If anyone watches this show. Tonight was gut wrenching. Watching parkers grandpa with so much pride in his grandkids and family. Knowing that he is going to die soon. That show got to me.
Gold Rush
- Thread starter Knownothing
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It was a great show tonight. Couldn't help but bring tears to my eyes. I wish our country was more like what you see with the Schnabel family. Dreams, hard work, family, pride and no excuses. John Schnabel is what made this country great. It would be a huge honor to know him.
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Old grandpa is pretty cool. Dad seems like a nice guy. The kid is sort of a ****. Outside of his grandpa the kid seems to respect no one and treats everyone like ****. If this wasn't TV someone would have punched him by now.
Meh, when it's your money, your ***, your family name on the line and you don't make excuses, you do what that person says, no matter how old they are. I'd work for Parker any day before I worked for that ****** Todd. Parker's still a kid, so he's got a lot to learn, but he has a lot to prove too. Pulling as much gold out of the ground this year as he did, gives him the right to tell people working for him what to do, imo.
Every episode where someone doesn't beat the **** out that fat-assed Todd is a great TV moment that is lost. :smile:
I really like that show. Grandpa Schnabel seems like a great man who came from nothing and built a good life for he and his family. He just comes across so genuine and really a pretty sharp tack for a 91 year old.
Parker is a good kid. He has had a lot handed to him and he has a little attitude, but the kids only 19. He works hard and he's honest. I'd rather work for a guy like that than Todd Hoffman who seems to string people along and doesn't seem to want to get his hands dirty.
Parker is a good kid. He has had a lot handed to him and he has a little attitude, but the kids only 19. He works hard and he's honest. I'd rather work for a guy like that than Todd Hoffman who seems to string people along and doesn't seem to want to get his hands dirty.
When Todd's crew started getting excited about finding diamonds and changing their focus from gold I was thinking, "I wonder if they have any clue how raw diamonds are valued?"
I got a chuckle out of it when the lease owner informed them that all of their diamonds together were worth around $500.
I got a chuckle out of it when the lease owner informed them that all of their diamonds together were worth around $500.
I could never get the economics of this show. 5 guys typically spend an entire summer burning diesel fuel which probably costs quite a bit to get to the remote areas they are in in machines that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
What does Discovery pay these guys? Can't imagine they gold that they find would even cover their expenses.
Figure $500k each to Todd and his old man based on best (unconfirmed) skuttlebutt. The show was Todd's idea and for comparison, Rick on Pawn Stars is supposedly getting $1M/year. Freakin' Chumlee drives a Maserati Gran Turismo.
And all of those Volvo trucks and loaders? Volvo sweetheart deals for product placement. It's not all scripted but it's pretty low risk for profits especially after it gained popularity. Some of the guys on the Todds crew probably get screwed big time but the stars are making out just fine.
I watch it. It's entertaining but I am skeptical even of the nuggets they found for the grandpa. If they planted those it would be pretty sad but I think they might have.
I used to watch this show religiously the first couple of seasons. Ever since Todd and crew went to South America, I haven't really followed as closely. I'll catch a show every now and again, but won't go out of my way to watch it.
I'm a big fan of the show, and particularly like the last episode with Parker. It's neat to see a person of Parker's age have as much reverance as he does for his grandfather. Parker can come off as a bit entitled, but he's incredibly good at what he does for being on 19. It seems like every difficult decision he makes pays off in the longrun. I, at 19 years old, would have likely packed the whole thing in and called it quits at the first sign of adversity.
I've also wondered about the money aspect of it. I imagine you'd have to make the kind of money Parker did this year (1.4 million) to make it profitable. When you talk about the general operating costs, the startup costs of purchasing the machinery, shipping costs and the fact that each crew member gets a cut, I can't see how there is much left over.
I've also wondered about the money aspect of it. I imagine you'd have to make the kind of money Parker did this year (1.4 million) to make it profitable. When you talk about the general operating costs, the startup costs of purchasing the machinery, shipping costs and the fact that each crew member gets a cut, I can't see how there is much left over.
UNIguy this is not a scripte reality show. What they get is what they get. No acting. Maybe they change a little since cameras are following them but it's not acted out.
I have watched the show since the very first episode, along with the Dirt. He has said countless times some of his attitude is generated by the show.
It was a while ago when I read it, but I was looking into gold mining costs when Gold Rush first came out on Discovery. I remember reading that anything below $1000 an ounce and you are losing money mining gold the whay they do it in the Klondike. Small operations like they have at porcupine creek can still be profitable, but to move the amount of dirt they do in the Klondike, the costs are so high and the season that much shorter, that gold has to be pretty expensive to make a go of it.
I am still wondering how this show is really put together though. Hoffman and his old man seem like a plant to me. Everything they do just seems too messed up. I mean just like the first season, with his idiot old man burning through all their fuel so he could play with his excavator. And then the fools that still follow the Todd. There is no way, without some kind of guaranteed money are those guys going anywhere with Todd. The Hoffmans just seem like they are there to give you that person to hate on the show. The tension that keeps viewers coming back, hoping he'll fail.
I'd be really surprised if any of these mines can make it if all they just tossing all the sand and gravel byproducts to the wayside. Maybe they just don't show it but I would think they'd be sorting the rock at least for road building they'd be stupid not to I think.
They have to make it. They have been gold mining up that way for years. Like Tony the scruffy haired bearded guy. He was doing it before a tv show was there and was making it. So I am not sure why some of you think you can't make it. They know what they are doing. Well Hoffman does not but Parker has been mining for years even though he is 19 years old. I think the biggest problem is people who watch the show who think they can do it because they have been watching it. Then go up there and fail miserably because they have no idea what they are doing.
BTW Hoffman started the show. He brought the show to the producers and explained that him and his old man are going to give it a go. The only way Parker got on the show was because Hoffman had to ask him how to do pretty much everything the first season and Parker was mining at Big Nugget across the river.
BTW Hoffman started the show. He brought the show to the producers and explained that him and his old man are going to give it a go. The only way Parker got on the show was because Hoffman had to ask him how to do pretty much everything the first season and Parker was mining at Big Nugget across the river.
