‘Gold Rush’ Spoilers: John Schnabel Health Update Highlights Season 5

Gold Rush fans have been waiting half a year to learn the fate of John Schnabel, and on Friday they’ll get the spoilers they’re looking for.

In Part 1 of the Gold Rush season finale last March, viewers caught a glimpse of the health problems faced by the 93-year-old miner. The uncertainty of Schnabel’s health prompted thousands of the show’s fans to turn to the internet, where “Is John Schnabel dead?” because one of the hottest search terms.

It turned out that Schnabel was in good health, as his grandson Parker live-tweeted during the season finale.

My grandpa is way more of a badass than I’ll ever be #toeshot

— Parker Schnabel (@goldrush_parker) March 8, 2014

Parker has said he’s learned a lot from his grandfather, including how to make it in the difficult field gold mining.

“The biggest thing I learned this summer was how to just go for it, not worry about the consequences of what could go wrong, just striking out and going for something, whether it has to do with going up to the Klondike or dealing with people,” Parker said. “I’ve always been scared that somebody was going to quit if we treated them poorly, or I was scared to fire somebody if they weren’t working out. This summer, this all went away. If guys weren’t performing, we fired them. If guys weren’t doing their job, we’d tell them.”

Now as the fifth season of Gold Rush begins, there is more news on the health of John Schnabel.

Parker gave an update during an appearance at the 2014 CONEXPO-CON/AGG.

“My grandpa is doing well. He still has cancer but has responded well to the radiation and chemo therapy that he has been on and if you saw him you would never know he has an issue. We just celebrated his 94th birthday a few weeks ago and it was great. He has great spirits, friends and family. Thank you all for the kind words and prayers.”

Fans who want to check out whether the Gold Rush spoilers come true — or whether the premiere will address the health of John Schnabel — can tune in to the Discovery Channel at 8 p.m. ET.