Original subtitles

Let's go for an adventure!

[narrator] On this "Gold Rush."

Now I'm putting my money where my mouth is.

It's the first ever rookie mine boss showdown...

[Rick] School of hard knocks, baby.

[Kevin] No, no, no, no!

[machine creaks, stops]

Of course it's my fault. I'm in charge.

...pitting the three most successful

freshman bosses head to head...

We got a learning curve to get ahead of here.

There's no doubt about that.

...judging their first year wins...

-Nice win. - ...and fails...

This is [bleep] outrageous.

...to reveal who...

We're gonna do it!

Loading the plant, yeah, whoo!

...is the top rookie mine boss.

[Fred] So, what are you gonna do about gold this year?

I'm gonna find it.

In 15 years of "Gold Rush"...

Now I'm gonna start kicking some ass.

...there have been five rookie mine bosses.

Honestly, it's one of the most

challenging things I've ever done.

But the best of the first year miners boils down to three.

Teenager Parker Schnabel.

[Parker] It's about making money.

That's what matters.

Heir to Tony Beets' mining empire, Kevin Beets.

[Kevin] It's time to show I have what it takes to be the boss.

And seasoned foreman, Rick Ness.

[Rick] The opportunity is now. I just got to take it.

Getting off to a fast start is essential

for a first year mine boss.

So the first round of competition is a showdown

over who hits their first gold the fastest.

Sixteen-year-old Parker Schnabel

leaves his junior year of high school

and goes straight into his freshman

mine boss season.

I have faith in your management,

that it will be successful.

Thanks.

Shake [laughs].

[Parker] Pretty big moment. I'm in charge now.

Parker is gifted the Big Nugget Mine

by his grandpa John,

complete with a working washplant, iron, and crew,

and needs 75 ounces by the end of his first season

to keep the family operation afloat.

He has visions that he's gonna make thousands of dollars

every day, and I hope he's right.

[Parker] I've got a plan. I'm gonna execute my plan.

Simple as that.

Parker's plan to see his first gold

is to hit an easy score,

tailings mined over two decades ago.

My grandpa mined this bench up here.

This is all the tailings from that.

If their sluice box caught 50% of the gold

and they got 100 ounces then,

then there would be another 100 ounces here.

So we're gonna give a crack at it.

[rattling]

[water splashing]

Hopefully there's a pile of gold

sitting in there somewhere.

[machine rattles, stops]

It's the first clean out of dirt

that I've picked out, I guess.

Three fifths of an ounce.

We only ran four hours,

so I think we're gonna have a good week.

After seeing gold on day one of being the boss,

Parker spends the rest of his first week

running all the tailings.

[Parker] It's working!

They're getting bigger!

It's Friday today, so we're gonna clean out

the whole plant.

This is our first full week of running,

and we've gotten six or seven ounces.

Parker banks almost 10% of his season goal,

within a week of becoming boss.

I must be doing something right.

Parker's tailings are a one time hit.

He still needs to find more ground to keep sluicing.

So he earns four points out of five in the first round.

Next, newbie mine boss Kevin Beets

also has an opportunity to hit first gold fast,

but he wants a lot more than 75 ounces

in his first year.

I got big plans to set up a gold mine and run it my way.

We do have a thousand-ounce goal.

This is a big gamble, so me and Faith

have to make this work.

After 20 years working on the family mine,

clashes with his dad, Tony...

Could have test fired it.

...led to him breaking away and leasing ground

from his old man...

...borrowing equipment to start his own operation.

[Tony speaking]

[Kevin] Right now, we opened up a mid-sized cut to get going.

Based on what drill holes that Tony had and the little bit

of poking around I did,

between 15, 20 feet of muck on top.

OK.

To get his 1,000-ounce season goal,

Kevin needs to open a three-acre cut

in just four weeks.

[excavator whirring]

[Kevin] If I can keep all the machines going,

our current schedule has us, uh...

sluicing by the end of the month.

Fingers crossed.

Opening the cut in a dozer borrowed from Tony,

Foreman Brennan Ruault.

[Brennan] What the --

Something's not feeling right.

[machine creaking]

That's strange.

Sick of this [bleep].

What is this?

[bleep] bolts obviously fell off the inside.

Can't keep this old [bleep] running for more than a day.

Four weeks into the season, disaster strikes.

[Kevin] So, yeah, this ain't [bleep] great.

I need to take out the engine

so I can get to the transmission.

So, it's essentially looking like it's gonna be down

for a [bleep] while. It's really [bleep] frustrating.

I know Tony didn't wanna give me, like,

his best equipment, but this is a little ridiculous.

I am definitely gonna be talking to Tony.

[Kevin] Hey, Tony.

[Tony speaking]

[Kevin] Uh, well, I need to talk about that D10.

[Tony] A-ha?

[Kevin] She kind of, uh, grenaded.

Uh, something in the transmission.

Pretty much dead in the water.

[Tony speaking]

I need to have a spare from you.

[Tony speaking]

More equipment problems...

[Kevin] We've had a lot of delays.

We really need to get sluicing.

...slows progress.

[Brennan] Copy there, Kev?

I think we're on the paystreak here.

[Kevin] I'll be right down.

It's two months, over a third of the way

through his first season...

[Kevin] There is some yellow [bleep] in here.

...before Kevin finally sees his first gold.

It's nice to have some confirmation, ain't it?

We're about a month behind where we'd want it to be.

We thought we'd already be sluicing by now,

but delays, delays, breakdowns, breakdowns.

So the faster we can get this pay out,

the faster we can set the plant up and get running.

Kevin's problems delay him hitting gold,

but he eventually clocks

a first gold weigh of 33 ounces,

giving him two points in the first round.

Delays are something our last rookie mine boss can't afford

when he starts his new mine from scratch.

This year is different. I'm the boss.

It's 100% my operation.

By the end of this year, I'll either be broke

or I'll have my own successful gold mining operation,

and a pile of gold.

Rick Ness came through the ranks

at Parker Schnabel's operation,

and in 2018, decides to put his own money

on the line and go it alone.

[Rick] I've never had this much responsibility before.

I've never put, you know,

my own money on the line like this.

And now, you know, my crew is gonna be depending on me.

There's just a lot riding on my shoulders.

Let's do it.

Let's go start moving some [bleep] mud.

-Right. -Rally!

Rick matches Kevin's ambition of a 1,000-ounce season goal,

but goes even bigger,

planning to open up a monster six-acre cut.

Whoo!

Hoping to hit gold in 10 days,

he goes all in,

hiring a 475,

the biggest dozer in the Klondike,

for $100,000.

[Rick] I've got this 475 for 10 days max.

That's all I can afford, really, to have it running.

Could be sunk before I even get started.

[dozer roars]

You know, I need to know what's in the ground now.

I need to know if it's worth it.

That's pay dirt right there. Right there, for sure.

Oh, yeah. There we go.

[tense music plays]

Guys, you're not gonna believe this, but I actually

got a thawed hole down here, down to bedrock,

into the pay gravel. So I'm gonna do a pan.

You guys should come check it out.

We're really going to see if we've got gold here or not.

[Terry] All right, man, this is it.

I haven't even seen anybody pan gold in my life.

[water sloshes]

-[Rick] There is gold in here. -[Terry] Whoa!

[Ben] All right.

I'd say there's probably a dozen colors in here.

If you think now...

the size of this pan, how many pans there are in here?

Huh?

That's all we need to see.

That's all we need to see.

[Ryan] It's real. It's a real deal.

[Rick] It's real now, right?

That's our freedom right in there.

But the only way we're gonna get it

is if we get back to work.

[Terry] Let's go get it, million dollars, boys.

[Rick] Let's go then! Let's go.

Whoo!

In 10 days, Rick's dozer gamble delivers his first

flakes of gold, later leading to a first gold weigh

of 30 ounces.

[bleep] yeah!

-Let's mine. -Yeah.

[all] Rally!

Rick's master plan gets him on gold fast and sets him up

for the rest of the season,

giving him the full five points.

At the end of the first round,

Kevin's bottom of the pile,

Parker is second,

and Rick bulldozers his way to the top.

Coming up...

We've got water, so I'll go feed the plant.

The rookies' first washplants are put to the test.

About [bleep] time.

[Rick] Shut it off, shut it off, shut it off!

Hit the bypass!

[thrilling music plays]

In the rookie mine boss face off...

I must be doing something right.

...three freshman mine bosses

are going head to head.

[Rick] Could be sunk before I even get started.

After scoring points for hitting their first gold,

Rick is in the lead.

Next up...

[Kevin] We gotta get [bleep] sluicing. We got bills to pay.

The heart of their operations are put to the test.

How they set them up, fire them up,

and keep sluicing

in the washplant round.

Set up and fire up is no problem for Parker Schnabel,

whose inherited plant is ready to sluice straight off the bat.

[Parker] We're definitely making money.

We're on a roll.

Hopefully, we can keep it up.

It's going pretty good.

I'm feeling positive.

But the young boss hits trouble

when he strikes bad ground.

[Parker] Pretty poor.

We need more than a few flakes.

And decides to up the ante and push his old plant

to its limits.

I'm going so fast, because I need to feed the plant,

because we're running 10 hours today.

This is my fourth load in, what, 20 minutes?

Just 30 minutes into his 10-hour shift...

[machine shuts off]

[Parker] [bleep]!

...the plant grinds to a halt.

His generator's regulator has failed.

There's nothing I can do up here, really.

Could talk to my grandpa.

[John] We shut down, huh? I guess we stopped.

We had this problem about 10 years ago.

OK.

With his grandpa's help, Parker gets a new regulator

and is back on the gold.

[machine starts whirring]

In about 20 minutes, we'll start getting a little...

more confident, and in about an hour after that, we'll be...

pretty sure we fixed it.

But it's not long before the relic is down again.

[machine rumbles, stops]

[Parker] Hey!

[Gary] This whole bearing is gone.

This is really not something that we need right now.

[Parker] So that's a pain in the ass.

[Gary] We're gonna fix this as fast as we can.

As his crew get to work removing the broken bearing

that spins the trommel,

Parker has an eight-hour round trip

to source a replacement.

[Parker] The plant hasn't been running, and we're losing money,

hand over fist.

[Terry] She's there.

[Parker] If it's straight, that's perfect.

All right, good job.

[whirring slowly]

[Parker] Looks good.

At least there's still hope.

Sometimes, like my grandpa says, "All you have is hope."

Parker's ancient plant gets him sluicing early,

but his decision to push it to the limit sets him back

more than once, giving him three points.

The next boss, Kevin Beets, hatches a plan to make

the perfect washplant setup...

[Brennan] Yeah, look at that.

Now we're almost at the actual getting gold part

of gold mining. About [bleep] time.

...by spending time and cold, hard cash.

We wanna do it once and do it right,

and just be done with it.

So that's how we're gonna [bleep] run it.

Kevin blows his life savings on a new $700,000 shaker deck

and splashes another $100,000

on a gas-powered generator to run the plant.

[Kevin] Spent a lot of money already.

Got to hit 1,000 ounces to get of those costs back.

Hopefully, we can hit it.

Kevin takes two weeks to build a 400-foot long mega pad.

What a good [bleep] day to see this on the pad.

[Kevin] Delightful.

And a further six days tinkering to dial in the plant.

[Tony speaking]

Eventually, nearly halfway through his first season...

as a mine boss.

[Kevin] Slide horizontally.

Little bit, little bit.

...he's finally ready to fire up.

[Kevin] I really, really, really hope it goes well after all

the nights and days that went into this.

So my fingers are crossed, my toes are crossed.

If I could, I'd cross my tongue.

Holy [bleep]! That's violent.

[Brennan and Faith chuckle]

[machine rumbling loudly]

All right, I'm gonna open her up.

There we go.

[Kevin] Let there be gold!

-[Brennan] Whoo! Yeah! -[all cheering]

[Brennan] That's looking really nice, Kev.

So excited, bud.

Yes, finally!

[Kevin] I've currently got [bleep] relief.

Give you a hug for this one.

Nice work keeping her going.

[Kevin] Spending so much time making sure that everything's gonna

run before we put actual pay through the plant.

It's a lot of more work,

but we are gonna save time down the line.

Kevin's patience and big investment pays off,

setting him up to sluice almost non stop,

giving him the full five points.

A perfect score that Rick Ness could match

with his own washplant masterplan.

Ruby, we got a washplant!

I've always had some input as far as how we set

our washplants up when I was with Parker, but ultimately,

he had the final say, and now this year,

it's 100% my call.

Ooh! Now it's time to get some gold.

After spending big on opening up his first cut,

Rick drops his last $180,000

on the washplant of his dreams.

[Terry] Boom, yes!

[Rick] Look at that [bleep] beast.

I christen thee, "Durt Reynolds."

[heavy thudding]

-Ha-ha, yeah. -[all cheering]

But unlike Kevin, Rick has an ingenious plan to get it

set up and fired up fast.

I'm unloading giant Legos.

[epic music plays]

[Rick] So I've ordered up a bunch of concrete blocks.

I'm gonna build a bit of a retaining wall for my plant to sit on.

It should actually be a cleaner setup

and less likely to undermine itself.

I need to get the washplant up and running,

and every minute counts.

Rick takes just four hours to complete the pad

and hauls in the 20-ton washplant.

[Rick] Talk about right on the [bleep] edge.

Does it worry you that it's hanging off the edge?

[Rick] No.

[drill whirring]

[Rick] Now we're getting somewhere!

[Ryan] All right, I'm gonna start this thing.

[Rick] Fire it up!

[machine starts]

[Rick] There it is.

[water splashing]

All right, I'm gonna put a bucket of dirt in.

[Ryan] Ten-four.

[Karla] Yeah, we're feeding the plant.

This is a pretty big deal.

Whoo-oo-oo! Yay, people are smiling.

[Rick] Completely what?

Where does all that water come from?

Karla, hit the bypass.

[bleep] hell.

Shut the by -- Shut the pump off,

hit the bypass.

Shut it off, shut it off, shut it off, shut it off.

Hit the bypass!

[dramatic music plays]

[valve creaks]

[suspenseful music plays]

[Ryan] Turnbuckles gave way.

Where's Rick?

Oh, I'm gonna need a minute.

[bleep] sluice boxes fell off.

Water almost took out the pad enough

to dump the plant off the pad.

I expected growing pains, but this is [bleep] outrageous.

After his disastrous first ever fire up as a mine boss,

Rick calls the only man who can save his setup.

-[Freddy] How's it going, Rick? -[Rick] Freddy, man,

I'm glad to see you, buddy. -[Freddy chuckles]

Holy [bleep]. Been too long.

Man, I don't mind telling you, right off the bat,

I'm in a [bleep] bad way here.

What do you think?

[Freddy] I think you...

bought somebody else's nightmare, Rick.

Freddy Dodge replaces the 10-foot sluice box

that fell off Rick's plant

with fabricated 30-foot long gold catchers.

[crane rumbling]

[Freddy] Easy, Rick.

Whoa!

Easy!

Perfect right there, Rick.

Whoo!

That's all I need, man. That's huge relief for me.

And mounts them on an extended pad to secure them in place.

[Rick] Yee haw!

Feed the beast.

Sluice box is in place. That's a good sign.

It's running.

Rick's washplant finally gets running,

but he's weeks behind schedule,

and he's nearly ruined his season,

earning him just one point.

Halfway through the rookie mine boss faceoff,

Rick drops to last,

and Kevin's perfect setup

draws him neck and neck with Parker in first place.

[Rick] My dad was right.

I'm gonna go home at the end of the season,

broke with no friends.

Coming up...

I don't care if you guys hate my guts.

-Right. -I need a little respect.

Can Rick stage a comeback,

competing in leadership skills...

[all] Rally!

...and final gold weighs?

[Parker] We haven't had that much gold

in the pan all summer.

[laughing]

[cheering]

In the freshman mine boss head to head...

[Parker] Now the race is really on.

Now it's time to get serious.

...the rookies have raced to bank their first gold,

fired up their first washplants and banked points

on the rookie mine boss leader board.

At the halfway stage, Kevin and Parker tie

for pole position as we head into the third round.

One of the biggest challenges for any rookie mine boss

is stepping up to lead their crew...

Let's go.

...and dealing with any problems they hit.

[all] Rally!

Round three...

is a test of leadership.

Kevin Beets decides to divide responsibilities on his claim.

Go move some dirt, folks.

Roger that, boss.

He delegates running the cut to his new foreman,

master dirt mover, Brennan.

Brennan is gonna be a great asset to the operation.

You know, I wanna get as much gold as possible

by the time the snow starts flying.

While Kevin...

[Kevin speaking]

...focuses on keeping the operation

and machinery running.

[Kevin] Fix this thing so we can run.

Fix that thing so we can run.

After four months of working together, the plant chews

through the last of their first three-acre cut,

and Brennan gets to work opening up more ground.

[Kevin] It needs to happen super fast because that pile is getting

chewed down so quickly, it's actually getting scary.

[machines rumbling]

[Chase] Oh, [bleep].

[engine revving]

[Chase] [bleep] sakes.

Hey buddy, I'm stuck down here in the cut.

[Brennan] [bleep] sakes.

Water from Kevin's sluice pond next door

is flooding Brennan's new cut.

I think I might try and nudge you backwards.

[engine revving]

[Chase] Thanks, Brennan, you're the man.

[Brennan] I'm gonna need to get another pump

in here immediately. We have no extra pumps.

Brennan looks to Kevin for a solution.

[Kevin] Hey, Brennan.

I can't dig pay down here, dude.

I've been needing another pump for like a week now.

I know.

We just got to do a clean up or two

to pay for the [bleep] thing.

[Brennan] Can we get another pump from Tony?

[Kevin] I'm not gonna ask Tony until I have to.

I fixed enough of Tony's [bleep].

I'm just really struggling down here, man.

I'm just getting frustrated as [bleep].

If that pay pad runs out, that shuts off, we don't have

any money coming in, and I feel like that's on my shoulders.

Like, what do you want me to do here?

I need a [bleep] pump.

I don't what to say, like,

we don't have the cash right now.

You don't got a [bleep] pump.

[bleep] tough.

Yeah, well, I'm gonna...

I don't know what else to say here.

[Brennan] Keep that out of my face for a while.

I need a [bleep] pump, [bleep].

Weird. Where the [bleep] he's going?

With Kevin failing to deliver,

Brennan takes matters into his own hands.

[Brennan] What we have here is a pump that I went and purchased.

And hopefully she just starts pumping immediately.

[Brennan] Oh, there we go.

Yay!

In 12 hours, Brennan's $11,000 pump drains the cut

and bails Kevin out of trouble.

[Kevin] That's a very nice little pump

that Brennan went off and bought.

[Brennan] Hopefully, Kevin kind of finds his footing here and gets

into that mine boss role a little bit more.

Kevin's lack of leadership almost brings his whole

operation to a standstill, scoring him just one point.

A low score that could give Parker the chance

to pull ahead.

I don't care if you guys hate my guts.

-Right. -I need a little respect.

But the teenager has leadership problems of his own.

[Parker] You can run the excavator,

and Gary, you can run the truck.

Parker has taken on his grandpa's veteran crew,

some triple his age,

and struggles to gain their respect.

I guess that's a no.

It makes me not feel like the boss.

Things don't improve when the teenager tries

to stamp his authority.

[Parker] What are you doing?

[worker] I'm coming back.

I'm [indistinct] and that's for your grandfather.

[Parker] My grandpa's not in charge here.

-[worker] I don't care. -[Parker] Stop a minute.

[worker] No, I ain't stopping. You don't give me orders.

-[Parker] Why not? -[worker] Because you don't.

You ask. You don't order somebody.

You ask. Have some respect for people.

I think you should show me a little respect.

You told me to "Go haul dirt."

Is that how you treat somebody?

[worker] You don't, hey, you don't tell me how to do my job.

I didn't.

I have not told you how to do your job

one time this whole year.

-I have not told you one time. -[John] Parker.

[Parker] Not once!

You are approaching...

this man in the wrong way.

[Parker] We're up here to make money,

and we're up here to run the plant.

You won't make money if you chase the help off.

Parker is still battling to gain the crew's respect

when disaster strikes.

[Parker] This isn't gonna do me any good.

Ah, [bleep]...

This is gonna be fun.

Mining authorities threatened to shut him down for good.

[inspector] The mine needed to be regulated

by the Federal Government

and it had been operating without that regulation

for the 23 years.

[Parker] Of course it's my fault.

I'm in charge.

The crew looked to Parker to save their season.

[Parker] So this should have a knee board.

Parker hires a specialist to train him in mine safety,

brings his site up to code,

and within just 24 hours

has the inspector back for a make-or-break verdict.

[Parker] Will you be able to terminate the stop work order...

today? -[inspector] Yes.

-[Parker] We're good to go? -[inspector] Yes.

[Parker] OK. Thank you for your time.

We made it!

-[Parker] It's over. -[Gary] All right.

[Parker] Let's go, boys.

I was gonna wait until later to run the plant, but I figured

we just needed to start getting some dirt moved.

Parker's leadership takes his crew from shutdown...

[Parker] We haven't had that much gold in the pan

in all summer.

...to one of the most productive days

of their season.

It is addictive after you see the results of the gold

come out of the material.

It makes it all worth it.

I think it makes us a good team.

After his rough start, the teenager's hard work,

with gold to show for it, finally proves to his crew

he can be a leader, scoring him four points.

Rick has years of experience leading crews as a foreman

before stepping up to be a mine boss.

[Rick] Terry, I'm gonna put you

in the excavator loading the trucks.

I'm gonna put you guys all in trucks.

We'll get you in those machines, get you comfortable,

and no pressure, but in about an hour,

let's be [bleep] cranking full tilt.

And he gambles

on hiring a crew of loyal but inexperienced friends...

[bleep] eh, water all over.

...that he aims to turn into a first-rate mining team.

[Rick] School of hard knocks, baby.

Oh, we got a learning curve to get ahead of here.

There's no doubt about that.

I've been instructed we wanna get the load

as far over as we can.

[Ryan] You're good. Go ahead and dump.

[vehicles rumbling]

[Terry] Oh, boy...

[Ryan] Holy [bleep]! Are you kidding me?

[vehicles rattles, crashes]

[Ryan] [bleep]!

[Terry] Ryan, you all right?

As soon as I pulled away, it caved in.

[Rick] [bleep]! [bleep]!

He's just gonna [bleep] flip this thing over.

You're clear. Keep going.

[machines creaking]

[Rick] All right, pull it out of there, Ryan.

Don't wanna hit that [bleep] tailgate.

Hey, can you guys all come over here, real quick?

Let's have a quick talk.

-Yo. -What's up?

Look, I love you guys.

You've always had my [bleep] back.

I don't wanna bitch at you,

but man, we gotta tighten up, man.

Ryan, I know you flipped a rock truck.

If we keep making those mistakes,

I mean, it's gonna kill us.

Right?

[Ryan] You got us.

[Terry] All right.

[Rick] Let's get back to it, buddy.

[Terry] All right.

After his near miss in a rock truck...

[Ryan] It's gonna take me a while to get the hang of doing this.

...Rick moves greenhorn Ryan to operating a loader,

clearing the tailings at the plant.

[Rick] He's wandering out into the fine tailings

in front of a plant.

Spending way too long.

[loader rumbling]

[Ryan] I'm not even making a dent.

Really getting sick of dealing with this.

It's too [bleep] much right now.

[loader crashes]

[Ryan] [bleep]!

I just hit the sluice box.

[bleep] this, man.

-[bleep]! -[banging heavily]

[loader crashes]

[bleep]!

I just hit the sluice box.

[bleep] this, man.

-[bleep]! -[banging heavily]

In the clash of the rookie mine bosses,

Rick Ness needs to step up

and prove himself in the leadership round.

[Rick] What's up, Ryan?

I'm just getting a little overwhelmed here.

Greenhorn Ryan is struggling to keep up

with the plant's mounting tailings.

[Rick] Maybe I'll swap out with you for a minute,

see if I can find anything different to do

or find a rhythm or something.

[Ryan] Hopefully Rick can give me an idea how to keep ahead

of everything, figure something out to make this work.

I mean, this is about as important as it gets.

All of our gold's coming out of that washplant,

so you gotta take care of it.

You gotta run it right.

Rick shows Ryan a new method --

driving into the tailings, grabbing a scoop,

and backing straight out instead of turning around,

cutting in half the time Ryan took.

[Ryan] I think that's the trick.

And I think that's probably where I'll make up my time.

Whoo! Loading the plant!

Yeah! Whoo!

Whoo!

[laughing]

[Ryan] Sounds to me like you're having the time of your life

up in here. -[Rick laughs]

[Ryan] Well, and you're moving them differently than I was.

Yeah.

[Ryan] And I can see where that's gonna save time.

[Rick] You know what, I got us a little bit ahead here.

-[Ryan] I think I'll be OK. -[bleep] yeah.

I know you will, Ryan. Good luck, buddy!

Rick leads his inexperienced crew by example

and begins to mold them into a working team,

giving him the full five points.

At the end of the leadership round,

Kevin drops down the leader board

while Rick claws his way back to first alongside Parker.

Heading into the final round, it's anyone's game

as the rookie bosses battle to the end of the season

and try to hit their first year gold targets.

[Kevin] We're on our final big push to get to 1,000 ounces.

With just days of sluicing left, Kevin is desperate to hit

his 1,000-ounce goal.

He hires new crew and pushes his plant to the limit.

[Brennan] The push is on.

So after everything that we've faced this year,

I'd be pretty bummed out if we don't hit

our 1,000-ounce target, you know?

[machine screeches roughly]

Oh, [bleep].

[bleep]

[Gary speaking]

[Brennan] [bleep]

OK, I'm on my way.

The belt that transports dirt from the hopper feeder

to the main conveyor belt has ripped in two.

A potential season ender.

[Kevin] Oh no, she's [bleep].

My rough battle plan

is that we'll hook up with the 220,

use that to yard it out.

[Brennan] OK.

Then pick it up with the 480 to pull it all the way out,

and then we can swing it and set it down on that side.

Refusing to give up, Kevin races to replace

the entire belt before winter strikes.

[Kevin] I'm gonna hook up our four-point sling

to the frame of this conveyor,

and then hopefully he can take the weight, and...

Brennan, you can see what you're doing to pull it out?

[rattling heavily]

[bleep]

Sure.

Yeah, I barely touched the joysticks.

I let them go and it kept sliding, so sorry about that.

[epic music plays]

-[Brennan] Yay. -[Kevin] Beautiful.

There we go.

[Brennan] We're just sliding the belt up.

[rattling heavily]

[grunting]

[Kevin] Golden, pony boy!

Say, that's a success right there.

I'm gonna give it a push.

[heavy bang] [screeching]

-[Kevin] Whoo! -[Brennan] Whoo!

[Kevin] Smooth like butter.

[exhales]

[Brennan] Attaboy, boss!

All right. Piece of cake.

That went really well. So we'll get back running,

and run [bleep] hard till we get snowed out.

Get our thousand ounces somehow.

Four days later...

[Minnie] Hi, guys.

So everybody's bringing in gold.

...Kevin's final gold is cleaned and ready to weigh.

We aimed pretty [bleep] high.

That's what we needed to break even.

Kevin has three weeks worth of sluicing to weigh.

He needs 320 ounces to hit his 1,000-ounce goal.

[Minnie] Let's pour, guys.

10, 20, 40, 50, 80, 90...

180, 190, 200, 250, 260...

360, 370...

375.80.

[Faith] Oh my [bleep], such a relief.

I can finally pay everyone off.

Right?

[Tony] How much does that make, Faith?

1,056.57.

[Tony speaking]

Thank you. And it didn't come just by ourselves.

Like, you guys have helped us out.

A great deal.

Everybody needs a little bit of help here and there.

Thanks to his final push, Kevin passes his make-or-break

rookie mine boss goal, giving him five points

in the final round,

pushing him into a late lead.

But the rookie mine boss race is far from over.

Parker and Rick still have to battle to the end

and weigh their gold to lock in their final points.

[Parker] It's not over yet.

Can't a guy risk at all in America anymore?

On the hunt for Gold Rush's best ever rookie mine boss,

some new bosses...

[Todd] Whoa, whoa, that's gold.

It's a rock, OK? False alarm.

...just didn't make the cut.

[Jack] Here it is.

There's 14.64 ounces here.

My guys are like, they think I've been

gold mining my whole life or something.

Todd Hoffman is only beaten to rock bottom by Fred Lewis.

That puts our total at 6.39,

which is honestly embarrassing.

I think we kind of take it as a challenge to beat each other.

It's crunch time in the rookie mine boss competition.

[Rick] Right now, the name of the game is gold.

With points up for grabs, the bosses are making

a final push to hit their first year gold targets.

After success at his final gold weigh,

Kevin is in the lead.

Next up, Parker.

His first year goal is to keep the family mine afloat

by banking 75 ounces.

33 ounces.

It looks like a lot of gold,

but we spent a lot of money to get it.

Parker's flunked his freshman year

as a mine boss...

[Parker] Pretty sad, pretty sad day.

...but isn't giving up

on his goal of keeping the family mine in business.

[Parker] What we'll do is knock this hill out.

Take that slope at this slope all the way on

down to the bank.

Smith Creek, it's kind of an all-or-nothing deal

for the whole mine.

Parker decides to run tests on Smith Creek,

the only virgin ground at Big Nugget,

in the hope it will deliver enough gold

to convince his dad and grandpa

to fund his dream of another season mining.

I'm nervous. This is the last test.

This afternoon, I'm gonna talk to my dad and grandpa

about Smith Creek.

And, you know, if there's nothing in this dirt,

I don't know what the mine will do.

I'm scared.

[rumbling]

[whirring stops]

[Parker] Done. Beautiful.

We don't see a thing yet.

It doesn't look like there's anything in it.

[Gary] Here's a little bit.

[Parker] Oh, there's quite a bit in here.

What the [bleep]?

Actually, something in here.

That's weird.

This is the little sluice

that's fed out of the jig.

Wow.

[water sloshing softly]

[Parker] There's quite a bit in here.

Gary?

-That's -- -Wow.

[Parker] See, that's, like, not bad at all.

[Gary] That's not bad at all.

This is what we got off the pan this morning.

[John] Hmm.

That's not much, was it?

[Parker] And then I went down below the jig,

and that's what we got out of the little sluice.

That's pretty nice.

That's what you dug out of the hole?

[Parker] Yeah, a 45-minute test out of Smith Creek.

That's really encouraging.

Smith Creek will have bigger gold than that.

Are you saying you want to fund the mine next year?

Uh...I'm willing to give it a try.

I'll fund it

for 50% of the gold, we get out of it.

[John laughs]

[Parker] I'll take it.

I come out here and give it everything I've got.

I feel like...

I've done my job.

Parker banks just half of his gold,

but convinces his grandpa to give him another shot,

earning him three points,

enough to edge him to the top of the leader board.

Parker's dropped points

give Rick Ness

a chance to snatch victory.

[Rick] We're so close to our target,

I just don't know what to do anymore.

I mean, we've exhausted all the thawed ground.

But with just days of sluicing left,

Rick faces catastrophe.

He's run out of paydirt and is shut down,

27 ounces short of his 1,000-ounce goal.

To find a solution, Rick calls in his dad,

Rick Senior.

[Rick] Where that pile of overburden is,

that's where the bedrock came up,

and that's where all the best drill holes were,

and it is where we did our best gold.

-You're up against time, so I guess -- -Yeah.

What's the best option for what we got left in time?

[exhales sharply]

Yeah, [bleep] it. Let's do it.

[Rick Sr.] I'll jump on that D9 and give it my best shot.

Rick's last-gasp gamble

is to open a small extension

to his mined-out cut.

But it's frozen and needs to be ripped to get to the paydirt,

and all he's got is a small D9 dozer.

We don't have enough time left here to do much,

but we gotta give it.

Rick promised me he was gonna do the 1,000 ounces.

[thrilling music plays]

[dozer rumbling]

Oh-ho-ho-ho.

That ain't good.

It's overheating really bad.

Radiator's got a hole in it somewhere.

[Rick] [bleep] Is it bad or what?

[Rick Sr.] You see where it pissed it all out on the blade right there?

[Rick] Yeah.

The D9's radiator has blown,

putting it down for the season.

What I was thinking was, you know, I don't know, I mean

we use Sheamus's 475 for the small area we're trying

to get here, I think that machine would do it.

We got to make the decision, I guess, I mean,

that's up to you, what you wanna do, but --

[Rick] Yeah, I don't really wanna pay

$6,000 for that 475.

But you got to spend money to make money.

Rick's only option is to up the ante

and rent the monster 475 dozer

he used at the start of the season.

Oh, that's really obvious, the difference.

[laughs]

Just the sheer power of it.

So I'm gonna lay down some rips here.

It's gonna take me probably about an hour to get this thing

ripped up, and then we'll push it all off again.

Terry, you wanna get yourself

and the trucks down here?

[Terry] All right, buddy.

Within three hours, the cut is ripped.

[Ben] This is it, guys.

This is our roll of the dice.

Paydirt hauled to the plant...

[Rick] Let's fire up Durt Reynolds.

...and desperate for gold, Rick starts sluicing.

I wanna make sure we get all the dirt run through the plant.

Paydirt still frozen and full of chunks,

but I don't even give a [bleep].

We're gonna run it anyways.

Three days later, Rick's managed to sluice

his Hail Mary cut and is ready for his final gold weigh.

-Oh! -Oh, yeah!

About time, Rick.

Can you believe it's been six months?

So, Karla, where did we end up with

on the gold weigh?

We're at 973.

Rick needs 27 ounces to hit his 1,000-ounce goal.

[Rick] Might be in that jar?

I think it's time to find out.

-That's 20. -[Ben] Looking good.

[crew] Yeah.

Those are 27 ounces.

[all cheering]

[crew] Yeah!

[Rick] And there's another [bleep] hundred.

[joyful cheering]

The final gold weigh, 132.49 ounces.

You know what that means? We're over 1100.

-Nice. -1105.

Blew by it!

[all cheering]

[Rick] Are you glad we stuck around now?

[crew] Yeah!

-That's awesome! -Yeah!

-[cheering] -Football huddle!

[all] Yeah!

Whoo!

[Rick cackles]

Rick blasts past his season goal by over 100 ounces,

giving him the max five points.

At the end of the rookie mine boss showdown...

there's only one winner.

[all] Rally!

Rick Ness is crowned the best first year mine boss.

Yeah, Rick!

[all cheering joyfully]

You guys are lunatics.

There was so many reasons for that first season

to cause me to lose everything,

but that didn't happen.

I'm on such a high, like, you know,

the first season on my own was a success.