The Fred Lewis Moment On Gold Rush That Went Too Far

"Gold Rush" is a reality show on Discovery about grown, hairy, burly, manly men — and women, too — digging for gold in the Canadian Yukon. Each season hangs heavy with the will they/won't they tension of whether or not the competing crews can excavate enough gold out of the dirt to pay their bills and make a tidy profit by the end of the season. This edge-of-your-seat drama is the main draw that keeps fans coming back for more. And after 12 seasons, it appears as though the formula seems to be working.

Fred Lewis is a relatively new addition to the show. He made his first appearance in Season 10, Episode 13, "Nuggets or Bust." He's a former military man (and, as Redditor Estimate_Fine points out, the series will not let you forget it), he rocks a glorious beard and asymmetrical haircut combo (which Reddit fans like Adventurous_Pack_855 are less than thrilled about), and he's not always a fan of the constructive criticism that he gets from viewers. Love him or hate him, he's a prominent figure on the series and it doesn't look like he's going anywhere anytime soon. But in the most recent season, he had a moment where a leadership decision he made didn't sit well with people who watched it.

In Season 12, Episode 14, "Little Eldorado," Lewis assigns Clint, another veteran who has never mined gold before, to drive a rock truck. Not only would this be quite a task for any rookie, but the muddy terrain and narrow amount of room to maneuver make things that much more challenging. Unsurprisingly, the truck gets stuck and Lewis is not happy about it. His frustration leads him to put his crewmember's fate up to a team vote.

Viewers weren't exactly on board with Lewis' decisions or leadership in this particular episode. Several comments on Reddit were highly critical of both his choosing of the less experienced crewmember for the rock truck task, as well as how he reacted after the almost inevitable failure. Ljmhawk thought that putting an inexperienced crew member into such a precarious situation was "staged as hell" since, in their opinion, most leaders wouldn't take that risk. _edk_ had a similar take: "Drop the guy in a rock truck with no training, ask him to navigate a narrow site through thick mud, and then pin his fate on a team vote. Sure hope it's made for TV drama, because it sure is piss poor leadership." 

Indeed, it does seem a little questionable to risk your gold mining profits like that — unless the ratings boost from the reality TV show that it airs on can make up the difference. Either way, fans of the series who aren't fans of Lewis point to this example as yet another reason why he shouldn't be on the show anymore.