After I finished watching Gold Rush, which was interesting and you could see men working hard with big machines, Hulu sent me to Bering Sea Gold, another show, kind of related in that the people are all searching for gold, but these are not the same people. I hesitate to throw the phrase around, but it is mostly white trash who figured out how to dive and take their chances for slivers of gold. There were three seasons with 10 episodes per season and most of the same people showed up. Set around the shores of Nome, Alaska, there are only about 4 months when the ocean is not frozen over.
There was one family who appeared to know what they were doing, the Pomrenkes, who have been mining for three generations and have a dredge or boat with a backhoe and gold separating machine or sluice onboard. They seem to average close to a million dollars a year, while all the other "dredges" or boats manage to get $70k or so. There was a second boat which had a captain Zeke that appeared to do well and he at least was willing to work hard, but there just aren't enough quality people out there. He hired a childhood friend, the only female miner, but she is a major pain in the ass. Falling in the water for no good reason, forcing Zeke to cut his trips short because she is cold, even when she is on the boat, and he is in the freezing water. Anytime it doesn't go her way, she breaks into the crying routine.
Her father is out there too, and he might be the most useless person on television. He has no idea how to look for gold, and after three seasons still hasn't figured it out, but somehow has gotten hold of a boat and is a captain, but rarely goes out with his boat.
There are many episodes where the daughter is doing the same theatrics. In one series, she is obviously interested in a dude and decides to go mining in a river, leaving her crew to fend for themselves, she is all licking her chops trying to get another "hot boy" in her crew. Her crew punishes her by quitting.
There is another dude who is angry from day one, telling the cameras he needs gold to pay child support and 100 ounces would be good to support his daughters, but then spends every episode fighting with everyone, on his boat, on land, even with the camera crews. He is a mess. When he ends up on the other big boat as a deckhand, he seems to be doing ok, until they need him to rush and pull an anchor to prevent damage to something or other, he just very calmly says, that's about 8 hours, I'm done. He gets fired, which he then acts surprised.
Other than the family that works together, the Pomrenkes, everyone else comes across as troubled people, and I certainly would never want to venture out that far north. One of the scary looking guys, in season two is reduced to tears, saying I came up here to hopefully make some money diving, instead I'm sleeping in a tent, that's been broken into twice, I don't have money to get back to Arizona, and they pan away from him shitting in a bucket on the shore. I actually felt bad for Mr. Scary thug guy with the neck tattoos.
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