huxley edwards All the bad reviews and reflections of reality, are on point here.This is a representation of the American Dream gone horribly wrong as Peka mentions. But the American Dream trudges on with the FRANCHISE death lease on life and business. That's what this show props up as what 'you can have' as well. Land owners holding huge plots of land.. leasing out to silly Jewish boys who know a TV opportunity come a callin.. probably some cousin or uncle in the buisness (outside of his legit father) to wrangle him into a 'career' holding onto an oversized wheel that has new power steering fluid so he can maintain his pipe cleaner status of weaklingness.I have ZERO experience with gold prospecting. But I have experience in agriculture, farming, and other types of co-operative business practices. This dilutes any chance of (other than land holder) anyone to get OUT OF THE DEBT CYCLE. That's where this could indeed be real.. these people are desperate.. minus a few 'key characters' in the show.. desperate to keep out of debt..and that pesky human quality..desperate to be noticed.Tony Beets is the clear winner here and his family. It was a great concept for hollywood to jump on his coattails. It gave him obvious opportunity to play around in his older age. Good for Tony. Bad for reality. What exactly is / was the role of Cigar man Chris Doumitt.. he's kissing the rim hole of a 20 year old every single week. Even Parkers grunt pig beer swilling buddy.. does not kiss his arse. Is Doumitt an uncle or cousin? He's obviously one of the few Jews on the show as well..maybe even a handler / body guard type thing. He handles the gold at the end of the show all the time, .. that's quite the prestigious position for a guy that stands around smoking and telling off color jokes. Yes there is always one of these guys at the job site. They are the definition of the a** kisser. But why is a 70 year old doing the kissing.. Even Parkers girlfriend "LOVES" Doumitt.. but she looks like a washed up party girl looking for the hook... like from Australia? I wonder what her father was in prison for. Ok enough of my conjecture.. it's not fair but I'm not playing with a fair industry .. the industry of deceit. Gold is very real..but c'mon people.. do you really believe modern alchemy cannot replicate gold.... food for thought. That's another can of worms for another day.

andrewrye-06535 Where to start with this train wreck of a series? Well, real gold miners must laugh themselves silly watching this rubbish. I worked in a coal mine for years and the one thing that is drummed into you is maintenance. There is none on this show.There are three main crews in this - Parker Schnabel, Todd Hoffman and Tony Beets. Each one as ludicrous as the next so lets start: Parker Schnabel is an arrogant spoiled brat who, unfortunately, runs a crew at the ripe young age of 21 (about). He treats or rather mistreats his employees in a way that should have resulted in several law suits. He throws tantrums when things go wrong and it's everyone else's fault, not his. One laughable moment was when the water ran out and they started pumping silt through the dredge. Here's a hint, start doing a pre-start walk through of the mine, you may have picked up you had no water. An idiot's mistake. And, his Australian girlfriend is back for another season? The producers must have paid her to come back as it is a mystery why she is with Parker.He is a thoroughly unlikable character.Todd Hoffman who never seems to learn. Every season they run out of good mining area. Here's your hint - a mine plan. I have worked in several mines, they all had mine planes. We knew where we would mine each day and had a three month plan, so this never caused a shutdown, And, I don't think God's plan involves making you rich so stop the ridiculous prayer every time you want to find gold. It really cheapens Christianity and is not what I would expect from such self proclaimed pious people. And, just about running out of money every season and then finding a rich area that enables you to continue mining the next season is getting a little old. It happens every season and it's about time the producers came up with a knew story line.Tony Beets is a foul mouthed idiot whose brains have been passed on to his kids. Only Monica the daughter seems to be able to string a sentence together without sounding retarded by mumbling and excessive swearing. Engage brain before opening mouth. Although I don't get all hot over swearing, it is overdone and noticeable because of the amount of bleeping to cut it out. They sound uneducated and simple.Tony tries to sound decisive as if everybody jumps when he yells and he expects instant action. Such as when the engine seized on the dredge operated by Kevin (son). Asked what the F*** is wrong. Sons yells back I told you it was F*** stuffed and you need to buy a new one. How much father asks - $600K says son. Do it says dad and the next week and brand new custom engine appears ..... what? Then one of the engineers lets it slip it was ordered last year. Good God, how stupid do you think we are. This, of all of them is the worst crew for maintenance. A barge engine overheats and a larger coolant pipe is added to keep it cool. Shall we test it? No, lets just F*** go. And of course the pipeline is never checked and comes off just about seizing the engine. Between the equipment that fails and is mistreated because it doesn't get regular maintenance and the stuff this idiot gets built that doesn't pass compliance (the barge was a good one) I shiver at the amount of lost money. If he was the CEO of a company run by a board he would have been fired a long time ago.I gave this a 3 because it is one of the few programmes that makes me laugh out loud and that can't be all bad. But don't take it seriously. These people are too stupid to waste your energy on.

rsvp321 The "5" is for the part of the show illustrating the gold mining.If I was grading on the amateur acting of the Hoffman and Schnabel crews, it would be a fat zero.I do enjoy the Beets portions without criticism - honest workers, no drama.Schnabel - petulant spoiled brat, perpetual smirk on his face, an idiot that only looks successful due to the hard work of his employee - of which he is a real prick to every episode. What a goof! Shows like this has an audience not for the fake drama, but just to watch the machines working, illustrate repairs and improvisation, and the final product. It doesn't need anything else! Just like "Ax Men", another great show that the producers ruined by the fake drama, this series is also going to eventually fail, if they keep up with the soap opera scripts.EDIT/ADDED:I've just finished watching S08 ep 20, and have to amend my review.Todd and crew are pathetic, portray themselves as bumblers that have traveled North and South America mining for gold, and obviously don't have a clue about mining, nor understand the machines they use in the show. I see them as a bunch of aimless idiots!Tony Beets has joined in the soap opera scripts, it seems - behaving like a greedy a-hole that resents anyone else operating a mine to the point of sabotaging others' operations?! Yes, what he does, obstructing the lawful movement and development of another business is criminal, *and if this was real acts of interference* he would be arrested and lose all the rights to his claims - forbidden from mining, himself...but it's fake, so he continues to just behave like a goof for the cameras.Parker is still a tyrant brat that continues with his own fake crisis, fake feud with Beets, and fake drama.*All these lands are owned by the State/Province/country, and mining rights/prospecting rights are permitted by the grace of these government jurisdictions*. All the show characters are only temporary guests of the land.With contempt toward the show producers, that have lost focus on the gold mining, I've reduced the five-stars to a one...because zeroes aren't permitted. This show is starting to bore the hell out of me!

piyu241 As a show, it's like most of this channels slop, somewhat watchable. What's with them having to use the F word every time they open their mouth? What is totally unwatchable is that so much energy (fuel & human) is wasted to destroy the earth and create pollution for several pounds of gold. I find it especially sad that the crew run by serious dolts, the Hoffmans, pray to God to help them make a bigger mess each day.The Discovery Channel should do a show on the impact of mining of the gold as compared to the benefit. Of course the folks who like this slop wouldn't be interested in learning anything. They should investigate why mining is excluded from laws that most activities would never be allowed to do.