Gold Rush's Parker Schnabel Says Dealing With People Is The Hardest Part Of His Job

Many reality TV shows introduce unique premises, but few would dare spotlight a profession that has its origins in ancient times, like Discovery's "Gold Rush." The move to do so has led to one of Discovery's most popular shows that's currently in the middle of its 13th Season. Much like their predecessors, the promise of riches drives the cast of "Gold Rush" to dig around the Yukon. Historically, gold mining has never been considered an easy job. And throughout the years, "Gold Rush" has maintained that idea, as the crews on the show have endured countless headaches, from rising fuel costs for mining equipment to battles with mother nature.

One person who can share some of the hardships of mining for gold is Parker Schnabel. He's been a part of "Gold Rush" since the show's beginning and has even featured in a few spin-offs. Schnabel started as an apprentice during Season 1 before evolving into leading his crew and cementing himself as a series mainstay. Schnabel has found success, getting his hands on some gold, but it wasn't without hardships. However, the hardest part of the job for Schnabel isn't so much the brutal work conditions but actually dealing with people.

Who you work with can make all the difference. In many jobs, employees are likely to see their co-workers as much as their family, if not more. And if there's a clash of personalities or interpersonal conflicts, all of that can make a job more challenging. Now try imagining that within the rough and tumble jobs of "Gold Rush," and it's easy to see why Parker Schnabel would consider people the most difficult part of his job. Specifically, as he said on Reddit, dealing with people for long hours is the hardest.

In a 2016 interview with Maxim, Schnabel expanded a bit on this when he was asked what the toughest part of running a mining business at a young age was. "The hardest part was probably learning how to put myself in other people's shoes and learning how to deal with landlords, suppliers, and most importantly, our employees," Schnabel said to Maxim. Throughout the seasons of "Gold Rush," fans have witnessed Schnabel trying to deal with the rest of the cast and crew of "Gold Rush." And unfortunately, it hasn't always ended in the best way. Schnabel has been involved in some of the biggest fights on "Gold Rush." Some of those battles have included conflicts with some of his employees. Those onscreen incidents, however, did make for some explosive reality TV moments.

The schedule for many workers on "Gold Rush" is pretty atypical. For instance, in an interview with Channel Guide Mag, Dave Turin spoke of his crew members having to work 15 hours a day, six days a week. That's a lot of time together, and perhaps it helps shape those boiling point scenes fans have witnessed on "Gold Rush" from time to time. So any opportunity to take off and properly unwind is essential. And for many, that probably means simply going online. It's just too bad that it can also potentially lead to problems for anyone in the mining camps.

Parker Schnabel told Maxim that internet service on mining camps isn't the greatest. "For me, it isn't a big issue because I have my own Internet system," Schnabel said to Maxim. "For the main crew, there are ten people sharing one satellite internet dish. And the service is already terrible. There is always at least one guy who is always sucking down internet." Schnabel continued to say in Maxim that the supposed internet hog is often the water cooler topic the next day among his employees. So for any hopeful applicants in gold mining, it's probably best to avoid so much streaming or those massive "Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0" downloads.