Throughout their time together on “Gold Rush,” rival miners Parker Schnabel and Tony Beets have butted heads on a variety of different occasions – particularly in regards to the land that the two shared. Their relationship was hostile almost from the very start, when a young (and inexperienced) Parker Schnabel first took over for his grandfather as the head of the Big Nugget Mine.
Schnabel soon made a deal with the incredibly successful veteran miner Tony Beets, which quickly backfired when Beets reamed the young miner out for not living up to his expectations. The deal itself only caused worse complications as time went on, particularly due to the fact that Beets (the more experienced of the pair) had all the power in the relationship. This problematic power dynamic came to light in Season 4, when Beets shut down Parker’s entire operation for breaking contract, and in Season 8, when Beets shut down Parker’s wash plant after Parker sluiced dirt onto land that he rented from Tony.
Although the Beets has had the power over his rival for the majority of their time together on “Gold Rush,” Parker Schnabel has slowly grown to become one of the most prolific miners in all of Alaska – and has since taken revenge on Beets for the latter’s poor treatment over the years.
Tony Beets was furious to learn that Parker dumped dirt on his land
During Season 12 of “Gold Rush,” Parker Schnabel and his crew found themselves in dire straits after deciding to work through every single piece of land on his claim — something which required an immense amount of time and effort on Parker’s part. In order to keep up with the insane quota he had set, Parker and his team needed to dump their excess dirt somewhere off the claim.
Parker got a little revenge on his rival Tony Beets by dumping the dirt on Beets’ land, which Beets stumbled upon shortly afterward. Beets was livid, not only because of how much it will cost him to move all of Parker’s dirt off of his land, but also because his new deal with Parker had left him with absolutely zero power — meaning he simply had to suck it up and deal with it, much like Parker had to deal with his own aggressions in the past.
Parker dumping his excess dirt onto Tony Beets’ land may not seem like much, but it marks a clear turning point in their relationship, and acts as karma for all the years that Beets decided to exploit his deal with Parker Schnabel.