Gold Rush's Dave Turin Once Admitted To Certain Moments Of The Show Being Embellished
"Gold Rush" is one of the most intense reality series out there. Each season follows several groups of miners who head out to hunt for gold, not knowing how much they'll bring home. Every time they venture forth, it's a gamble, but for some, that's part of the thrill.
Dave Turin has been with the show since the very beginning, appearing in a few Season 1 episodes before becoming a regular cast member starting with Season 2. He even received his own spin-off series, "Gold Rush: Dave Turin's Lost Mine," where he sets up new mining operations at disused sites around the country. If anyone knows about the ins, outs, and dangers of mining, it's him.
He's been with Discovery for a long time at this point, so it only makes sense he would eventually share his knowledge about filming the show with his fans on a Reddit AMA. What he had to share might shock you, depending on what you already believe about reality shows.
Gold Rush doesn't stage events, but it will hype them up
At this point, Dave Turin is as much of a reality star as a gold miner. He's been on the air for about a decade at this point, so he's used to having camera crews around capturing every moment. And it shouldn't come as a surprise to any reality TV viewer that sometimes, these shows stage events to enhance the drama. Some are more blatant than others, but occasionally, viewers have to ask themselves if they're actually watching reality.
It seems "Gold Rush" fans are aware of this, as one of them asked Turin during his Reddit AMA, "How much of the shows are staged?" Turin responded, "None is staged, however, when we make mistakes and breakdowns they are hyped up." He doesn't elaborate, so it's unclear exactly how much hyping up goes into the minor inconveniences that inevitably happen while they're working.
Of course, such revelations are nothing new. When former cast member Jimmy Dorsey did an interview with Oregon Gold, he revealed that even though the show may not specifically script certain moments, those behind the scenes will nudge people in certain directions. Dorsey is noteworthy for leaving partway through his season, and in his interview, he revealed he never planned on leaving. But those behind the scenes nudged him in that direction to the point that's all he was able to do. It's par for the course for reality shows, so when watching "Gold Rush," it'd be best to take any drama with a grain of salt.