Prospectors provides a unique insight into the different processes involved in mining various types of gems and minerals, depending as well on where you’re mining them from! Yukon GoldĢ013 was a good year for mining reality shows, with Yukon Gold being one of gold mining TV shows premiering that year.
The miners featured included Amanda Adkins, Dwayne Hall, Rich Fretterd, the Busse family, the Dorris family, and the Cardwell family. The show followed a group of miners in their respective claims and mining sites as they went through the daily operations of mining for precious metals and gems. And lasted for 4 seasons – including a short season 2 specials – until 2016. Prospectors premiered on March 2013 on The Weather Channel. Throughout its 9 seasons, the various Gold Rush crews have been filmed in several of their claims across the Alaskan Panhandle, The Klondike in Yukon, Canada, the Guyana jungles in South America, Baker Country in Oregon, and Park County in Colorado. These crews primarily consisted of the Parker Schnabel crew, the Hoffman crew – who officially left after season 8, Dakota Fred crew, Dave Turin crew, and the Rick Ness crew – the newest to join in season 9 after separating from Schnabel in the previous season. Gold Rush follows various family-run mining businesses in their placer gold mining efforts. Premiering in 2010 and currently holding 9 seasons under its belt! Originally titled Gold Rush: Alaska, it was later shortened to the current Gold Rush in season 2 as the crew members travel to mining sites outside of the Alaskan state. Gold Rush was the forefather of reality gold mining shows. Yes, there even are a set gold mining and gem hunting shows! It’s been barely a decade since the first major reality mining show was produced and released but already, so many others have popped up after it! With that, let’s take a look at the 7 best reality mining TV shows! Gold Rush Discovering the next top chef, baker, fashion designer or model? Check. Whatever tickles your fancy, there’s probably already a reality show about it.
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.Ĭreative minds can make reality shows out of pretty much anything: there’s always enough interest to gain a significant following. Some years, teams have had to give up before the season has really got going such as Fred Lewis.This article contains affiliate links. However, it is worth considering how much the teams have to spend out on equipment and workers to even get the ball rolling on Gold Rush each season. Red Lasso reported that cast members could earn between $10,000 and $25,000 per episode. However, some viewers fired back at Fred and questioned how much he was earning per episode. He also wrote that he was a working-class man that isn’t rich. In a Facebook post at the time, Fred wrote: “ If you want a Miner, call me…….if you want an Actor, pay me like one.” Looper reported in 2021 that Fred left Gold Rush back in season 5 because he didn’t have enough money to carry on. Given that some of the cast members come from mining families, their financial situation may have differed from people who have joined the show without previous experience, however, this is just a guess.Įven people who have mining families, such as Fred Hurt, have publicly spoken about how he had to leave the Discovery show due to financial reasons.