Gold Rush's Freddy Dodge Says Juan Ibarra Became A Friend From The Get-Go

On "Gold Rush" spinoff "Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue," mainline series regulars Freddy Dodge and Juan Ibarra team up to help struggling gold mining operations get back on their feet. Dodge and Ibarra both ended up on "Gold Rush" through their work in the gold mining industry, each boasting considerable experience prior to their respective additions to the show. Now, Dodge and Ibarra maintain a fruitful "Gold Rush" partnership as co-hosts of "Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue."

In a Monsters and Critics interview about Season 2 of the spinoff series, Dodge shared some insight into his professional relationship with Ibarra, revealing that they were fast friends as soon as they started working with one another. "We became friends right away," Dodge said. "We share similar interests, and we have similar skills. For example, both of us are welder fabricators. But early on, Juan had not been around the gold stuff. So I've been teaching him over the years, and if there's anybody that can learn fast, it is Juan Ibarra. He is an extremely intelligent person."

Dodge then went on to describe Ibarra as the single individual alongside whom he would most want to host "Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue." Ibarra, as it turns out, recounts the genesis of their friendship in an almost identical manner.

Also around the time of the "Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue" Season 2 premiere, Monsters and Critics interviewed Juan Ibarra about his role on the "Gold Rush" spinoff, at one point asking how his working relationship with Freddy Dodge first started. Ibarra revealed that he met Dodge when he began working for the Hoffman family, teaming up with Dodge to help rebuild a wash plant for the Hoffmans

"We'd spend days in days out working with each other, putting this plant together, and we hit it off," Ibarra said. "Freddy loves to joke, and I'm the same way. I make up stupid jokes throughout the day to keep ourselves entertained. And we just hit it off really from the get-go."

While reality shows may sometimes pair personalities together purely for dramatic purposes, this does not appear to be the case with Dodge and Ibarra. Rather, the two "Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue" hosts describe one another as legitimate friends who bonded as soon as they began working together, and it's this real friendship that seems to fuel the ongoing success of their "Gold Rush" spinoff.