The Dakota boys are back on Discovery on January 19, and they are willing to go to extreme conditions to get some gold. Father and son Fred and Dustin Hurt, along with a crew of mountaineering gold miners and mechanics that specialize in bushfires, will be starring in the new show, Gold Rush: White Water .
Speaking to The Suburban , Dakota Fred promises Gold Rush fans that Gold Rush: White Water is “going back to basics.” But this isn’t just the same old excavator and bushfix gold mining show.
Fred, his son Dustin, and the rest of the crew that includes his new stepson Zach and his new wife Jen have to take an ATV to get out to zip line, then rappel to get down to the mining site, 400 feet below at McKinley Creek. Then there is the navigating the white water rapids and diving into the active plunge pools with a six-inch dredge.
When filming started, Dakota Fred was 73 and, admittedly, 10 pounds overweight, but he thought, “Hey, I have a lot of young people to keep up with.” The extreme physicality of this mining has meant that Fred not only made it work, but also lost the weight and kept up with those who were less than half his age.
“It was a rough, tough, physical endurance test… it really was. It’s not for the faint of heart.”
Yet the miners believe this gamble is worth the pain. This is virgin gold mining territory that has just recently become available.
Fred promises that White Water will be about getting gold. “It’s how to gold mine,” but then laughed, “but it’s also how you don’t go about gold mining.”
The @Gold_Rush boys are back! You won’t want to miss out on ‘Gold Rush: White Water’ as the Dakota Boys go where no miner has ever gone before – the depths of freezing plunge pools in white water rapids! pic.twitter.com/Z4Q1vUngs0
— Warner Bros. Discovery (@wbd) January 19, 2018
Speaking of how not to get gold, their investor is already familiar to Gold Rush fans: Todd Hoffman . Times have been hard on the Dakota boys, and now instead of Fred bossing around Todd, Todd may be the one doing the bossing.
He will certainly be anxious to see his investment come to fruition and may even put pressure on his old rival Fred Hurt.
Most of all, Fred promises that this is a “real” reality show. Speaking to Channel Guide Magazine , Fred explains that unlike other reality shows, they don’t redo a scene that a camera misses. The camera people have to be alert to everything that happens and capture the action as it happens.
“I mean, you know how reality shows get off a little bit, but I think that this one’s got so much real stuff in it. It’s true to its name.”
Reality also means that there are some “cringe-worthy” scenes between him and his son Dustin, or even with the crew. Fred confesses that this is “tough to watch,” but admits that “this is the way real life is.”
First look at ” @Gold_Rush : White Water”! Watch: https://t.co/oLSQCI1HGS @Discovery pic.twitter.com/u2yZbCz0sp
— ExtraTV (@extratv) January 19, 2018
Fred promises that Gold Rush: White Water will not only be about gold, but also features the breathtaking Alaskan landscape.
“This is the type of show that will catch your imagination, especially with the incredible scenery.”
Gold Rush: White Water is on Friday nights at 10 p.m. E.T./P.T. starting January 19.
