The Discovery Channel is celebrating what proved to be a truly triumphant return for its increasingly popular show Gold Rush, which had its fifth season premiere on October 17th 2014. The series, which has long been the highest rated on Discovery’s own schedule, ended the evening as the top-rated show in all of cable – indicating viewer numbers have increased well beyond those of the previous season. The achievements did not end there, however, as the channel took the title of top network in all of television among Friday night male viewers specifically, beating out broadcast shows such as Blue Bloods, Amazing Race, Hawaii Five-O, Dateline, Utopia and Last Man Standing.
Gold Rush follows a range of very different mining teams as they dig for gold placer deposits in Klondike, Canada – most of them having switched from their old careers in response to the economic downturn. Taking their respective fates into their own hands, the teams have experienced many triumphs, trials and tribulations over the past four seasons, but perhaps none more so than crew leader Todd Hoffman, who is star of this exclusive clip from the fifth season’s second episode.
Hoffman is formerly of the aviation industry, but decided to begin mining for gold back in 2010 – inspired by the attempts of his father to do the same in the 1980s. His father, Jack, failed – but Todd felt he might see a different outcome. Having enjoyed moderate success for the first three seasons (though they were not without their challenges), Todd has started season five of Gold Rush at rock bottom. He chanced his arm on a long-shot in the jungles of Guyana, South America, and subsequently lost his income, his land, and his crew. Wracked with a sense of guilt at having let his contractors down, he is rolling the dice one more time to try and set things right. He just needs to get his father’s beloved excavator back.
An all-new episode of Gold Rush airs on The Discovery Channel on Friday October 24th 2014 at 9pm ET/PT, preceded by its lead-in show, The Dirt, at 8pm.
