On tonight’s episode of Discovery’s Gold Rush, we see the pressure is on for a new hire who not only has to please his demanding boss, Parker Schnabel but also perform under duress as the show’s cameras roll.
Imagine it is your first day on the job, and a camera crew is recording your every move!
And this season, Parker has been one difficult team boss to work for, after hiring a spy and laying the boom on his core crew that they need to work overtime mining more land area than they ever have in the history of the series.
As the exclusive clip sent to Monsters & Critics opens up, we are walking with Parker at Team Schnabel’s wash plant as his new man Fred is learning maneuvers in the dozer that loads pay dirt into the wash feed.
And make no mistake, Parker desperately needs Fred working the last cut, where he is down to a bare-bones skeleton crew trying to keep his costs reined in so he can have a profitable season of gold mining.
The narrator informs us that this new man, Fred is the rookie operator who spends the rest of the afternoon in the large piece of equipment learning to clear giant piles of stones and move dirt efficiently.
It may look easy, but in truth, it is a tricky driving skill, and he needs hands-on experience to do it correctly. Time is against all of them now.
In good spirits although a bit concerned, Parker directs Fred and says: “I think you’re ready for the wash plant? … Well, you can throw a couple scoops in there.”
Fred is optimistic. He says: “I’m down. just yell at me if I’ f*** up.”
Right to the point, Parker replies: “I will.”
Observing the work, Parker says: “Most operators get three months practice before they load pay dirt into the plant. Fred has only had five hours.”
Fred, of course, is feeling the pressure and is acutely aware he is being filmed. He says: “Oh gosh…[this is my] first time scooping pay.”
Explaining the situation to the camera, Parker says: “I hate to say it – we are getting a bit desperate. I mean, we are friends [and] I love Fred to death, but he’s far from my first choice for running a wash plant…I hope that he can handle it.”
Parker now observes the workflow and is getting nervous.
He says: “Whoa! easy man… don’t push the feeder over!”
Fans may be dubious about Parker’s goodwill. A few weeks back, Parker brought in a college grad who was his workplace spy.
Parker brought on Jessica, who showed up at the plant in her shiny new hard hat, despite the fact she had never mined a day in her life. Her job was to rate the work and find the bottleneck in Parker’s team’s organization. It ruined everyone’s day.
Jessica’s job description was to monitor the workflow at the plant and keeps tabs on Parker’s team, which included Brennan Ruault, Mitch Blaschke, Emily Gorham, Carl Rosk, Tyson Lee, Willie Duschene, Bailey Hinchecliffe, Karla Ann, Ashley Youle and Kelly Fediuk.
Tune in tonight to see if the goodwill snaps and Parker loses his cool:
Gold Rush airs Fridays at 9 pm on Discovery.