Gold Rush TV Show

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by tevake

WOW tell us how you really feel. That was funny really. True but funny.

It would have been funny had I added my 'glory hole' comment/question.

[sammyg2]

Remember Jimmy Dorsey, the guy they made look like a doofus?
Sour grapes? maybe.

RE: 72 Hour Comment
You really should read the comments of each blog. The meat of this blog site is buried inside the comment section as this is where I can answer the questions you are asking.

Ronald asked, “This post was about the 72 hour deadline and why did no one comment about the topic, The 72 hours was a Hose job also more than likely the 72 hours was a couple of weeks, There was no way the guy in so much pain and sick was able to do that amount of work within 3 days and when You left Dorsey they have a gun incase you get crazy and your wife and child are there after that fight, Why all the fake scripts instead of a real one hour of gold mining and finding gold and all that it involves.”

In reply to Ronald Athens from Jimmy Dorsey

“The 72 hour deadline was about 3-4 weeks of filming. It dragged on for weeks. This was a plot for an episode that was made up by the screenwriters and producers that really didn’t sit well with Todd Hoffman. He was not interested at all in playing along with story lines that were developed by the production team. Actually Todd has been trying to fire Raw Television since the day they secured the deal with the network. There was an extremely tenuous relationship that existed between Todd and Raw during the filming because Todd had actually written executive producing rights in to his contract with Raw. Unfortunately in the negotiations with Discovery Channel he was not given production rights as most participants do not even get the opportunity to see the footage before the show airs let alone make any decisions about how a person is portrayed (as with me). Todd told me many times that even though Discovery did not give him producing credits he was able to review the cuts that were sent to Discovery for final editing. I never believed that although he spent many late nights at the production house having meetings about something? Everyone knew these themes as we waded patiently through each episode but the production could not seem to get Todd on board with their story lines. Many plots I internalized and it actually became an actuality for me because I felt I could not really act. I had to believe the lines that they were feeding me to be able to say them without sounding scripted. The 72 hours became a week which was going on a month and then I felt compelled to actually leave the mine to fulfill the prophecy that I spoke into existence in the hours of interviews about the deadline. Here is where truth and fiction meet in a world called Reality TV.”

Jimmy Dorsey, January 30th 2011 | Posted in Behind the Scenes, Gold Rush Alaska

[sammyg2]

More quotes from Dorsey:

I am blessed! I was kicked off of a reality show! But I knew it was coming because I read the script.

In a formatted documentary, AKA: Reality Show, the story lines are written by script writers before the characters, (participants) every set foot on location (in our case the mine.) The entire show is scripted, outlined and understood by all the production team but is only revealed to the participants that need to influence the storyline. The storyline is what you see as the viewer and all of the drama that is created is for your ratings which sell the program. I know about the script because I had a sneak peak read in April at the Sandy Airport.

My character from the beginning was as the “greenhorn”, “rookie”, and more deceitfully “outsider” ,”victim” and even possibly “villian?” Todd had multiple meetings with me about how the summer would be hard for me. He was planning on “running plays” as he called them which started with me hitting a car he purchased for the sole purpose of me “accidently” running into. I grew the beard and kept my tooth out which I actually have an implant for not too different from the dentist that was a character on The Hangover. I was OK with the whole idea, as I have been in music entertainment for years! Shoot lets do it I thought!

and

The days consisted of reading scripts written by someone back at the editing suite and cutting new scenes to help the first two episodes. More power plays between all of the men for camera time and who gets to use the tools or who drives what truck was getting old. Lunches mainly consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or leftover bear surprise accompanied with Giardia infested Tang.

[sammyg2]

[GG Allin]

Is it me or is Tony Beets driving a different truck every time he shows up to collect his gold?

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by GG Allin

Is it me or is Tony Beets driving a different truck every time he shows up to collect his gold?

Yes. They all seem to be 2000 up Chevy pick-ups in various states of disrepair. I would guess they are various trucks owned by his mining company and he just grabs the keys to first one near his office.

By the way, over $1 million for a old gold dredge that last ran in 1987? 300 ounces of gold for a wash plant? Wow.

[creaturecat]

Does this mean that the Moonshine guys aren't for real, either?
Those guys are actors?

[ckelly78z]

I do enjoy the actual working and planning part of the show, I don't like the injected drama of arguments, and temper tantrums, and tend to turn the channel when the bleeping starts hot and heavy. It makes me think about how I would handle a gold claim, and how much money would have to be spent on hardware like a washplant, pumps, hoses/fittings, electric generators, bulldozer, track hoes, wheel loaders, dump trucks, tools, repair parts, diesel fuel, food for a crew,
a full time mechanic, Polaris ranger 4x4 UTV, gold cleanup equipment

I think I could do it a lot cheaper by keeping the number of guys to 3-4, and having smaller equipment, and using 16'dump trailers behind a pickup, and maybe backhoes instead of trackhoes and wheel loaders. also having 5 HP briggs trash pumps and a small portable wash plant, that could be set up or moved easily.

[onlycafe]

as real as rocky and bullwinkle, only not as intelligent or funny.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by onlycafe

as real as rocky and bullwinkle, only not as intelligent or funny.

Or American Chopper...


Reading some of these posts... "reality TV"=soap operas for men.

[Bugsinrugs]

I missed last nights show. Did someone die?

[GWN7]

The fake drama is something else. Parker made over 1000 oz of gold last year. Big pile of jars of gold on his parents table. $1,200,000 worth. Yet big drama, his mother had to borrow money so he could buy a D10 cat this year. I know they are expensive but he's 19 and owns two of them.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Bugsinrugs

I missed last nights show. Did someone die?

Yes, James Harness from the first season. He was the mechanic with the back issues and pain pill addiction.

[Geoz1]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

I think I could do it a lot cheaper by keeping the number of guys to 3-4, and having smaller equipment, and using 16'dump trailers behind a pickup, and maybe backhoes instead of trackhoes and wheel loaders. also having 5 HP briggs trash pumps and a small portable wash plant, that could be set up or moved easily.

Picks, shovels and pans would not produce the amount of gold in a season, that Parker is doing in a day.
Backhoes would get stuck every 30 seconds. The big machinery is necessary for what they are doing. They are mining 100s of acres.

I like the show, but dislike the drama. Sadly, without the drama there would be very few viewers. The Hoffmans are idiots, and they get paid the most. Todd has been named "Hot Pockets" by many people I interact with/talk to. It seems he never works, but is there for the camera. It's been said he makes 400k per episode.
It's a shame an idiot gets paid that much to be an idiot. And he is an idiot.

[Bugsinrugs]

Little has been said on how they jack up the land. They should be made to at least attempt to restore the areas before they leave.

[URY914]

I've been watching since the series started. I also follow several threads about it on other forums. Maybe this is the year people stop laughing a Hot Pockets and his gang finally makes some money.

Tony and his dredge; He has spent the entire season tearing it apart. He'll need another season to build it back together. He is in way over his head. I know a lot about dredge work and you don't learn to run an operation over night.

The only way to make money is to move huge quantities of material and to do that you need big equipment. It's a shame how they scar the landscape.

They show all the drama but never talk about 12 hours shifts inside a cab of a trackhoe loading material into the wash plant or driving trucks on a the haul roads over and over and over.

I'd like to know more about the logistics of the operations; they never show them in the local towns, buying supplies, fueling the rigs etc.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

....Reading some of these posts... "reality TV"=soap operas for men.

Ain't that the truth....only "reality show" that I've ever watched. I happened to catch the very first episode back when I had Directv. Intrigued by Alaska, mining, etc. and discussed it with my uncle (who used to guide in Alaska) over a few lunches. I made it 3 episodes before I realized what total bs it was...haven't seen it since

[J P Stein]

Originally Posted by Bugsinrugs

Little has been said on how they jack up the land. They should be made to at least attempt to restore the areas before they leave.

It is difficult to gin up any simpatico for people & companies that hold the "earth as a profit center" view. The simple answer to the above is: There's no money in it.

These clowns are their own worst enemies. Miners, lumber men, commercial fishermen (to name a few...all with their own "reality" TV shows) are not stewards of the lands, but exploiters of the land. A very short term attitude which has given rise to the greenies who want to lock up all the natural resources.......and now I sound like one of those idiots.

[GG Allin]

Originally Posted by Geoz1

Picks, shovels and pans would not produce the amount of gold in a season, that Parker is doing in a day.
Backhoes would get stuck every 30 seconds. The big machinery is necessary for what they are doing. They are mining 100s of acres.

I like the show, but dislike the drama. Sadly, without the drama there would be very few viewers. The Hoffmans are idiots, and they get paid the most. Todd has been named "Hot Pockets" by many people I interact with/talk to. It seems he never works, but is there for the camera. It's been said he makes 400k per episode.
It's a shame an idiot gets paid that much to be an idiot. And he is an idiot.

Yes, yes, yes and yes. Todd and his gut feelings. The good Lord will find the gold for him.

[tevake]

There is another show that I've recently started watching called "Prospectors"
Quite interesting, follows a few teams/ families in Colorado mostly. The are hunting and finding minerals, gems, and crystals. It has less of the hyped drama and more details of the search and challenges of small scale mining in steep mountains.

They got characters for sure, just not so much manufactured drama.

Cheers Richard