INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘Gold Rush’: Todd Hoffman’s Brand New Start, Rick Ness Leaves Parker Schnabel And Tony Beets Gets The Gold

By Georgia Makitalo
Published on: 01:01 PST, Jan 8, 2018

This week’s Gold Rush is “supersized.” Instead of one long episode, Discovery decided to show two episodes back to back, “Eclipsed” and “Beyond the Wall.” Does this mean twice the Gold Rush pay dirt or is this double trouble for our intrepid Gold Rush gold miners?

Starting off with the Hoffman crew who are stunned by the sight. Remember the “Great American Eclipse”? The incredible sight was close enough to distract the Hoffman crew as well as the Discovery cameras. Was this the biggest highlight of Todd’s week?

Hoffman, who is dealing with more boulders than a Flintstone’s episode, believes that there is still hope that this season will be saved. He believes these boulders mean good gold.

According to Monsters and Critics, the Hoffman crew is jinxed, and Todd and Juan have a war of words. A 15-inch rock got through a 4-inch gap in the grizzly bars. How did this happen? The grizzly bars are shearing off from the weight of the rocks, and Kevin has determined that they need new grizzly bars.

Juan, who needs to repair this, is in a quandary. He has been welding and repairing all season and the damage still ensues.

“The problem is that the material that has the gold is the big rocks.”

Todd’s solution? “Weld the crap out of them.” But Juan says that he already did it and insists that they need new grizzly bars.

Todd’s response is a rather whiney “We need gold Juan!” Juan, whose mortgage check is based on getting gold, certainly knows this, and he believes they need new grizzly bars. Yet, Todd says he can’t afford them.

Certainly, Juan cannot forget Hunter Hoffman’s fine from a few weeks ago that cost more than the gold they mined. This should certainly remind Juan that they are not only losing out to Parker Schnabel and the 100-ounce bet, but this season is becoming a disaster.

Clean up time around the cozy campfire is 99.75 ounces. Now, Juan is happy because Todd finally buys more grizzly bars. They cannot afford to have any more delays. They are finally on the gold and the season is rushing by.

Rick Ness has some bad news for Parker Schnabel. Sadly, his mom has cancer and he needs to take time to see her back home. Parker understands but is not happy.

“This season we’re really having to fight for every ounce. Losing a guy is not good. Especially not Rick.”

Brennan is then put in charge of Rick’s claim. Right away, there are some new changes as Parker and Brennan have decided to move Big Red and add conveyors. They no longer want to use rock trucks.

After a lengthy discussion, they move the plant and then manage to set up the conveyors, entertaining fans who love watching the big rigs and bushfixes.

Clean up time yields 289.7 ounces and a smile from Parker. Now that is more like it!

Mike Beets is learning the skills to become a riverboat skipper, and he is already dealing with his first challenges. The low water level and sandbars are slowing him down. This has also caused damage, as a propeller shaft has begun leaking.

This leads to some of Tony’s colorful language and frustration that there is “one thing after another” that is causing them delays.

At clean up time, the dredge finds 282.56 ounces, while Monica and her all-girl crew finds 247.26. The Beets family is ecstatic–especially Minnie. They are on the gold!

Time for the second episode, “Beyond the Wall.”

Freddy is back from some meetings with county officials and Fairplay is open once again! Already, it is clean up time and Fairplay mined 42.25 ounces of gold, while Monster Red finds 74.4 ounces.

Rick Ness has returned from visiting his mom who is battling cancer. He isn’t totally happy, nor is he totally unhappy with Parker and Brennan’s new setup. It just seems that he wasn’t happy that they did it when he was gone.

Then, they have a new problem with the tailings. They are backed up, as the plant is now too low. No one is happy with Parker’s decision to make the changes with Big Red, and Rick gives out a humorous dig towards Parker by calling it a “Hoffman-like mistake.”

Rick needs to add water to the tailings pond, and of course, a waterline pond breaks, making this task take longer just as everything else has this season. But not all is lost.

At clean up time, Parker weighs up 236 ounces, while Rick ends up with 220.95 ounces. This is what they need to achieve that lofty 5,000 goal. It is all but certain that Parker is going to beat Todd this season and add another 100 ounces to his total.

The buckets that Kevin worked so hard to get are coming up dry. Looks like he hit the permafrost and he has some work in front of him. He wants to float the dredge over the permafrost by building a berm to flood the cut.

Instead, Tony tells him to turn it all around and save himself the trouble, not that turning around a dredge is easy. It is just fun for Gold Rush fans to watch.

At clean up time, Monica ends up with 150.66 ounces and Kevin 115 ounces. Minnie is still smiling!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaDiMraFWX-/?taken-by=monicabeets

Share this article: ‘Gold Rush’: Todd Hoffman’s Brand New Start, Rick Ness Leaves Parker Schnabel And Tony Beets Gets The Gold
More from Inquisitr