“Gold Rush” is a Discovery Channel reality series about modern-day gold miners who go to great lengths in search of gold to turn a profit. “Gold Rush” is currently in its 13th Season, so it’s a popular series.
Discovery is no stranger to reality series based on dangerous jobs or hobbies, though. They’ve long since proven that people are fascinated by other people’s hazardous lives and exploits. Series like “Street Outlaws,” “Deadliest Catch,” “Moonshiners,” and “Expedition X” resonate well with fans, and “Gold Rush” falls into a similar vein.
One person who is extremely familiar with this particular genre of reality television is TV Producer Christo Doyle. Doyle has worked on shows like “Deadliest Catch,” “Dirty Jobs,” and “American Chopper: Senior vs Junior,” but the series he worked on for the longest was “Gold Rush” and a few of its spin-offs.
Although Doyle no longer works on “Gold Rush,” while working on the series he often butted heads with Tony Beets, one of the show’s stars.
Doyle said that Beets does whatever he wants
During a 2014 interview with Channel Guide Magazine, Christo Doyle discussed the cast and what made each miner a special addition to “Gold Rush.”
Doyle mentions that the show can be challenging to make because working with the miners in their environment while still making a good show isn’t simple. The miners aren’t actors and must be able to actually do the work, regardless of what makes for a good camera shot or storyline. In order to make a successful and compelling show, however, there needs to be some consideration and careful planning.
Doyle admits that some of the cast were harder to work with than others, Tony Beets being one of those hard to work with. “Tony Beets — who I completely respect — makes my life absolutely miserable, as he could care less about the cameras so he does whatever he wants, whenever he wants. So if we need four hours out of the day to get material from him, often he’s nowhere to be found and he doesn’t care at all. That’s our biggest problem.”
Needless to say, working with stars of the series that simply don’t show up when they’re needed or are doing whatever they want when they’re supposed to be working makes filming a television show an absolute pain. It’s a wonder that “Gold Rush” ever managed to make it to 13 seasons if this was how some of the cast acted about the cameras.