[narrator] On the Bering Sea...
[man over radio] I don't like the ice here. It's really sketchy.
[narrator] ...the season has been upside-down from day one.
[Shawn] There's ice jumbled up everywhere.
This is not good.
[narrator] Now...
[Chris] Nothing's gonna stop us.
[narrator] ...as the midpoint of winter closes in...
Are you ready to suck today's gold?
[narrator] ...it's time to place your bets.
[Shawn] Time to get work.
We're in the money.
[narrator] Who will end the first half on the road to riches...
Yeah!
[Sam] We're on the gold.
It's working! It's working!
[narrator] ...and who will go bust?
This claim's starting to get real small.
I got neighbors closing in on me.
[wind howling]
[Shawn] Oh, yeah. Hang on.
[narrator] As winter mining races toward the midway point,
Mr. Gold is on the move.
[Shawn speaking]
[Shawn] I need gold this winter
to help get my inland mine started.
And I'm out on Vernon's Claim 56
since Tomcod was a no-go.
But I really haven't been blown away by the gold here.
The gold dried up in this direction,
so we've got to head a new direction and start a new hole.
Vernon gave me two weeks of royalty-free mining.
But now we're already down to the last four days.
So the clock's ticking and I have to turn this around today.
We'll see, maybe Vernon's gonna have a heart attack or not.
[narrator] Shawn's move has taken him right up against landlord Vernon Adkison.
I got neighbors closing in on me.
These guys are a little bit close.
I'm collecting the royalty from a lot of people this winter,
including Zeke and very soon, Shawn.
But this is getting a little too close for comfort.
[Vernon] We wanted a spot that yielded some gold, but not much.
Jerry said the trail leads in this direction.
And now we end up here, ass against Shawn.
This is where the gold led us.
Things could get interesting.
[man speaking]
[man laughs]
[comical explosion]
-[Shawn] Let's go. -[excavator roaring]
[Shawn] They're saying there's all kinds of gold on this claim,
but I'm starting to have my doubts.
Hopefully, this is the hole.
[Vernon] Hey, Shawn. You guys don't waste any time.
Yeah. How's it going, Vern?
All right. Yeah.
Quick moves. I like it.
[Shawn] Yeah, we'd rather be on gold,
but if movement is what we've got to do,
it's what we're gonna do.
I just wasn't seeing any color.
You see a piece here, a piece there,
but nothing that will pay the bills.
Hopefully, there's some gold down here, and that's all, I hope.
It would be nice to see some [bleep] gold in the box.
[Vernon] I don't know what Shawn is crying about, but 56 is loaded.
And since, now he's creeping up on my paystreak,
the last thing I need is for him to get too close to my gold.
[narrator] And now it's time to place your bets.
Who will get the most gold on this paystreak,
Mr. Gold or the Salty Skipper?
[Shawn] It's time to get in the water.
[bleep]
[both laugh]
[Shawn] Vernon claims there's gold in this area.
I sure hope he's right.
Today's the day we get on some gold,
because in a matter of days that 15% is kicking in.
So right now is the time to make it happen.
Let's see what you got, 56.
[water gurgling]
[inhales]
[Joe speaking]
[Shawn speaking]
-[whirring] -[splashing]
All right. He throttled up. He's moving dirt now, boys.
[splashing]
Let's see what's down there.
[Shawn speaking]
What kind of bottom are you seeing down there?
[Shawn speaking]
If we can see some rocks, that means we don't have to move any sand.
[Shawn speaking]
All those big rocks resist movement,
like to hold the gold.
[Shawn] Yeah, they do.
[narrator] While the favorite's first round in the ring
comes up empty,
less than 80 yards away...
Well, it looks like we're just about ready.
Let's get the pump going and get the water flowing.
I guarantee you this site will be hot, and it better be
because I'm paying for a nitrox dive system this summer,
which will revolutionize my operation.
The gold we could get will fund my retirement.
But it ain't cheap,
and so far, we're not on pace to hit our number.
But today is the day we turn it around.
We know there's gold down there, so let's go get it.
[Vernon] All right, Gary. Get out there, buddy.
Put some gold in the box.
[inhales]
[Gary exclaims graciously]
[man] Copy. Idle up, please. Go ahead and idle up.
[motor whirring]
You got suction.
[Gary speaking]
[Vernon speaking]
This might end up being an extremely good hole.
[Gary speaking]
[Vernon] I've said it before and I'll say it again.
56 is the gift that keeps on giving.
We're in the money, baby.
And look, Shawn may be Mr. Gold over on Tomcod,
but not on 56...
[Gary speaking]
[Vernon] That's what I like to hear, Gary.
...I am.
We're gonna crush him.
[Chris] We've got lots of ground to work on.
About to tear this [bleep] up.
[narrator] As the first half of winter closes,
no one is firing on all cylinders
like Chris McCully.
[Chris] Trying to get two dives today.
That's the main goal.
[narrator] And, not surprisingly,
he sits atop the leaderboard.
[Chris] We're ready to put some water in it.
And then, yeah, fire this thing up.
I'm starting to hit a groove this winter.
I had to shake up my team and I brought Wilson in,
but that's taken us to a whole new level.
We're on gold and our cleanups keep getting bigger and bigger.
Wow.
I'm building this custom crawler for the summer,
and I have spent tons of money into building it,
but I'm sure we'll make more than enough to pay for it.
The amount of ground that the crawler can cover,
sky's the limit.
[motor sputtering]
All right, well, looks like this could be the end of this motor
because we keep having this problem.
You know, it's taking us three or four hours just to get fired up.
So, I think that we'll do one more last try on this one.
And then, uh, we'll go from there.
[motor sputtering]
-[motor whirring] -Yeah! Whoo!
I got the pump engine started, and I hope she holds
because we're diving deep, over 33 ft.
That's where the gold is at.
So when you dive, nitrogen builds up in your blood.
The deeper you go, the faster it builds up.
So Wilson and I are gonna dive today,
but we're gonna limit to three hours each.
So this pump engine's got to last for six more hours,
but we'll see.
We're gonna get gold, baby. Let's get some gold.
Are you ready to suck today's gold?
-Suck today's gold. -Suck today's gold, buddy?
[narrator] Now it's time to place your bets.
Will the pump engine hold out for both dives?
Roger that. Get money.
[inhales]
How goes the battle so far?
[Wilson speaking]
Your suction is good, eh?
[Wilson speaking]
Copy that.
[Wilson speaking]
[Chris speaking]
I've done and crossed this job today,
getting Wilson in the water.
Everything's good.
Wilson is my gold dog this year.
He's after it. He's hungry.
[Wilson speaking]
Shake and bake, baby.
Damn, I'm good.
[narrator] Across the ice...
[Sam] It's time to mine.
[Zeke] All right, we're in business.
We need to stock up some G.
[narrator] ...Zeke Tenhoff's in a make-or-break situation.
After making a deal with Vernon to mine Claim 56...
-I'll see you out there. -Yep.
[narrator] ...the mad scientist and his team have yet to find any gold.
I'm not even seeing any specks of gold.
I'm just seeing layers of boring gravel.
It's not good enough.
We need to be seeing specs of gold, like,
every time we clear away some sand.
-Yeah. -We can do better.
[narrator] Now armed with coordinates from Vernon,
the team's trekking nearly two miles,
desperate for a golden victory.
Get our drive hole here,
tailings hole right back over there.
I'm in a tough spot.
I need to stack up some gold
to get my yurt ready for my family to move into.
But I'm coming up empty.
So we've traveled across the entire lease to get to this new spot.
It was a huge move.
But we're gambling that the gold that's gonna be over here
is gonna turn our whole season around.
If not, it might be time for us to pack it in.
[narrator] Place your bets.
Will the massive move pay off,
or is this a trip to forget?
[inhales]
Real nice and clear down here.
How are we looking down there?
I'm just, kind of, scouting it out and see where it looks best.
There's a lot of patches of frozen gravel that are kind of difficult.
[Sam speaking]
[whirring]
[splashing]
[Zeke speaking]
How are things down there, Zeke?
[Zeke speaking]
You just have to punch a couple holes
-and see where we can find anything. -[Zeke speaking]
Yeah!
We're on the gold. Yeah!
[Zeke speaking]
Whoo! All right!
It's working! It's working!
[laughs]
[Kris] It's cold, but as long as you have the right gear,
life is not that bad.
We're gonna have a great day today.
There's a lot of gold underneath our feet,
so that's gonna keep me in a good mood.
[narrator] Captain Kris Kelly is looking to get back on track...
[groans]
[narrator] ...as the first half of his season sprung a few leaks.
-[Kris] Damn. -[Andy] Oh, that's bad.
[Kris] The plan today is simple.
We're not gonna waste any time.
I'll be the first diver underneath the water.
Easy ground.
This season's been rocky so far.
It took us a while to find gold,
and when we did, we still have problems.
But we've got a quick fix on the sluice box,
so hopefully it's not gonna keep bleeding gold.
But we're setting the bar high today.
We're turning our operation around and getting some momentum
going in the back half of the season.
I'm going to get into my suit and we're gonna get three dives today
at the very minimum.
Three dives today.
[narrator] Now it's time to place your bets.
Will Reaper Nation actually get in three dives today?
[water gurgling]
[inhales]
[Kris] Okay.
Okay. Idle up.
[Andy] Idle up!
We're up and running.
How's your suction?
[Kris speaking]
Hey, it can always be better, buddy.
[Kris] Okay, I'm on gold now.
-What was that, two seconds? -All right.
[Kris speaking]
[Andy speaking]
[Kris speaking]
Hey, everything's going good.
My brother's on gold. [bleep] It's gonna be a great day now.
All those years of teaching my brother,
he's finally figuring out how to find gold.
[narrator] Three miles west.
Still on the gold, huh?
[Wilson speaking]
[Chris speaking]
[narrator] As Wilson nears the three-hour mark,
the McCully team is making every minute count
while the pump engine holds out.
[Chris speaking]
[Wilson speaking]
[Chris] Okay.
While you do your safety stop,
I'm gonna go ahead and idle down.
[Wilson] All right.
[narrator] On dives deeper than 33 feet,
divers need to perform a safety stop at 15 feet for three minutes
to allow their body to eliminate excess nitrogen.
[Wilson speaking]
[machinery buzzing, sputtering]
All right. I'm ready to pound in my three-hour dive.
We're gonna keep the ball rolling.
[Wilson speaking]
Oh, yeah. Wow.
Whoo!
[narrator] And now, the boss steps in to close out the day.
[Chris speaking]
[Wilson] Have a good dive.
[Chris speaking]
[breath hissing]
[Wilson speaking]
All right, we're idled up.
[Chris speaking]
[Wilson speaking]
[Chris speaking]
Woo-hoo!
[narrator] The McCully team's not the only one getting hot.
[Vernon] Okay, Gary, everything's working down there.
-You're seeing some good pieces? -[Gary] Oh, yeah.
[Vernon] Right, Gary, right.
[narrator] After four hours, Vernon's team is still hitting the jackpot on 56.
[Gary speaking]
[Vernon] All right, buddy.
[narrator] Less than 100 yards away,
Shawn Pomrenke's been at it for hours, too.
[Shawn] Come on, baby. Where are you at?
[narrator] But so far, Mr. Gold is coming up snake-eyes.
[Shawn] I'm not seeing a whole lot of color.
Where's it at?
[Joe speaking]
[Shawn speaking]
He's looking, though.
[Shawn speaking]
Come on, baby.
Ideally, he'd be hooting and hollering, and hardly able to contain himself
'cause there's so much gold in front of him.
But... it's not the case yet.
[Shawn speaking]
Come on, gold.
[Shawn speaking]
We're [bleep], boys.
No gold here.
[Shawn speaking]
All right.
[Joe speaking]
[Shawn] Yeah.
[bleep]
I'm not feeling like Mr. Gold right now.
We're coming up dry, and my royalty-free days are almost up.
56 seems like a ATM for Vern, but not for me.
But that's how it is sometimes.
This guy could be on gold, and you could be right next to him,
and there could be no gold.
Something has to drastically change this season, or I'm screwed.
[machinery whirring]
Nope.
[narrator] Back on Vernon's site.
[Vernon] This is exactly the kind of material we were looking to get into.
[Gary speaking]
Yee-haw!
[Vernon speaking]
-Let's call it. -[Gary groaning]
[Vernon speaking]
[Gary speaking]
[Vernon] Roger, Roger.
[machinery whirring slowing down]
[man speaking]
[man] You weren't done. You're going back in.
[man 2 speaking]
[man laughs] He's ready.
[Vernon] That's what I want to hear.
We're in the money.
Today was the best day bar none.
I'm sorry if Shawn crapped out,
but we're raking it in on this spot,
and if it's this good moving forward, we're going to win big this season.
Well, that was a damn good day.
I know damn well there's some good gold in that box.
How are things down there, Zeke?
[Zeke speaking]
[Sam] Yeah, that's awesome.
[narrator] After four hours, Zeke Tenhoff is enjoying
the fruits of his labor for the first time this season.
[Zeke speaking]
I'm so stoked we got some gold.
[Zeke speaking]
[Sam speaking]
I would say, we had a win for today.
[Zeke speaking]
[Sam speaking]
Whoo!
All right, buddy.
Found some gold. Toss them.
[Zeke] Finally, finally, we're on some good gold.
It can be really easy to lose hope in mining sometimes.
But now I feel like we're ending the first half of the season on a high note.
As long as the gold stays as good as this, moving forward,
we're gonna crush it this season.
Tomorrow. I think the game plan is gonna be, like, fired up.
Doing a couple four or five-hour stints,
just explore this area a little better.
[Sam] Yeah, I like that.
[bell dings]
[Zeke] Our strategy is working.
We made a correct move.
There's gold in this area.
I just need to think about how we can, like,
chew into it efficiently, and how we can produce
a consistent amount of gold for the rest of the season.
I'm really stoked about this.
[narrator] While Zeke ends the first half with a winning wager...
[Chris speaking]
[narrator] On the cusp of three hours,
Chris McCully is also about to cash in a winning ticket.
[Chris speaking, whoops]
[machinery sputtering, stops]
[Chris speaking]
[Wilson speaking]
[Chris speaking]
[Wilson speaking]
[Chris speaking]
[Chris] I knew that pump was gonna be done anyways,
but it made it until the end of my dive.
So, we still got six hours in.
It'll cost me a lot of money to buy me a new one.
But if we have a monster clean-out, it'll make up for it.
[Chris speaking]
[Wilson speaking]
-[Chris speaking] -[both laugh]
[Chris] That dive is a big win for sure. Big win.
[narrator] Three miles east...
You hear that sound?
All those rocks going up?
That's the sound of money.
[narrator] Reaper Nation is aiming for a three-dive day
to end a tough first half on an upswing.
Okay, Kris, it's been a couple hours. How's everything going?
[Kris speaking]
[Andy] From the ground and everything you see,
you think we have a couple of days here?
Or do you think we're gonna moving soon?
[Kris] Uh... [breath hissing]
[Andy] Everything's going good. My brother's pulling really good gold.
I can't ask for a better day than this, man.
Everything's going perfect.
We should have a really good cleanup by the time we actually do one.
[machinery whirring, sputtering]
[Kris speaking]
[Andy speaking]
[Kris speaking]
[bleep]
[Kris] We just can't get momentum this winter.
I'm on great gold. Everything's going good.
And then, the air compressor takes a dump.
So, there goes the rest of our day.
Now, we have to fix that machine.
I just hope there's some good gold in the box.
I can feel that air compressor being a sack of [bleep].
My air was running out. You know, I could feel it.
Let's shut everything down.
It's depressing and it's a letdown, but it is what it is.
Let's get the [bleep] out of here. What a waste of time.
This is [bleep] bull [bleep].
[narrator] And now, it's time for the Bering Sea Gold midseason awards.
In the category of "Most heated words on the ice,"
the award goes to Vernon Adkison and Gary Panos...
Tell you what, if you don't want to do it, then don't do it.
[narrator] ...who never let their age difference
stand in the way of a good fight.
[Gary speaking]
[narrator] The award for most ill-conceived plan involving a nozzle
goes to Kris Kelly.
[Kris screaming, speaking]
[narrator] A man always willing to give any idea a shot,
no matter how dumb it may be.
Oh, that's bad.
[narrator] And finally, in the category of
craziest risk to life and limb,
the award goes to Chris McCully...
[Chris speaking]
[narrator] ...for diving under the ice, alone, with no backup.
[Chris speaking]
[narrator] Thanks for watching,
and congratulations to all our winners.
[Vernon] It looks like a nice pile there.
[Gary] We've got a little bit of water left in there. Cook that off.
[narrator] Vernon Adkison readies to weigh the results
from what could be his best day of winter so far.
Hey, Gary, you got that cooked off yet?
[Gary] Yep. Let's take it to the scale.
Get it on, weigh it up, see what we got.
[Vernon] I've got miners paying me royalties.
But that's just a cherry on top, as far as I'm concerned.
My bread and butter is my own operation.
That's where I've got to make my money.
So far, this season has been uninspiring on that end.
But I'm hoping, today we start our big run.
Okay, guys, let's see what we've got here.
-[Gary] I'm gonna say, at least 11. -[man] At least 10.
[Vernon] There's one. Two.
Three. Four.
Five. Six.
Seven. Eight.
Nine. Ten.
Eleven.
Eleven point nine seven.
-[Gary] That's pretty good gold. -Pretty damn decent.
[narrator] Eleven point nine seven ounces.
That's worth over $28,000,
sending Vernon into the back half of winter
hotter than he's been all season.
I'll take that all day long.
Well, I'll be damned. Look at us.
This is the way it's supposed to be.
We're dialed in at just the right time.
And we're going into the back end of the season with confidence.
-All right. -Doin' good.
-Good job, guys. -Yeah, killed it.
[Vernon] Let's bag it, tag it, go get a beer.
[narrator] Across town...
[Kris] We are cleaning gold.
We're cleaning off the gold cube a little bit
and just seeing what kind of gold it's on there.
[narrator] Reaper Nation is hoping for a little magic on the scale
to give their slagging season a boost.
[Kris speaking]
Okay. This is what we got.
[Kris] Here we go, everybody.
There's one ounce.
Two ounces.
There's three ounces. Come on.
Oh, my God. Hopefully, we got four ounces.
Tapping it's not gonna give you more.
[Kris] Something needs to give us more at this point.
So, we got a little over... and I mean a little over four ounces.
[narrator] Four ounces is worth over $9,000.
And the Kelly clan is limping into the back half of the season.
[Kris] We thought we were on great gold.
I don't know what happened there.
Well, the first half was not what I hoped.
I rolled the dice on this spot.
Nobody else is out here. Nobody believed in me.
We found gold out here, and it's good.
We just need to get our equipment going, and get out of our own way.
And if we can do that, there's no reason we can't rebound
in the second half of the season.
We can do better.
Let's just keep grinding away.
This is our chance.
[narrator] By the harbor...
[Chris] Oh, yeah, we got some gold in there.
Heck, yeah.
You know, every scoop I pour in there,
there's gold in it. So, that's a good sign.
[narrator] Gold-count leader, Chris McCully, is looking to pull away from the pack
as the first half of the season comes to an end.
[Chris] Oh, yeah, look. It's already piling up.
I think we're making money like a politician at this point.
If I get eight ounces off of this clean out, I'll be really very happy
because that means that I will have enough money
to buy another motor so that I can run throughout my season.
Nice. Sweet.
Let's weigh this thing up.
Here we go, pouring in grams.
One hundred.
Two hundred.
Three hundred grams.
Four hundred and thirty nine grams.
Thirty one point one.
We have 14.1 troy ounces.
[narrator] Fourteen point one ounces is worth over 32 grand,
the biggest cleanout by anyone in the fleet so far this winter.
And Chris McCully, he's heading into the back half
with a full head of steam.
[Chris] We did really good on this round.
So, I'm pretty confident that it'll be good from here.
If we keep doing this for the rest of the season, I will blow past my goal.
This could be a record winter for me.
Good job, man.
Gonna keep piling it up.
We are ahead of the game, kicking ass.
[narrator] Chris McCully ends a dominant
first half on top,
as Vernon starts creeping up the board.
Next time on Bering Sea Gold...
Plenty of gold right here. You've just got to find it.
[diver speaking]
I think he's gonna do okay.
[diver speaking]
[Shawn] Special delivery!
Get the hose in the water. That's the only way you make money around here.
[diver speaking]
[Kris] We're making gold.
Just go [bleep] find gold.
[diver speaking]
[Kris] Are you okay?
[diver speaking]
[Chris] We've got a new motor.
And if this doesn't work, we're [bleep].
[steam hissing]
[bleep]