Since 2010, the television series Gold Rush has purported to give Discovery Channel viewers the inside scoop on what it’s like to be a miner looking for gold in the modern world. However, an interview from one of the stars has been taken out of context over the years to suggest that everything on the show is actually faked. Join Facts Verse as the Gold Rush cast addresses rumors that the show is FAKE.
Is Gold Rush As Real As It Seems?
In 2010, the reality-television series Gold Rush premiered on the Discovery Channel and became a big hit with viewers. The show, which is still on the air, follows several modern-day miners as they attempt to find gold. One of the show’s main cast members is a man by the name of Parker Schnabel. Parker has a history of mining before appearing on the show. In fact, mining is in his blood. Despite this fact, many have suggested that the show’s content is faked.
Clickbait articles suggesting that Gold Rush isn’t as real as it appears have been popping up since the show came on the air. Oftentimes, these articles imply in bad faith that Parker himself has confessed to the show’s faked nature. However, it seems that the majority of speculation can be attributed to an interview given by another one of the show’s stars. One of the early cast members on the series was a man by the name of Jimmy Dorsey, who left after only a couple of episodes. In 2011, Jimmy gave an interview wherein he said that numerous parts of the series were scripted.
When Jimmy Dorsey said that parts of Gold Rush were scripted, he wasn’t lying. However, the quote has been taken out of context to suggest that nothing featured on Gold Rush is real. This assumption doesn’t seem to be true. Instead, what Jimmy was trying to say in the interview was that there are small bits of Gold Rush that are scripted, as with any reality-television series, but the show as a whole is largely as real as it gets. When you look further into Jimmy’s 2011 interview, you can see the truth for what it is.
Jimmy Dorsey Didn’t Say the Show Was Entirely Faked
Jimmy Dorsey was only around for a handful of episodes during Gold Rush’s first season. However, the experience that the star had on the series seems to be emblematic of the experiences that other people have had on the series since. According to Jimmy, there were certain things about his time on the show that were planned in advance, or scripted. However, the majority of the things that he did during his time on the show were spontaneous.
Those that aren’t knowledgeable about the way that reality-television series are typically put together may look at Jimmy’s 2011 claim that Gold Rush is partially scripted and jump to the conclusion that everything featured on the show is faked. However, the fact of reality television being largely scripted is nothing new. Producers often go into the filming of a reality-television series with a good idea of the footage that they want to get out of it. Because of this, things that occur on reality television often aren’t as spontaneous as they appear. Still, it seems that Gold Rush has been able to maintain a careful balance between scripted content and reality. Jimmy Dorsey gave a pretty explicit idea of what parts of Gold Rush are faked and what parts are real.
Unsurprisingly, Jimmy Dorsey’s suggestion that parts of Gold Rush are scripted has led to many rumors and clickbait articles. However, fans of the series will be pleased to learn that plenty of what occurs on Gold Rush is as real as can be. When it comes to the type of content on Gold Rush that is scripted, Jimmy claims that his exit from the series was planned in advance. However, that seems to be the only part of the show that was faked during the time that Jimmy was involved. According to the former star, Gold Rush’s creator has it scripted that one of the show’s stars was going to leave after several episodes as a result of not finding gold.
Understanding the Scripted Nature of Reality Television
Gold Rush’s producers knew that it wanted one of it’s early stars to leave several episodes into the first season because they knew that this would be good drama. However, they didn’t fake the reason why Jimmy left. After several episodes on the series, Jimmy failed to find gold. The producers then used Jimmy’s lack of success on the show as a “natural” reason for him to make his exit. According to Jimmy himself, he had every intention of staying on the show until he struck gold, no mater how many episodes it took. Because of this, we can look at Jimmy’s exit from the series as being “faked”. Still, there was plenty about it that was real.
Jimmy Dorsey may not have exited from Gold Rush for the reasons that were defined on the series, but it was true that the star failed to find any gold during his time on the series. So while his exit may have been a little fake, Jimmy still maintains that the gold-mining aspects of the show are as real as can be. The producers may poke and prod the show’s environment in order to bring about the type of drama they think will attract viewers, but they are always sure to keep the heart of the show as authentic as possible.
Looking further into Jimmy Dorsey’s interview, the former Gold Rush star also shared that there was an authentically scripted moment during his time on the series wherein another cast member attacked him. This attack reportedly left Jimmy with some broken ribs. Just as with the show’s gold-mining aspects, Jimmy maintains that this physical assault was as far from scripted as could be. Jimmy Dorsey’s 2011 interview continues to be taken out of context for clickbait purposes, but at least there is some truth to the fact that the star once claimed that Gold Rush was at least semi-scripted! Other clickbait articles have claimed that star Parker Schnabel as questioned the legitimacy of the show.
Gold Rush Recently Made a “Mammoth” Discovery
Jimmy Dorsey’s claims that Gold Rush is at least partially scripted are verifiable, but Parker Schnabel has never been on record as saying any such thing. Despite this fact, Parker Schnabel seems to be used in clickbait articles just as much as Jimmy Dorsey is. Numerous clickbait articles have popped up over the years suggesting that Parker has finally spilled the beans about Gold Rush being faked. However, when you get into the articles themselves, they are simply rehashing the old Jimmy Dorsey interview.
Speculation that Gold Rush is fake came to a head recently, during the show’s 13th season. In an episode by the name of “Mammoth Mess”, one of the show’s stars made a staggering discovery. Instead of being gold, the discovery was a mammoth tusk protruding from the side of a cliff. When the tusk was excavated, it was revealed that there were some incredibly valuable mammoth bones surrounding it. This discovery was even better than gold, and this fact led many to believe that the discovery of the tusk was faked.
The discovery of the mammoth tusk was made by Gold Rush star Tony Beets as he was exploring the Yukon region of Alaska. Mammoth tusks and bones have been found in the region before. In fact, a major discovery of related to wooly mammoths was made in the region shortly beforehand. Just a year prior to Gold Rush’s tusk discovery, a baby wooly mammoth was found mummified nearby in the region. Many point to this fact as evidence that Tony’s discovery of the mammoth tusk was authentic. If there are plenty of mammoth remnants to be had in the region, what’s stopping Tony from stumbling upon some himself? However, others have pointed to the discovery as evidence of falsehood.
Plenty of Gold Rush Is Verifiably Real
Some people have speculated that the producers of Gold Rush caught wind of the baby wooly mammoth that was discovered mummified in Alaska’s Yukon region and then went about trying to script a similar discovery for their series. While there’s little doubt that the mammoth tusk featured on Gold Rush is authentic, there’s plenty of doubt as to whether or not the way it was supposedly found was staged. Some theories suggest that the producers waited around until a mammoth discovery was made and then paid off whoever made it so that they could use it on their show.
Regardless of whether or not parts of Gold Rush are staged, there is still plenty about the show that is real. As we’ve already established, Parker Schnabel comes from a long line of miners, and it stands to reason that he wouldn’t want his family’s legacy to be tainted by a show that was entirely faked. Parker paints himself as an everyman on the show, but fans may be surprised to learn that the miner is actually insanely wealthy. Both due to his time on the show and to his ancestor’s own mining ventures, Parker is a millionaire.
Another part of Gold Rush that is real is the fact that Parker’s team on the show is handpicked by him and not by producers. This helps ensure that the people who show up on the series are authentic miners. For years, Parker’s right-hand man on the series was a man by the name of Gene Cheeseman. Gene recently departed from the show, which caused many fans to wonder if he had Parker had a falling out. Thankfully, it seems they’re still on good terms.
Many people have speculated since Gold Rush’s 2010 premiere on the Discovery Channel that the reality-television series is fake. Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that parts of the Discovery Channel series Gold Rush are scripted, and that some fans have theorized that the show fakes it’s discoveries? Comment down below?
