guys. Need a hand John or Parker? I would give it all for your guys.
Fred, you screwed up the hole and had had the gold staring you in the face from day one. You went through a lot I know but man you were on bedrock and covered it up for weeks. Your son Dustin has merit though. I respect him for putting up with you (not just because he was dad)
Toad er I mean Todd you must be one h–l of a BS er-I wouldn’t listen to you for 2 seconds on-site. Makes one wonder about the whole show scenario, WHere is all the money for the new equipment coming from?
Oh well, I still watch but one more season of Todd is all I will stand. Focus on Parker, John and family-maybe the blonde guy with the daughter that Parker got the hots for.
LOL…where on earth do you get that todd is 400lbs? The guy is MAYBE 250. And honestly, who cares? and one more season of Todd is all you will stand? ROFLMFAO. well, I guess the expert has spoken. dou**ebag.
Dakota Fred deserve to lose all his money for what he did to the Hoffman crew…..
He should be barried with is GOLD in Porcupine Creek!!!!
LOL! He got what was coming to him it’s called Karma.But Fred did not take the claim from him TODD did not pay for the claim so the owner did have the right to sell the claim to someone else and Fred happened to be that person. I do not like Fred but he was in the right Todd screwed up. Fred is just a Cocky son of a mutt.Which I feel is why most people don’t like. I laugh when I think of him filling up the hole that Jack dug It took Fred all summer to get the Gold out of the hole he burried, that was the same hole Jack dug. So you see Karma hit him twice that season, a man like him will never change. I felt sorry for his son who hopefuly does not follow in his fathers footsteps as far as that goes he seemed like a good young man.
Mind you,I have come in at the middle of this series and not seen the progression of the crews stories. If I have this right, the Hoffman crew has left their families behind in distressed economic straits, to go to Alaska for two seasons, at five months a crack, to chase a forty-nineners fantasy. They now go home home with $8ooo apiece to show for two seasons of committing their families to chasing this dream. There is a lot to be said for chasing dreams, but wouldn’t the responsible thing to do now, be to put on some big boy pants and get a sensible job to provide something steady for the families, rather than persisting with a get rich crapshoot? Everyone will take something different from this series. I do not see anything heroic in the Hoffman saga. Rather, I see a bunch of boys, being selfishly indulgent.
I still wish that I could go there and be the Project Manager even if
it was for only a week or two..The $8,000.00ea. that the crew made for
4 months is more than many people make in 8 months and yes they do get
paid from Discovery and I believe it is $20,000.00 a month…In the
first episode it was the Hoffmans who put up their life savings and
their airport business up for collateral and were the ones who got the
crew together for this show & that is why they are the ones who are
the so called bosses and run the show even if they have no clue of
what they are doing? If they were to change it now, it wouldn’t be the
show that it is now. Discovery couldn’t start it out as we are paying
them to uproot their lives in Oregon to watch them mess up and be
idiots that they are.
DISCOVERY take me to Alaska so I can show Todd what to do LOL!!!!
Parker you and your Grandpa Sch…..You are the first 2 that I would
want to meet.. Keep your held high Parker because you have what it
takes to be successful and you will, everyone who watches the show I’m
sure roots for you. I know I do.
I found both seasons compelling. These guys worked HARD, and I mean d*mned hard, in the race against the seasons. Whatever stipend they get from Discovery is nothing for the amount of effort that they put in to be successful.
And Parker… the kids where I live don’t work all summer long as hard as he does in a day. You could tell that he lay the weight of the future of the mine squarely on himself in front of millions of people. He did not succeed, but in failure he earned our respect. Lots of people try and fail and allow themselves to get down beat. With every failure, he looks for the silver cloud, the edge that will make him succeed next time. That, to me, is the mark of a true winner.
In all, this is not so much a story of gold, but of people who lay it all on the line and go for it.
I AGREE THAT THEY DID WORK VERY HARD,I also need to appologize for saying they are idiots(Hoffman Todd & Jack i’m sorry that I called you Idiots).Many people excell in many types of work and fail in others…
Parker did not fail, and if you had seen some up dates Parker was out there in the snow and they were stripping the land because he is on the gold It also was Parker who noticed the change in the kind of soil that his dad was digging up and insisted that he was going to check it for GOLD had he not done that they may have given up all together,he’s bright and knows what he is doing,also he was the one who checked the run off sluce and found that he was right about the gold.I do hope that Todd can show Parker some respect, Parker wasn’t being snoopy at the time he asked Todd how much Gold they had,he hadn’t come across much gold himself at that time.Todd you are becoming a not so nice of a person I guess that comes with money or in this case Gold.Not Christian Like at all.
I don’t know what to think of the Todd crew! How can anyone with half a brain follow someone like Todd. He’s a joke! What does he contribute to the success of their mission? It seems to me that he and his father, Jack , are more hindrances than helpers. Get rid of them both!!
Sheila,
You observed that the Hoffman crew shared a profit amounting to $8000 per person, stating that is more than many people make in eight months. To clarify; that profit represents TWO seasons investment (eight to ten months of work). If you want to be a crew boss, you need to understand that basic economic principle to start with. Were it not for the money these guys receive directly from the Discovery production, their families would be suffering miserably. We can only hope that this show does not encourage other desperate people to foolishly follow in their footsteps, without the benefit of that stipend. As to the reality component of this series, I believe that it is shaped signifcantly through scripting and staging, as many “reality” shows are. Be careful what you are willing to accept as true and real.
First of all this is a second season and a new area, because of a mistake that TODD made by not paying the claim to the owner.You have to pay to get paid,such as land Claims,fuel to operate machinery, and other cost of the area buidings etc. Todd failed his crew right off the bat, had he paid the claim the men would have started the 2nd season right off with Getting the Gold because they were right there,( they recieved more money from Discovery for 1mo. pay than many get for 2yrs. pay, so they were paid in GOLD for the second season only. Anyone who would uproot their family lives to hunt for gold is not in their right mind, This is a Tv show, so either their wives have a job to care for their familys while their men hunt for gold or the men have a different source of income and that source is DISCOVERY.I know all about the basic economics if you have read my other posts you would see that, again, I mention the fact that the men recieve their cut after all the overhead or operations are met, which is the cost of equiptment, fuel,permits, land claims, etc. and then the men get their cut of the profit. The Hoffmans would not of had to have more of the overhead if they had paid their claim, Todd lost the wash plant that they had shipped and built (a very costly expence.)the first year,they had a dozer that came with the first seasonbecause already there ( no buying cost their but, maybe rental cost from the owner???)wood that they bought for the buildings they built that the men usde to live and cook in all that labor would have been met, had again , If TODD had PAID their CLAIM FEE.The Crew was screwed out of their profits because they had to start over from step one again,now the third season they are going to have even more overhead because they did not service their equiptment, ran the dozer with a lame track that Dave tried to tell Todd that it was done for the season and if ran any longer it would not survive the work that it was doing, and,it didn’t,so now their cost of overhead is even more expensive to the repair of the dozer. They are going to have to fix alot of frozen pipes that were not serviced for winter because the damage to the wash plant was already frozen and breaking they should know if it freezes at night you always insulate, antifreez,keep heat on, or keep the water running on pipes,& if running water it still does not guarantee that the pipes won’t freeze because it will when it gets as cold as Alaska does.I do not feel that the Hoffman crew should have to pay for this and that the Hoffman’s Should have to take it out of their cut of the profits not all the other mens profits since the lack of was not done, but, as the working world works they will have to have their pay cut for that reason.I worked construction for 20 years and had men working under me If I was the foreman of the Hoffman Crew alot would and would not be done to run the Hoffman plant… Their are thousands of people in the U.S. that are having to work 2 jobs and MANY HOURS of HARD work because of minnium wage & the cost of living is sky high does not take care of their monthly bills and living costs, many retired people that have worked all their lives to be able to retire are having to work at least a part time job to cover the costs of their living that they had for many years had lived & paid comfortably that can’t now, because their income does not add up to $1,000.00 a month or $8,000.00 in 4 or 5 months… I wish for the Hoffman and their crew to succed but TODD needs to have someone step in and give TODD & JACK direction of the business or he will fail them all another season. I’v never mined for GOLD but I have run construction crews and this is alot like construction as far as the way machinery and plants are run.
What happened to Fred andDustin. Can someone tell me why they weren’t on the last show’s..
I enjoy watching the show, very much, find them making a lot of rookie mistakes. Find Parker and his grandfather great and Parker and extremely hard worker for a kid. AS for Dekota Fred to use his OWN words, He is a claim jumper, not only that he is a back stabbing one. He knew where the gold was because they had found the ‘glory hole the year before. I can only wish him the worst of luck and the best of luck to everyone else. Can’t stand the man and every time something happens to put him behind I am happy, His son though deserves more, a better boss and father someone who might care when he is sick. Don’t forget Karma, Fred, it will come back and bite you in the behind….
best tv show
There is a new comment on the post “‘Gold Rush’ Season 2 Finale Review & Discussion”.
http://screenrant.com/gold-rush-season-2-finale-review-aco-156337/
Author: Tim
Comment:
I also wondered why they didn’t dredge the pond. And it also killed me that there was very little work in parallel. At least as the show depicted, when one piece of equipment was down, that shut the whole thing down. Same thing when they were on the gold table. But then. we don’t see everything, maybe things were going on. And really, these guys are (presumably) working long hours, so maybe they took it as some downtime.
It pissed me off when Harness went away with his girlfriend for several days being the only one who could fix the machine. I think it was at that point the crew was fed up and probably didn’t want him back. Unfortunate because I liked him. Though having a crew member that is constantly injured and has to run on a schedule dictated by his back is annoying (I used to work with people that had chronic back issues). I have nothing but respect for Harness doing his best and working through the pain to get things done.
Todd’s leadership … yeah … it sucks. And really, him and jack don’t seem to know a heck of a lot. But I think that this was the brainchild of Jack and Todd, so that just makes him the default leader. It doesn’t make him a good leader, and some of the stuff he says/does just annoys the hell out of me.
Dave Turin would probably be the best option out of the crew as leader.
The whole place would be lost without Jim Thurber though. Sometimes I wish he would speak up more … he seems to have a good head behind that moustache.
I was happy they finally decided to drill and sample before they dug. That means they learned something. They may not be miners … and they definitely didn’t start out as miners … but hell, they have the determination and could become miners. Remember, everyone has to start somewhere.
It’s called progress. FIrst season they really had no clue. 2nd season, they had learned a little and grew and earned some money. And now with all the equipment in place, a defacto “home away from home” in the Yukon, and the knowledge they’ve gained from the last season … they should be OK. This time they won’t be starting 1/2 way through the season and hopefully they will have a mechanic as competent as harness was but who has greater availability.
And I’ll leave on this …
I hope I never hear Jack Hoffman say the words “Glory Hole” ever again … it sounds so dirty coming out of that man’s mouth
I’m looking forward to the 3rd season hope they will get a headstart this season and get the equiptment and pipes fixed so that they can get going to claim the 1,000 ounces that TODD dreams about, at best, maybe 5oo ounces… The Irish man gets hugh amounts of gold daily but he has a big crew I believe he said of 25 men???and runs 20-24 hours a day he drills so as to not waist money on fuel,man hour,and wear and tear on equiptment, that is necessary, If you drill a nonproducing area it is a hugh cost of savings if you add up all the cost that your crew would be doing with out the drilling.He also has been doing it for years not 8 months… If you Todd wants to work those kind of hours you need to hire a second crew and both crews work 10.5 hours a day there is too much danger trying to operate over 10.5 hr shifts giving 3hrs for refuling greasing and little check ups from the mechanic for quick overall look of the equiptment you’d be surprised if a loose nut or bolt is loose how much a tiny job turns into a big job causing down time for THAT MACHIE ONLY, (not the other machines keep them running) Todd& Jack you also need to get generators and high candle lights to light up the yard,working in the dark with the limited amount of light that they worked in at night was very dangerous not worth the life of a human,you were putting GOLD before a humans life Todd, THINK SMART and THINK SAFE as you work for your GOLD you can dream big but in reality SAFTY COMES FIRST.TODD drill cuts 1&2 you went down over 25 ft. in the first season just because you think you are down to more ice beds doesn’t mean there is not gold under that layer of permafrost. DRILL DRILL DRILL! TODD why leave what you are there for because you have to work a little harder for it.There are hammer heads that they make, heads that you can put on a backhoe to penatrait the ice slower than the Dozer but still you have progress while your dozer is down, or rent a dozer,more overhead but again progress… This season you hired another outfit to fix the dozer that was the first thing I saw you do that was impressive because you reconized that Harness could not do it in a timely manner. Hire someone who has the tools to work on the heavy equiptment then you know you have someone who truly knows how to work on your equiptment.(If truly a tradesman they will have their own tools.)Increas your intake reservior to so that you are not getting garbage through your pump deepen it rent a crain with a clam bucket seems costly but if your running much smoother then you gain more good time THAT LEADS to GOLD.On paper the hiring of a second crew looks like more
On paper the hiring of a second crew to run more hours in a day looks like your getting your profit cut in half because you have to share with more people, but, you are still getting the same amount as if it were just the 7 of you, you gain more progress adding more money in your pocket by doing twice the amount of work,and at a safer work area and a fully rested crews on both shifts keeping their minds clearer and more energy adding to the safty of the HOFFMAN MINNING CREWS. There are a couple of ways to pay your crews so that they don’t go home without some kind of money for their service to you.that is after Discovery also pays. I see so much that could be, but isn’t.I’am sure what I say is laughed at but that Is just how I see it and would do if I were Todd & Jack Hoffman. GOOD LUCK in season 3. TODD you have Gold fever causing you to look like a hypocrit wearing 316 on your clothing you get angry because someone tells you that your equiptment just can’t go any further ALL YOU THOUGHT ABOUT WAS THE 100 OUNCES OF GOLD that you would not get, and not to care about the dozers condition or Operators safty,did you Thank God TODD that Dave knows how to handle the dozer and that he was able to get off that machine safely and not hurt? I’LL bet that you didn’t even think about that. ALL YOU PRAY FOR IS GOLD and say fricken all the time you may as well say the F-word because that is what you really want to say.
C’mon Hoffman crew if you can’t find some alternate leadership best stay at home and sell pencils on the corner. It would appear common sense isn’t so common. Perhaps creative editing makes the leadership look so bad, but really, head Hoffman hasn’t a clue. I hope his sister doesn’t need the cash she lent him! Dave step up.
Parker and John Schnabel the series Stars. Fred… well everyone knows a Fred!
Final thought…. I wonder how long Todd would last with Captain Phil (RIP) on the Cornelia Marie ?
Looking forward to season 3 Dakota Fred is by far my favorite.Was sad to see that Fred and Dustin not in the last 2 shows.Parker has a lot of ambition but surely showed his immaturity this season.Glad they got rid of whiner James. Great show.
What show have you been watching?
We have not finished the second season on our TV. Parker’s Grandpa has just had his third heart attack. Parker is such a sensible, caring young man – he will make some lucky girl a great husband. (Not me, I’m a Granny!) But I have watched both seasons and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I would like to see more of Parker/Grandpa in the next series – he has so much common sense for such a young man and his love for his Grandpa had me in tears worrying about him. Thrilled to see that he came through his operation okay – what a lovely man and a fabulous role model for his grandson. So pleased you are well – sending you good wishes from England.
Looking forward to the final episode and looking forward to the next season. I don’t have any ‘background’ on the people on the show – but the moral of the story seems to be ‘If you are going to dream… dream BIG!’
Fingers crossed that you all have something to show for all your hard work. Thoroughly enjoyed the series, the nail biting (mine) and the scenery.
I enjoy watching the show it’s a bit like Scrap Heap Challenge,without the leader ship. Has a engineer I find the lack of forward planning incredible, but dose make for good viewing good job Discovery are paying them or they would not last the season.To find the Glory Hole then lose the claim was total madness after all that work.
Let us all have hope that this NG series is continued. I have always looked at the so called..”under dog” to come out on top. Keep all of us under dogs dreaming…
Totaly loving gold rush, feeling sorry for them all as everything goes wrong and brea, hoping that all turn a profit x
I enjoy watching gold rush . But I think the hoffmans are running to much pay dir before cleaning out I thingk if they clean out more often they wouldn’t loose as much gold .fred played a dirty trick on the hoffmans but it will turn around and bite him in the butt .and if they are struggling to make it pay pay they should pan for gold for a while at night every little helps
ive found bigger nuggets in cal this is the 3 season and still acting like rookies just another drama bs tv show 3 strikes ur out .
COULD YOU TELL ME HOW GRANDPA JOHN SCHNABEL IS DOING AFTER HIS 2nd
SURGERY. HE TOLD PARKER ON THE DEC.14-2012 FINAL SHOW THAT HE HAS TO
GO BACK FOR ANOTHER SURGERY. I DON’T WANT TO WAIT UNTIL NEXT SEASON
SHOW TO FIND OUT IF GRANDPA JOHN IS DOING OK. IF HE HASN’T HAS HIS
SURGERY YET. PLEASE TELL HIM THAT WE ARE “PRAYING FOR HIM” AND HOPE
HE GETS TO BE WITH PARKER NEXT YEARS (2013) NEW SHOWS. PLEASE…EMAIL
ME BACK AND LET US KNOW OK. WE “REALLY LOVE” GRANDPA AND PARKER!!
EMAIL: judym45@charter.net
I’ve watched this show from the beginning and thought I’d give him a chance, well I ended up giving him more changes that should be given anyone now I’m speaking out. Todd is a total idiot, one of the most worthless managers I’ve ever seen, he is not a leader, couldn’t hold a first year leaders jock. I’m totally amazed that those guys stayed with him, really what a waste. Dave should have fired him last year much less let him screw up the operation he was making work, now it’s jacked up like the dig that Todd screwed up earlier this season.
The finale was a big letdown. There was no “motherload”. I would say yes, if the Hoffman’s has hit the thousand ounces, but they didn’t.
Parker didn’t even thank or mention his crew. Parker’s dad had to come to the rescue of young Parker many many times. The Dakota team was the most successful with a crew of 3.
I started watching Gold Rush last year during season 2 and have been hooked ever since. The story of everyday normal guys taking a chance and working hard to make some money mining for gold. It is kinda crazy but that is what the show is about. The fans of this show value the dedication, ingenuity, and toughness on display each week. The documentary production is done extremely well and it makes the viewer feel as if they are there with the problems, the tough decisions, and the victories. Since fans have watched these crews for 3 years we have come to some conclusions based on their actions. Some of these conclusions are not positive but they are accurate. First let’s start with Parker. To begin with you hate this little prick, but the more you watch and learn of his family and his background, the more we see how he acts with his crew, the more we want to like the kid. Second we get to the Dakota boys. Now things started out rocky when Fred decided to buy the claim that he worked during the first season with the Hoffman crew. This was pretty brash but Fred doesn’t really care what you think. It now seems that he was right to distance himself from the Hoffman crew in order to actually make some money for himself. He is the definition of a hard worker and he’s not afraid to go at it alone. His practicality is exhibited in almost every episode through fixing a broken part and just finding a way to get it done. Now to the Hoffman crew. There is the dad Hoffman and Todd Hoffman who are the leaders, for some unknown reason, of the crew. There seems to be better qualified members of the crew but we will get to that shortly. So these two Hoffman guys, do they perform a lot of the work, do they have more knowledge of gold mining, do they take the risky tough tasks as an example to the rest of the crew what a good leader should be. The answer to all of these questions is no. Todd, the head of the operation, spends essentially all of his time on the radio telling the others what to do, this season he also liked to boast that his crew was superior to the other half of the team. He creates division when it is unnecessary. He also loves to pull rank on his underlings when he chooses. When there is a very dangerous job, the operator’s life is at risk, does not step up and do it himself, no he yells through the radio to get it done and he doesn’t care if the truck falls over the cliff with the operator inside. He wears a 316 mining shirt all the time but has the twitter hash tag #goldrushmafia. That leads us to the outcome of the current season when we have been promised a mother lode. Discovery was very non specific and I got suspicious the final 2 or 3 weeks that the mother lode might not be a big deal. See there are alot of people and alot of expenses involved in the hoffman gold mining operation. First there are the trailers, probably 8 to 10, to house the workers and their families. Est. $200,000. Next there are the 2 brand new wash plants, est $500,000. 4 rock trucks, est $300,000, 3 dozers, est $250,000, 2 excavators, est $130,000, 2 loaders, est $130,000, diesel fuel, est $100,000, travel for crew and families, est $ 30,000, and leasing the land for mining, est 20% of the profit. So they pulled out $1.26 million worth of gold. How much did they pay to the land owner, est $230,000. Let’s say 1 million remaining. Now we can subtract the expenses of $1,640,000. Wow that means they are in the red by 640,000. Therefore they did not make any profit, but Discovery does not tell us the expenses so I cannot be sure but say I’m off in the expenses by half so the expenses are only 820,000. That makes them a profit of 180,000 evenly divided, which I know it is not, gives each crew member 18,000 for 5 months of work. That does not meet my definition of hitting the motherlode.
What the hell was wrong with tod Hoffman! Facial expressions looked like he was all messed up on something!
I agree. Between the facial expressions and constant sniffling it seems he was doing coke.
What a great show but please the weakest end of all time thats what i call the mother load we all hung out waiting to see “who hit the mother load ” and we get some nob tell us that as far as he is concerned this is the mother load weak weak weak really bad tv piss poor ive been had no better than this but the joke is on fox whaats your next tag duh