The Real Reason Todd Hoffman Left Gold Rush

Discovery's Gold Rush has captivated fans for more than a decade. The show follows a crew filled with diverse personalities as they brave danger and dig for gold all over the world, from Alaska to the rain forests of Guyana, where they searched for diamonds in season 4.

Through it all, the team has been led by Todd Hoffman, whose lofty dreams led to the birth of the show. According to his biography on the Discovery website, Hoffman was inspired to get into the gold mining business in 2010 following the decline of a previous aviation business he'd attempted. Gold mining also runs in his blood; his father mined for gold in the 1980s, but was unsuccessful, unlike Hoffman, who has hit pay dirt numerous times on the show (and has also made more than a few missteps).

Hoffman is known by members of his crew for being more than a little spontaneous, with his goals seemingly getting more and more outlandish with every job. Even so, when it was announced during an episode of Gold Rush: Live that Hoffman and his family would not be returning after the eighth season of the show, some fans were caught by surprise.

They were even more shocked when they learned what his next move might be.

These days, Hoffman is wearing all kinds of hats instead of the just the red hardhat variety. He owns his own production company, Züm Media, which is self-described as "a development, distribution, and production company specializing in premium branded content for television, film, and digital platforms worldwide." Which is pretty broad, but hey — it's showbiz! 

Since 2019, the website for Züm Media has become pretty sparse. It once contained references to aspirational projects like Greenhorn Gold, which was apparently a reality series inspired by Gold Rush that pitted hopeful contestants against each other in a series of mining-related trials. Züm Media was also working on a cooking show called Meat, which was set to star Hoffman, though all references to this program have since been removed as well (via TV Shows Ace).

For a while, Hoffman was also hosting a semi-regular podcast called The Toddcast, which he shares on his YouTube page. The most recent episode aired on September 18, 2020. A quick glance through his YouTube videos reveals something even more exciting, however. 

Clearly, Hoffman's got a lot of irons in the fire, but perhaps most surprisingly, the former miner revealed in 2018 his intention to pursue a singing career. His YouTube channel is home to numerous videos of his performances — and they're pretty good! There he is, pictured above, recording his own take on a '60s folk classic, which we super encourage you to watch. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are great and all, but "Sound of Silence" just hits different when you know the beardy guy performing it spent the last eight years of his life actually digging in the actual dirt for actual gold. 

"Who knows?" Hoffman said of his new career choice, according to The Oregonian. "Stranger things have happened. I want to break it big. I want to hit it out of the park."

In addition to "Sound of Silence" (which has over 13 million views and counting), Hoffman's actually posted a few originals, including this banger called "Jealous Friend." Hoffman might just be onto something here with the new career moves. As commenter MadM_MegN put it, "Dude.... you went looking for gold.... but you had it with you the whole time....."

Hoffman has also apparently been unable to stay away from the world of gold mining for long, which isn't too surprising considering that Hoffman claims his crew pulled over $10 million dollars worth of shiny yellow rocks out of the ground over the course of eight seasons on Gold Rush. That's gotta be some rush, for lack of a better phrase, and we can imagine why dropping cover songs — however soulfully belted — on YouTube just wouldn't offer the same high for long.

According to The Oregonian, Hoffman has been working on getting another gold mining show on the air following his Gold Rush departure. This is likely a reference to the vanished Greenhorn Gold. He also announced on Instagram last year that he was thinking of getting back into mining for real.

He wrote in a September post, "Looking at a gold mine and believe it might be a play if we decide to go. It will take 1.5 million to step up and swing the ball and give it a try. Praying about it but I'm good either way. We would film unrepentantly and then sell the episodes and own them."

In that same post, he also said that although he is unsure of what the future holds for his family, he has been enjoying "the time away from TV and the spotlight." So even if Hoffman's new series doesn't get up off the ground, we can all rest assured he'll keep on keeping on.