If you’ve seen Gold Rush across the years, you might be familiar with gold miner Rick Ness, a man who left the series for some time, only to return this season, make peace with rival gold miner Parker Schnabel, and try his luck with his team and equipment. But what happened to Rick Ness on Gold Rush that has him in the headlines?
There are a few things concerning this Yukon gold miner that put him in the spotlight in the latest season of the popular unscripted adventure reality series on the Discovery Channel. Aside from his temper, drive, and rivalries, the man has had a string of mishaps that put his entire gold mining operation in jeopardy. So let’s see what that is all about.
What Happened To Rick Ness On Gold Rush?
Rick Ness, a gold prospector, entrepreneur, and ambitious investor has been part of the cast of Gold Rush since the debut of the show on the Discovery Channel in 2010. He was there for several seasons, until his sudden disappearance from the screens. A couple of Gold Rush seasons went by, and Ness was nowhere to be found.
The reason for his leaving from Gold Rush was to focus on his mental health, Ness suffers from a condition called seasonal affective disorder, a condition that affects persons whose lifestyle, whose work —much like Rick Ness’s— becomes susceptible to developing depression. This condition also occurs in persons living in regions where the winter and the lack of exposure to natural sunlight affects their body’s capacity to make the necessary neurotransmitters involved in normal brain functions implicated in having a good mood.
To cope with these kinds of situations, Ness began using drugs to get that brief boost of happiness, but it seems that perhaps he faced his demons, talked with the producers, and found his way back into the show. Ness’s appearance, disheveled looks, and changes in his vocal tone are indicative that he might’ve been abusing substances.
Rick Ness is Back On Gold Rush
But after battling with that seasonal affective disorder, making his peace with rival miner Parker Schnabel, and acquiring equipment and renting a plot of land, things haven’t been easy for this gold miner. The entire season has been nothing but trouble for him.
Not only has he not managed to dig up the gold ounces required to pay the debt to his landlord, but a man whose patience is running out every time he pays a visit to Ness to collect the rent envelope and finds it thinner every time.
Ness has also faced trouble with his crew, and lots of equipment malfunctions that put a delay into his mining operations, thus failing to meet his mark to break even and make a profit, putting him at the edge of bankruptcy and financial ruin.
In the last couple of episodes, Rick’s pumps have malfunctioned, overloaded, shut down, and have had smoke billowing out of them. His machinery is old and lacks the proper maintenance after lots of time being offline, and those kinds of issues put him back thousands of dollars in terms of repairs, upgrades, and maintenance.
Despite the hurdles, Rick has managed to dig up enough gold to keep his landlord satisfied concerning the rent, but still, he needs to mine enough to pay his crew, break even, and then make a profit. His landlord has been very understanding, giving him an entire year without paying any sort of royalties, but the gold yield has been low, not because he’s mining in the wrong spot, but because of equipment and crew issues, that coupled with his mental health, hamper his ability to operate at 100%.
As the season progresses, we see more of Rick, his reactions, and his work, with him being down on his luck, and short-staffed, he’s doing the grunt work himself, moreover, the harshness of his voice resulting from that substance abuse made the producers put subtitles in his dialogue scenes so we can make sense of what he’s saying. One can only hope he recovers from both his mental health issues and comes up strong with enough money to make ends meet.
