Parker Schnabel Thinks Gold Rush Is A Bit Like Going To Vegas

On Discovery's gold mining reality series "Gold Rush," young Adam Driver lookalike Parker Schnabel is perhaps the closest to a main character of anyone in its ever-rotating ensemble cast. Schnabel got his start mining as a teenager, and even learned some of the ropes of the profession concurrently with his early "Gold Rush" appearances, which began in 2011.

That said, Schnabel described his gold mining career as unsustainable at one point during a Q&A session with fans. By his estimation, there's a finite amount of gold on Earth, and every gold miner is competing with one another to extract it profitably. Nevertheless, Schnabel shared some good news for gold mining newbies when he revealed that mining jobs are somewhat plentiful. While he doesn't recommend dropping everything in hopes of striking it rich on gold, the prospect of at least dipping a toe into the gold mining world seems to be feasible for those who might be interested.

Schnabel elaborated further on the volatile nature of his career during a joint interview with a couple of his "Gold Rush" castmates, revealing at one point that he thinks gold mining is akin to a gambling-oriented trip to Las Vegas.

During a BUILD Series interview, in response to a question about how "Gold Rush" fans have continued to tune into the series over the course of its lengthy run, Schnabel highlighted the rigors of gold mining as a potential reason for why his work makes for compelling TV.

"It's a very intense business," he said. "You have a very short amount of time — like we have four months to basically make all the money that we can in a season."

That brief timeframe, Schnabel explained, is compounded by the uncertainty inherent in gold mining, given that hard work will only go so far toward success when luck can likewise impact a mining team's final haul. "It's like going to Vegas," he continued.

"Gold Rush," then, is capable of remaining on the air for so long without significantly altering its core premise for the very reason Schnabel outlines. Although the crew members on "Gold Rush" are plenty experienced in their field, just like the most experienced gamblers in Las Vegas, it's always possible that their expertise will prove insufficient in the face of bad odds. And just as tourists continue to flock to Vegas, "Gold Rush" continues to draw in viewers as one of Discovery's flagship reality shows.