[Christo] On this episode of The Dirt...
- Are you ready to roll? - [whooping]
I think I actually have goosebumps right now.
[Christo] The Gold Rush story continues with season seven...
Feeder's coming on.
[Christo] ...and things are getting heated.
[Parker] You are making an enemy out of me.
That's not what I intended.
[Christo] As the former executive producer of Gold Rush
and host of The Dirt...
- Todd, welcome back. - Thanks, man.
[Christo] ...I had a front-row seat
as the Hoffman crew once again
made some big controversial moves.
We're getting our ass kicked pretty good up here.
- [man] Where is it? Where is the gold? - I don't know.
[Christo] And Tony Beets...
[Christo] Continued his epic struggle with his dredges.
Ahh!
[Christo] But still,
managed to pull in some really good gold.
[bleep]
[Christo] And right before our eyes...
It is showtime.
[man] Go.
[Christo] ...Parker Schnabel turned into one of the best gold miners in the Yukon.
- [Parker] There we go! - [man] Yeah!
- Whoo! - [all laughing]
[Christo] Over the last few seasons, a lot has changed
and The Dirt got the inside scoop.
Give me a break. I'm tired of losing.
[Christo] Whether you love him or love to hate him,
it was a sad day to do Gold Rush without a Hoffman in it.
Are you pissed at Rick that he left?
No, 'cause he didn't wanna be there anyway.
[Christo] Time to go back and embrace the chaos.
I've got your bottle milk.
[all laughing]
[Rick] I think I'd rather slam a bottle of ranch dressing.
I'm hoarding all the beers.
[all laughing]
Dave was saying he wants to do The Dirt
and then another version called The Nasty.
- There's your opening for The Dirt. - [all laughing]
- They're wild. - [producer] Yeah.
[Christo] This is The Dirt.
Ugh, [bleep].
How many times am I gonna hit my head on that?
All right, let's do this thing.
[Todd] Two plants, 600 yards an hour,
we got a double barrel shotgun coming at Parker.
[Christo] In six seasons of mining on Gold Rush,
the Hoffman crew has come a long way
since they got just 15 ounces of gold in season one.
They've had some low lows
down in the jungle in season four.
Todd, this is not working.
Move your equipment and move out.
[Christo] And some high highs
back up in the Yukon in season six.
Where they had their best season yet,
with 3,032 ounces of gold
worth $3.3 million.
But then, in season seven,
Todd did the most Todd thing ever.
He threw it all away to go to his home state of Oregon
with a lofty goal of 5,000 ounces.
I love that we're in Oregon, this is where the whole dream started for my dad and myself.
[Jack] You know, Todd, this is like a dream come true.
It's really gonna be a blessing for everybody.
[Christo] But unfortunately, Oregon didn't turn out as expected.
There's no rhyme or reason to where the gold is.
[Todd] Yeah, it sure doesn't look like a whole lot, Dad.
No, for what we've been running, it isn't.
[Christo] He should have known not to leave the Yukon again.
I kind of understand going close to home, you wanna see family.
You know, that's the easy way.
Um, but I think my general rule has always been
if you're like an hour from Home Depot, you're probably in a bad spot.
We'll be damn lucky if we can pull out a 1,000 this year.
[Christo] The Hoffman crew was fed up.
I have bills. I have a kid on the way.
- We're all losing money. - I'm done.
You gotta know when to quit.
[Christo] Todd was forced to turn
to gold guru Freddy Dodge for help.
- [Todd] Freddy. - Good to see ya, man.
[Christo] I don't think there's anyone in the country who knows as much about gold.
So I think when Todd got into trouble in Oregon,
pretty quickly he turned to Freddy.
And said, "Freddy, what'd I do?"
[Freddy] I've got a plant and some ground that's got gold on it,
and you've got heavy equipment.
We come together, we might be able to turn the season around.
[Christo] And as usual, Freddy came up with a plan.
A drastic plan to move mid-season
from Oregon to Colorado.
Todd convinced his crew to make yet another big move.
The Hoffmans were once again back in business.
- Let's go. - [horn blaring]
- [man] Nice! - Yeah! Yeah!
[Christo] Todd and the guys mined hard.
Fire in the hole!
[Christo] And had decent cleanouts in Colorado.
[Jack] 119 ounces.
- Whoo! - [man] Yeah!
[Christo] But as season seven came to an end,
the Hoffman crew only pulled 1,100 ounces out of the ground.
Well short of Todd's ambitious 5,000 ounce goal.
I know it ain't the 5,000. But, I'll tell ya what, we did that 1,100 as a team.
[Christo] While the Hoffman crew struggled in the lower 48,
Parker's season began on a somber note.
[trumpet playing]
[Christo] John Schnabel, his 96-year-old beloved grandfather
had passed away.
I'm proud of you.
You had a dream and you stayed with it till you won.
What more could I ask for? Nothing.
- I love you. - I love you.
I love you, Parker.
It was a major blow, you know, it's like an institution passed away.
It's really hard to quantify how important John Schnabel was to Gold Rush.
It's not unusual to pickup $25,000 - $30,000 in a shift, one day.
- Wow. - Yeah.
John and Parker's relationship really gave Gold Rush heart.
[Parker] It's a lot bigger than a funeral,
or the two weeks that he's been dead, or...
any of that, it's a lot bigger than that.
[Christo] When Parker finally got back to gold mining in season seven,
he was more motivated than ever.
He had invested in a new wash plant that he named Sluicifer,
and set a bold 4,000 ounce goal.
It's a big day for us. It's probably the biggest day
that we've ever had in the Yukon, you know?
First brand-new plant we've had.
I kinda wish my grandpa was here to see this, you know?
It's a pretty impressive, big plant.
[Christo] Parker had a solid plan in place.
And despite the typical day-to-day breakdowns...
We got no water here, we got tons of water up here.
[Christo] ...he and his crew crushed it.
All right, let's get down to business.
- Yeah. - Ooh.
[Christo] In the end, they not only hit their goal,
they surpassed it by a few hundred ounces.
- So, Doumitt, that's our season total? - You ready for this one?
How about 4,311 ounces?
[all exclaiming]
[Christo] And while Parker was celebrating
his highest gold total yet,
in season seven,
the Beets family shocked everyone,
and doubled down on their dredge plant.
[Tony speaking]
[bleep]
When Tony brought up the idea of buying the first dredge,
I was blown away, but in a good way, right?
It seemed like TV gold.
I was completely caught off guard
when he told me he was buying another dredge.
It did seem crazy.
Tearing down and moving dredge number two
150 miles down the Yukon River,
would prove to be next to impossible.
[Tony speaking]
[bleeping]
[bleep]
[Christo] Then, just when it looked like Tony
was finally making some progress,
the dredge move came to an abrupt halt.
[bleep]
You cannot move the dredge.
[bleep]
You're gonna have to apply for a land use permit
and then you'll move it next year.
[bleeping]
[Christo] Despite massive problems
with dredge number two in season seven,
Kevin was still able to mine with dredge number one.
While Monica ran her own crew.
And the Beets pulled off yet another strong season.
[Minnie] So the combined total between Monica and Kevin, 2,176 ounces.
- This is actually really, really good. - [Monica] That's cool.
[Christo] Their six months of mining
delivered over $2.6 million in gold.
[bleep]
[all laughing]
[Christo] Coming up...
Todd Hoffman, the original Gold Rush mine boss, makes a huge decision.
The season didn't go like we had hoped, I'm tired of losing.
Mining is like a roller coaster,
especially the way that he was doing it.
And later, I turn into a gold miner therapist...
- Really? - Are you Dr. Phil?
- [man] Dr. Doyle. - [man 2] Dr. Doyle.
[Christo] That's my future.
...to get to the bottom
of what really happened between Rick and Parker.
If you wanna run your own mine site, that's fine.
Doing it with my money, without me, doesn't work.
I gave Rick a harder time than probably anybody else.
But that was because I knew what he was capable of.
Here, let me see that for a second actually.
Get Thomas in there, come on.
Got it.
[producer] All right, so let's get back down to business.
What are you talking about?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
[Christo] After the Hoffmans only got 1,100 ounces
in season seven of Gold Rush.
In season eight, Todd and crew returned
to their fair play claim in Colorado.
And as usual, Todd set another wildly ambitious goal.
[Todd] We got here early, we're gonna get setup we're gonna kick some ass.
I believe we could get 5,000 ounces in one season.
[producer] He did another thing that was either
motivation for him or for his crew.
Watch.
Now I really have no idea what you're talking about.
[Todd] I'm gonna make another run at 5,000.
And according to math Freddy's running, thinks he can do it.
[chuckles] According to the math that you guys have told me
over the last seven years, you should have $1 billion, Todd.
- [Parker] What are we wagering? - 100 ounces?
That's like $100,000.
Yeah, sure. Happy to take your money.
You can tell, I mean, Parker doesn't stop laughing that whole time.
So he's definitely not taking Todd seriously anymore.
After the bet, the Hoffman crew went all out.
This is gonna be the biggest mining operation we've ever taken on.
[Christo] But things never really worked out like Todd expected.
Juan, we got a big problem there, we got a jam up.
[Christo] As winter moved in at the end of season eight,
despite their best efforts the Hoffmans fell well short of their 5,000 ounce goal.
[Jack] Seasons total's gonna be 1,644.
That's just under $2 million.
We should have be somewhere around $5 million or $6 million.
[Christo] Meanwhile, in season eight,
Parker continued to mine his Scribner Creek claim
and had yet another monster season.
and came up with a record breaking gold total.
[Chris] For the season,
our 5,000 ounce goal turned out to be 6,280 ounces.
[all exclaiming]
[Rick] I'm pretty sure we smoked the Hoffmans.
- [Parker] Yeah. - [all laughing]
Look, we all knew how that bet was gonna end.
But I don't think we all could've ever imagined
that he would beat 'em by nearly 5,000 ounces, right?
Like, it was super embarrassing for Todd and...
You know, I just don't know why he makes these bets.
Way to go, great season.
You earned it.
[Parker] Well, thanks for making good on the bet.
[Christo] In season eight,
the Beets managed to get their permit issues
worked out for dredge number two.
But Tony continued to struggle to move
his massive mining machine from its remote location.
[Tony speaking]
[Christo] On the gold front, it was once again
the battle of Monica and her all female crew...
'Sup, bitches, we gonna do this?
[Christo] ...versus Kevin and dredge number one at Eureka Creek.
[Christo] And the Beets pulled off their best season yet on Gold Rush.
[Minnie] 3,659 ounces.
- Cool. - [all laughing]
[Christo] But, by far, the most shocking news to come out of season eight
came in the off-season.
After eight turbulent seasons
Todd Hoffman decided to quit gold mining.
The season didn't go like we had hoped.
I'm tired of losing.
[Christo] Todd Hoffman and the crew left Gold Rush after season eight.
But then, at the beginning of season nine,
I once again took my seat in the host chair.
- [man] Christo Doyle! - [woman] He's back!
Get outta there.
It was a kind of shocking turn of events.
And I think the reason for that was that my relationship
with the miners and what I know, was still valuable.
In that, the viewers still wanted to know more.
In season nine, Parker continued to lease ground from Tony Beets,
but he was dialed in as a real-deal gold miner
and his crew was finally seeing him come into his own as a leader.
I know in the past, morale has been an issue. What's it like this year?
Probably the highest it's ever been.
- Really? - Yeah.
That's it, thanks guys. Get 'em back to work.
[Christo] But the big news in season nine
was that Rick Ness, Parker's long-time partner and right hand man,
decided to go out on his own.
I could tell that deep down, losing Rick really upset Parker.
It's a lonely job to be the mine boss,
no one really wants to hang out with you,
it's kinda weird hanging out with people when the boss is around,
people act differently.
But Rick and Parker were buddies,
so they were able to have fun and work together.
So I think losing Rick...
meant he lost a friend
and he lost, you know, a really, really capable worker.
I mean, I don't wanna get into, like, a therapy session, but...
- Dr. Phil. - ...did Rick--
Are you Dr. Phil?
- Wow. - [man] Dr. Doyle.
- [Parker] Dr. Doyle. - That's my future.
We actually need to get Dozer a therapist.
I gotta call you out on something.
You just blasted me about being a jerk.
[Christo] I get results.
- [all laughing] - I gotta grow a moustache.
Did Ricks departure rattle you a little bit
and caused you to change your attitude towards the crew?
I mean, I don't think it was about Rick.
We've had a very good core group of guys.
And it's taken me quite a bit of time to be really comfortable
and confident in that, you know?
I'm at the point now where there's people on site that I trust with my life.
And there's three of them right here.
[Christo] The kinder, gentler mine boss was all well and good,
but that didn't mean he stopped running his crew hard.
Once again, he sluiced with two wash plants running 24/7,
Big Red and Sluicifer.
And it paid off big time.
Our season total 7,427.25 ounces.
[all exclaiming]
[Christo] Parker's 7,400 season
worth a staggering $9 million
was, by far, the best ever on Gold Rush.
[Christo] Coming up...
Rick's secret weapon is introduced.
Karla.
[Karla] We didn't really get, like, direction.
- [Christo] True. - There was kinda lack of direction.
[Christo] And then, things get real between two former friends.
Well, I mean, he's tough to work with.
[Parker] You are making an enemy out of me.
It's not what I intended.
[Christo] In season nine Rick Ness left Parker's side
to try his hand at being the boss.
I've never had this much responsibility before.
I've never put, you know, my own money on the line like this.
[Christo] He brought in some greenhorn miners,
his friends, the Milwaukee Boyz.
[Rick] My dad said I'm gonna come back broke and with no friends.
And, uh, gonna make sure I prove him wrong.
[Christo] But Rick had an extremely difficult off-season.
The only thing that I had time for this winter was my mom.
She had been battling brain cancer for four years.
Since she died, I just realized it right now,
I didn't really take any time to think about this season,
but it didn't really matter at the time.
You know, it's my mom and she needed me and...
I knew that she didn't have much time left.
So I knew I had to spend all that I could with her, so.
[Christo] Without proper planning in the off-season
Rick was behind the eight ball.
Starting the season without a wash plant lined up
not a smart move, but I didn't really have a choice.
[Christo] To help him out, Rick hired a Yukon badass
with some mining experience,
Karla Ann.
[Rick] Karla!
What're you guys staring at?
You.
[Christo] And when she and Rick came on The Dirt...
- Yo. - Can I take a pee? Uh, I can rip one real quick.
[all laughing]
- She can arc one out like nobody's biz. - I'm telling you.
...we discussed how important she was to the new mine boss.
Rick, when Karla shows up she seemed to be a reality check.
[Karla] Rick, I know you had a super rough winter
but, you gotta get your [bleep] together pretty quick here.
- Am I too harsh with you? - No.
- I think I just-- - [Christo] I thought it was a breath of fresh air, really.
[Rick] Oh, yeah.
What's it... You're the sister I never wanted.
The sister you always needed?
[Christo] And when the Milwaukee Boyz joined us on set
it was nothing short of chaos.
You're about to see our X rated version.
- [all laughing] - Oh, boy.
- The Dirtier. - [all laughing]
- [man] The Dirtier. - [Christo] The Dirtiest.
- [man] Are you the fluffer? - [all laughing]
They're wild.
Zee is one of the funniest people
that's ever been on Gold Rush.
I mean, there wasn't one day that I, that we didn't laugh.
- Like, gut hurting laugh at least once a day. - Yeah.
[all laughing]
[Christo] But it wasn't all smiles for Rick and crew.
Shut it off, shut it off, shut it off, shut it off.
Hit the bypass!
You know I expected growing pains, but this is [bleep] outrageous.
[Christo] Even though he had a green crew and a rocky start,
Rick had an extremely solid first year
as a mine boss.
- There's another [bleep] hundred. - [all cheering]
11.05.
Blew by it.
[all cheering]
[Christo] The 1,100 ounces was obviously a step down
from what he was doing with Parker,
but in Season 9, Rick proved he could succeed out
on his own.
[Christo] So at this point in the show, there's a lot going on
with Rick and Parker, but I don't think anybody knew, you know,
just how fractured things were.
I was hearing a lot of stuff behind the scenes
that indicated that it was much more intense,
and you know, on The Dirt set, I know I need to go
into that stuff, and you could cut the tension
with a knife.
Are you pissed at Rick that he left?
No.
Why not?
Because he didn't want to be there anyway.
So Rick, what do you think happened over the years?
It seems like the more responsibility you got,
- the more tension between the two. - Yeah.
I think if you're doing a job
and, you know, you feel like you're doing a good job,
but then the guy in charge is unhappy,
you kind of second-guess yourself a lot, right?
Like, well, am I not doing a good job?
And I think another issue is that I knew what Rick
- was capable of, and I knew what level - Mm-hmm.
he could operate at, and I expected that out of him
more so than anybody else on the mine site.
Rick's a very smart guy.
[Christo] In season nine, while Rick and Parker attempted
to reconcile their differences,
the Beets managed to get their newest dredge,
dredge number two, moved, and almost all of it rebuilt.
That was until Tony realized he was missing some of
the all-important buckets.
But despite issues here and there, the Beets
had another huge season, again beating their total
from the year before, this time with nearly 4,400 ounces
worth around $5.5 million.
- [all laughing] - At the end of season nine, we had all the mine bosses
on The Dirt to celebrate with their drink of choice.
You bet you want some beer?
- [Tony] Where's the barroom? - [Rick] I'm hoarding all the beers.
- All new concept, isn't it? - [all laughing]
I got your bottle milk!
I think I'd rather slam a bottle of ranch dressing.
All right, guys, congrats.
Unbelievable season of Gold Rush.
By far the most gold we've ever had.
- I think almost $15.5 million. - [all cheering]
Parker, look, I'm really glad, well, to both of you guys,
I'm really glad that things seem to have ended
much better with Tony than they began.
I am too.
We've had our ups and downs over the last six years,
but I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity.
We have our spats, Rick and I do as well,
but in the big picture, three of us can step back
and say, you know what, our lives are all better
because we've met each other and worked together,
- Mm-hmm. - and that's a very positive thing.
Yeah.
- Cheers to that one. - For sure.
Cheers, I felt like those were hanging right there.
Yeah, cheers to that for sure.
- Yep. - Wow, we're mending fences on The Dirt.
[Christo] And they ended up being fences that stayed mended
for the most part,
mostly because in season 10, Parker was finally mining his own claim
and no longer under the thumb of Tony Beets.
We're going to be mining here on a piece of ground we bought
a couple years ago, and I actually am pumped
for the first time to not be paying a boatload of royalties.
[Christo] Parker was 17 when he first got his foothold
in the Klondike, leasing land from Tony Beets.
As season 10 got underway, Parker was his own landlord
and was finally able to keep every ounce of gold he mined,
which was good timing,
because thanks to sky-high gold prices,
he and his crew pulled off their most lucrative season yet.
That makes our season total,
7,223.
- [all cheering] - $7,200 ounces of gold,
worth a jaw-dropping $10 million.
[Christo] While Parker had yet another incredible season,
Rick Ness had a very different experience
in season 10.
He made the bold move to leave the gold fields
of the Klondike to chase big nuggets on a claim
north of Keno called Duncan Creek.
[Christo] Unfortunately, Rick's big swing turned out to be a miss.
This is definitely not big gold I was looking for.
[Christo] He and his crew went backwards
and only mined 547 ounces.
Rick, some are calling this the Keno catastrophe.
Who's calling it that?
- I don't know, we are. - I'm not saying it's wrong.
I'm not saying it's wrong.
I didn't come up with that.
- [chuckles] - Is there one thing that you could point to
at Duncan that led to the downfall?
Well, I mean, the frost was the big thing
that killed me because there wasn't supposed
- to be any permafrost on this ground. - Yeah.
I'm not giving up. I mean, there's got to be thawed [bleep]
ground here with gold in it somewhere.
[Christo] Coming up, despite the world coming to a halt.
With this virus going on, this is definitely going to be
probably one of the more challenging years.
[Christo] Parker and crew look to break Gold Rush records
with incredible gold totals.
Cheers, guys.
Best year ever.
[Christo] And later, one of the mine bosses
decides to call it quits.
What's up?
Why are you here? Why aren't you mining?
[Christo] Season 11 marked a tectonic shift for Gold Rush.
Just as the mining season ramped up in the spring of 2020,
the world shut down.
[Parker] With this virus going on and COVID,
this is definitely going to be probably one of the more
challenging years that we've ever had.
Parker Schnabel, where are you?
You can't really tell from your shot there.
I'm in Whitehorse.
I came up here kind of before they announced
that they were shutting down the Yukon border.
Rick, how are you holding up?
You're in Milwaukee, right?
You know, really just itching to get, actually get out of here and get mining.
[Christo] When Gold Rush season 11 finally did kick off,
everyone got a late start.
All the claim bosses had to figure out
how to get their gold totals with smaller crews
and fewer resources.
So here's my short term solution.
Hold that down.
Oh, man.
[Christo] Rick and what was left of the Milwaukee boys
returned to his Duncan Creek claim near Keno.
They were looking to make a comeback,
but a couple of his key guys didn't make the trip.
So it looks like you're the last one standing there, Kruse.
- It's you and I. - It's going to be weird without Zee
and Ryan here this year, huh, buddy?
[Christo] They found a new piece of ground to mine,
and quickly got sluicing.
These last couple of years have been rough, just breaking even.
[Christo] Thanks to his core of Karla and Kruse,
the gold poured in.
And then the scale goes to E.
Holy crap.
- [bleep] - Yeah, buddy.
- [all laughing] - It's actually too much for our scale.
Their final gold total for season 11
was 1,121 ounces,
worth over $2 million.
If we hadn't done this this year,
I don't know that there would have been another year.
- Cheers. - [all] Cheers.
[Christo] The season 11 lockdown also gave rise to a new claim boss.
- Fred? - Fred, yeah.
Nice to meet you, finally.
[Christo] Fred Lewis.
The most shocking news in season 11 was Fred Lewis
going out on his own.
[Christo] With borders closed, Fred set up shop
in his home state of Oregon.
- Watch yourself, Fred. - Well... [bleep]
Well...
[Christo] With his merry pranksters of mining, the Misfits.
[Christo] The name Misfits came from Fred
and his band of brothers,
all these ex-military guys that really felt like
they didn't belong in society.
That's really what Fred wanted to create.
He doesn't have the same mission as Parker or Tony or Rick.
All right, guys.
This is the last gold weigh of the season.
Shoot, man. Let's see what we got.
[Christo] For Fred and his Misfits, season 11
will live in infamy as one of the lowest gold totals ever
in Gold Rush history.
Just 4.22 ounces.
You know, we came out here. We learned a lot.
The next season, we're going to hit the ground running.
We're going to pay back all this debt.
And we're going to get to the point where we're actually
going to be putting gold in our pockets.
Let's get that gold!
While the Beets family.
...bounced back and ended their season
with more than 3,000 ounces worth
an impressive 5.4 million.
[Christo] For Parker's season 11, his crew continued to mine
the last cut.
And he made the call to move his wash plants,
Sluicefer and Big Red, to the pay to save fuel costs.
It'll go from good to bad real fast when it's like this.
Whoa.
Whoa!
- It made it here, that's all that matters. - Yeah.
[Christo] The plan worked.
So we've had a hell of a good season.
Parker had a record-breaking 7,500 ounces of gold
worth a monster $13.5 million.
Yeah!
Cheers, guys.
- [all cheering] - Best year ever.
Free beer on Parker.
[Christo] Coming up, a new mine boss heads to the Yukon.
We're taking a huge gamble. There is no safety net.
And gold records.
That's a hell of a cleanup there.
...are shattered.
[all cheering]
Woo!
[Christo] While the story of Gold Rush has always been full of drama,
I think the word that best sums up The Dirt is mayhem.
- I'm Christo Doyle. I'm the boss. - Good job.
- I think you can handle it. - [female crew member] I like his accent better.
Yeah, he's pretty good at it, yeah.
You're cutting his hair.
This is like a dream come true.
- Holy [bleep], she's tough. - [all laughing]
That one might be good for you.
Either the beard hits the mic or the chest hair.
Go ahead touch it.
Enjoy it.
Stop. Clear the mechanism.
- You okay, Dave. - I'm Christo Doyle, and I'm on a horse.
Is that a third nipple?
[all laughing]
Oh, God.
[all laughing]
Don't touch the Parkers.
Everybody's laughing. Everybody's laughing.
[Christo] Tony, give me a, "This is The Dirt."
[Tony] Dit is The Dirt.
It's not "dit." It's this.
This. This is The Dirt.
[Christo] These days on Gold Rush, some things have changed,
while others have stayed the same.
For example, it seems every season,
Parker breaks a new gold total's record.
Going 40, going 70.
200.
[Christo] In season 12, he and his crew followed
good drill results to open up a giant cut
called Mud Mountain.
Despite it not paying off like he wanted,
Parker still netted 8,309 ounces across all of his cuts,
totaling nearly $15 million.
[all cheering]
Then in season 13, Parker cleaned out
all of his Indian River claims.
The 100 acres was the most ground he had ever mined.
And once again, he pulled in an enormous gold haul
with nearly 8,300 ounces.
[Parker] That's a hell of a cleanup there.
I think it's impossible to comprehend 8,300 ounces
of gold.
His first season as a real mine boss, I think he got 30-some ounces.
Nothing.
I guess we'll keep digging.
[Christo] I knew he'd do better, but 8,300 ounces
is absolutely ridiculous.
He's in an elite category.
His biggest issue now is just finding claims
that have enough ground.
There's just not that many places left in the world
where you can pull 8,300 ounces in one season.
[Christo] Another thing that hasn't changed over the last few years,
the Beets family still doesn't have an Indian River water permit
to get their dredges mining.
But even without them, they managed to mine
4,610 ounces in season 12.
And their gold total was even better the next year.
54, 60.
[Christo] In season 13, they mined an incredible 5,295 ounces
of gold worth almost $8 million,
a Gold Rush record for the Beets family.
And that's without running either of the dredges.
I think it blew everyone away.
The sky's the limit. I mean, he could easily break
10,000 in the season if he gets both dredges going.
[Christo] One recent change, Fred and the Misfits
moved from Oregon to California Creek in the Yukon.
It's a lot more real for us this season.
We've put everything we have into this.
We're not relying on outside sources.
This is all us.
[Christo] They did better than their four pathetic ounces in Oregon,
but still had back-to-back, underwhelming seasons.
110 ounces in season 12, followed by 157 in season 13.
He's feeling it.
[Christo] Fred has gotten more criticism than probably anybody.
I guarantee you if any one of those people spent a day
with Fred, it would change the way they think about it.
He's up there for different reasons.
He wants to help this crew. Like, that's almost more important
to him than the gold.
You don't have to worry about no one understanding you.
You're home.
- Come here. - [sniffles]
- I love you. - I love you too, man.
But I do worry that he's going to get to a point
where he's not getting enough gold to sustain it.
It just can't keep going like this.
They can't.
[Christo] Another big change these last few years
came from Rick Ness and crew.
In season 12, they finally figured it out
at Duncan Creek.
That's probably the best pan I've ever done in my life.
He surrounded himself with more veterans,
you know, people who knew what they were doing.
And it was a wise move.
[Rick] And this is one of the scariest things
I've ever done in mining.
But I think that I've got the right people
here to give me the best shot at doing this right.
[Christo] One of those veteran miners was a familiar face.
Longtime Parker crew co-foreman Brennan Rualt.
[Christo] You know, Rick and Brennan were close.
When Rick was still with Parker, they had formed a bond.
I think it's possible that when Rick left,
Brennan started to consider, maybe I should follow.
Some of Rick's criticisms of Parker
are the same as Brennan's.
It probably just took a while for him to decide
to make that leap of faith.
What do you got in store for us now?
Got to get Monster Red up and running.
Yeah, for sure.
So we're going to be running around like our pants are on fire
for the rest of the year.
[Christo] Together with the Hoffman crew's
old wash plant Monster Red,
they gambled everything on the 190 foot deep
Raleigh Valley.
We dug this big [bleep] hole.
This is the best pay we've ever had.
[Christo] They finished the season with their best gold weigh ever.
This will sound really good.
No.
Wow.
[all laughing]
That is, by far, biggest gold total for a week.
It's almost 400 ounces.
[Christo] All told, they pulled in a massive 2,047 ounces
worth $3.6 million.
- That represents victory right there. - Yeah.
I'm going to have a nice little jar of gold for all you guys.
- So... - Yeah, that is.
Thank you.
[Christo] But when season 13 began, Rick Ness was nowhere
to be found.
Rick's a pretty, pretty closed off guy,
but it just seems like lately he's been a little bit
more closed off,
kind of keeping more to himself.
[Christo] His close friend, Zee, even went to his house to check on him.
- Holy [bleep]. - What's up, buddy?
What's up?
Why are you here?
Why aren't you mining?
I just got back from mining last year, and I crashed hard.
Just a funk?
I... [sighs] I guess it's a combination.
I mean, there's a seasonal affect disorder
that they think I have, and then just depression and I...
We went up, what was it, a month after your mom passed?
Did you ever really grieve for that yet?
When I'm ready, I will be gold mining again.
I just don't know when that is.
[Christo] That's pretty much where we stand in Gold Rush.
The miners have come a long way.
From only 15 ounces in season one to, who knows,
maybe someone will finally pull off
a 10,000-ounce season.
Why should people watch you guys?
People should watch because we're [bleep] awesome.