In a 2013 Reddit AMA, several commenters asked Wright and Lomu whether the scene was scripted. The Mormon miners submitted a proposal to Raw TV, the British company that produced the program, and waited. Fans have praised stunning MAFS newcomer Evelyn for her mission to hold a groom accountable for his bad behaviour towards his wife. Anytime somebody felt we were taking advantage of them, even this idea of colonialism was so off our radar, it felt so out of left field.. Last year we were forced to use mercury which was really hard for a lot of people. In Jungle Gold, Discovery Channel's hit reality series, George Wright and Scott Lomu try their best to climb out of a mountain of debt.Their loyal families wait at home while the two toil away in Ghana, hoping to strike gold and solidify their financial futures. And one of their original crew had taken his own life. We split the gold with the locals, & they of themselves dnt [sic] have the machines to get to the gold, Wright wrote to one skeptical American viewer on Twitter who had suggested they mine in the U.S. instead, before softening her opinion. We were like, This is the kind of operation we want to be a part of! Lomu said. November 23, 2012. English. Soon we will be creating games and NFTs based on real elements. of this type of mining? It was that simple. IE 11 is not supported. Visionary entrepreneur and leader. We were in panic mode. Wright found work translating Spanish for an Arizona-based equipment supplier bidding for contracts in Colombias mining sector. ), Earlier this year, I met Wright and Lomu at Wrights four-bedroom house in Eagle Mountain, Utah. Lomu knew his friend had experienced post-traumatic stress from his tours in Afghanistan. I can say this, the head guy on Gold Rush hates us and we don't know why? They found almost no gold, sinking the last of their cash into the failed enterprise. So now I'm just leaving this thing open . Scott Lomu might have a wife or a husband. That summer, the men resumed their former routine, traveling to Ghana in shifts. When I watch the gold mining shows (especially the Alaska one) it seems no different to me than simply taking the money to Vegas and playing blackjack. They got through it by dreaming up episodes for their nonexistent reality show. It was tempting, but it didnt make sense: Anyone could sell gold to the state-run Precious Minerals and Marketing Company for just 2% under the global price. The path to George Wright and Scott Lomu's camp. He is from the United States. By the time the season ended, three Change.org petitions had called for the shows cancellation, drawing a total of 3,000 supporters from the U.S., Europe, South America, Australia, and across West Africa. Its still higher than when we originally went to West Africa to find it. viewers. On the morning of May 11, the cast and crew arrived at Kotoka International Airport. A fight breaks out and martial arts-trained angry George, as he was nicknamed, strangles the man until he passes out. When the episode ended, he immediately decided to investigate Jungle Gold. Filming at home. It was a life or death situation.. If the global gold price plummeted, many more would leave Ghana voluntarily, depriving poor mining villages of what had become a crucial source of support. Not to mention that the gold isn't all ours, what we pull out the local land owners and chiefs have a say in that and sadly, due to tradition and lack of education, people INSIST on using mercury. Every other cab driver offered to sell them gold at what they claimed were heavily discounted rates. As he later told Wright, All it takes is a handful of guys with firearms to see the show and come looking for us.. We split the gold with the village, the farmers make a ton of money from us, we employ many, many locals, paying them 10X what they would normally make, we pay taxes, and contribute a ton to the local economy. One of the things that people always ask Scott and I, even before the show came because we were traveling back and forth to Africa for two years before the show with Discovery Channel even got a green light or was even an idea in either of our minds people would always say, What do you do for work? Wed say, Gold mining. Theyd say, What? Their families reaped the rewards of their hard work as both men enjoyed the American dream. Element United is the first to market in bringing blockchain technology to gold + precious elements. Language. G: When the show gets edited they are continually making editing choices between our daily life choices and events. That February, 5 million people watched the Season 2 finale of Gold Rush, continuing its two-year run as the most-watched cable show on Friday nights. George: We met him towards the end of our last little stint out there. For former real-estate entrepreneurs, George Wright & Scott Lomu, the answer was Ghana. We lost a ton of money! Wright said. At the time, Wright and Lomu brawny, clean-living Mormons from Utah were in the midst of shooting Jungle Golds second season. Scott Lomu and George Wright, hapless heroes of Discoverys Jungle Gold, finally had to flee the country by plane to escape arrest and the armed militia who seemed to be pursuing them. it was rated as one of the top programs on the Discovery Channel. We just like to do our thing, it's all we can do really. What do they think of this? Consumed with other business, hed all but forgotten about Raw. Season 1 Ep 11. It mostly comes down to the bravest of us all which is our wives they support us 100 percent. He later learned Macias had become dependent on pain medication due to injuries he suffered in a roadside bomb attack. The only money these guys will ever have is the money they get from the producer who pays them at least $20-30,000 per episode. He was crushed to learn I was not. Season 1 Ep 12. In April 2013, it premiered on Ghanaian TV. When I visited Aboagye in his cluttered office the following year, he told me hed requested a synopsis of the program the crew planned to make. Was he born into wealth or was it his own accomplishment? Now, it seemed, Ghana was taking its revenge. One op-ed, titled Jungle Gold: A Case Study in the Exploitation of Africa, captured the collective indignation that greeted the series. The little gold they found went directly into equipment costs. The heart and soul of this amazing piece of equipment are the people, Wright narrates. Aboagye was shocked. Gold prices were high, getting equipment was cheap. We saw mining as an opportunity and used our cash to purchase some equipment. Laborers were shown polluting water bodies with mercury, which is used to recover gold from other minerals. Lomu signaled for the check. Discovery Channel. Reece informed him that an armed militia had just attacked a group of miners near Wright and Lomus former mining site in Romaso. We were entirely without expectations, Wright told news.com.au. The site itself was a wide clearing in the jungle scarred by gaping 20-foot pits, where Ghanaian laborers wrangled the equipment in pools of coffee-colored mud. We were like, well show them the failures, the terrible, horrible stuff. Why anyone would give these clowns a penny of investment capital after all the stupid mistakes these guys have made for two years is beyond me. Nationwide News Pty Ltd 2023. What are some of the more hair-raising encounters well see you experience in Season 2? But like gold miners throughout history, a mixture of delusion, pioneering instinct, and financial desperation drove them to it. A theatrical streak led him to join his high schools cheerleading squad senior year, and he wound up with a cheerleading scholarship to the University of Utah. Mensah was a reporter for Joy FM, one of Ghanas most popular news radio stations. Discovery moved the show from Friday to Sunday nights, where it competed with NFL football for the eyes of American men, their primary demographic. To ensure the most secure and best overall experience on our website we recommend the latest versions of, Internet Explorer is no longer supported. The other was Wally Macias, a charismatic Mexican-American and former undercover narcotics agent in Kanab, Utah. We just wanted to show what its like in Guyana from our perspective, Wright said. And yet they also felt a strange sense of calm. One of the biggest lessons weve learned is dealing with people. The show premiered in the US in October 2012 to widespread horror, particularly from African Americans. They cast Wright and Lomu as hardworking family men engaged in a heroic struggle against hostile and uncooperative natives. It was another disaster. management team. Not everyone celebrated their departure. Nature Treasure Hunting Adventure & Exploration Theres a lot of feedback we get where people are just really inspired by the idea that we have a goal and were willing to do whatever it takes to obtain that goal. They hoped early struggles would lead to large profits by the end of the 10-episode run, benefiting both the stars and the villages they worked in. But on Macias and Wrights first trip in May 2010 (Lomu stayed behind in Utah), buying gold proved trickier than theyd anticipated. Brigham Young, the president of the church, was nervous about it, criticizing it as a tenuous and irregularly profitable profession. Such sermons did little to dissuade Mormons, whose trademark optimism stems from a belief that God is on their side. mining operations. Watch my interview with the guys and a clip from the episode: Watch: George and Scott of Jungle Gold talk robbery, accusations, GloRilla, Ice Spice, And The Carefree Black Girl Backlash, Karol G Tells Us About Her Most Personal Album Yet, Maana Ser Bonito, And Collaborating With Shakira, The Rundown: Between Cocaine Bears And Maple Syrup Heists, Margo Martindale Is Absolutely Thriving In 2023. A month later, the government cracked down illegal foreign miners, and thousands of Chinese nationals were also deported, removing a vital source of income for many villages. George: When we first originally went to Africa gold was actually lower than it is today, even though its taken a hit over this last year. The dialogue is that of a B-rated actor and not free flowing as a Real conversation would be. become affiliated with a public mining company. They needed to find money, fast. There are plenty of other channels. The Mormons and their production team had paid a village chief $12,500 to mine a large plot of land, but they arrived to find it packed with Chinese miners. Fearing another attack, the Jungle Gold cast and crew evacuated Fahiakobo and holed up in Raws Domenase compound 20 miles away. We didnt want them to present Ghana as a lawless place where foreigners can come and engage in illegal mining, he explained. They had brought in work and money after all. Most assumed they were mining illegally. It brought back a lot of stressful memories, Wright said. Ghanas National Security Agency, meanwhile, had yet to contact them. George Wright and Scott Lomu filming in Ghana for Jungle Gold. Villagers routinely set up roadblocks and demanded hundreds of dollars to pass. When we first came to Ghana, we knew our investment could change the lives of people there, Lomu said. Second Point, the amount of catastrophic failures the show incures is absurd, there are moments in the show a viewer can easily spot a setup. We really liked the people of Ghana, the people we worked with. I mean, not logical enough to actually do it, but they clearly considered the idea (and had a relative in the field) before diving in. She was crying hysterically. Airing in the slot behind Gold Rush, it had helped Discovery dominate the Friday night cable ratings. (Raw declined to comment on the incident.) He was still there when I showed up six months later. But none of them seemed So they turn to other means. Is it worth all the effort and danger youre going through? What the freak is this? Lomu shouted. They were convinced theyd be arrested at the airport and imprisoned. As the wheels lifted off, the crew exploded in cheers. According to Lomu, Raw later paid Akwesi $3,000 for his troubles. It sure could. In the Season 2 synopsis, Raw admitted the first season had produced disastrous results. But lessons had been learned. Sat 30 Apr PG-VL. But they trust us enough to know that there are certain lines that we wont cross and that we have, believe it or not, enough common sense to stay alive. The show, the first article said, captured horrifying scenes of foreigners taking over mining sites and killing indigenes. In the second, Fuseini promised to track down and arrest the two Americans. Watching the videos, I got the sense that Wright and Lomu, regretful over Jungle Gold, were trying to redeem themselves by portraying Guyana in a flattering light. As chronicled in their But in Ghana, as in other former colonies, a strong aversion to neocolonialism endures. As methodical and reserved as Wright is impulsive and outspoken, Lomu, eight years Wrights senior, was raised outside Phoenix. Wright and Lomu found it hard to watch. Furious, Wright and Lomu gathered a dozen local chiefs and tribal elders to solve the dispute. Within minutes, the team slipped through customs and boarded a 30-passenger jet chartered by Discovery. While the landowner applied for a large-scale license, Raw had paid dozens of local men 40 cedis per day (around $20 in 2013, more than twice the standard rate) to dig 8-foot holes in search of gold deposits, a process known as prospecting. TV-PG. Mishleau, a fourth-generation gold miner from Wisconsin, had recently been named CEO of Ensurge, Inc., a publicly traded Utah-based holding company that invests in gold mines in the Americas. The Friday audience is a different audience. #Colonialism, good job discovery channel youve made a reality show about the rape and theft of african natural resources #junglegold #kinglepold. FYI, for our show specifically, it is 200 hours of content for 43 minutes if show. But no one seemed to recognize them. But with the chaos of Season 1 fresh in mind, Discovery had imposed new conditions for Season 2. Wed put our last $50,000 into that site, Wright said. Since completing the series, Lomu and Wright continue to Proof: https://twitter.com/JungleGeorgeVI/status/365907125215576064 https://twitter.com/JungleGoldScott/status/365907460332068864, Edit: We are going to keep this open. Comments: First Aired. If you havent seen the show, its a doozie. What is behind the allure of gold mining? But after Missing the warning signs of a real estate market about to crash and burn, both men lost everything. Share. Maybe Utah poor is different to my poor. But as Reece explained it, a wealthy Ghanaian who owned land around Fahiakobo was willing to acquire a large-scale license himself and hire Wright and Lomu to mine his property. We encountered a lot of stuff thats never been shown on TV. Couldnt agree with Dru Kelly more. He reappears with a gold bar he claims is worth $75,000. Hes a gentleman whos a land broker. In the final episode of the seven-part series, the struggling pair are offered the chance to work on a large-scale operation for a rich Ghanaian, if they can raise $15,000. Take a good look, Scottie, he said. I feel that resonates with people on a pretty personal level. They banned workers from touching mercury, paid workers twice the going rate and hired security. The men said they received tons of outraged tweets and Facebook messages, many from Africans in the U.S., accusing them of deceiving Ghanaians and raping the countryside. Get a job, get a life, get real. believe Ensurge has the potential to grow into a significant junior It's Africa's second largest gold-producing country, so finding the precious metal isn't the hard part. He watched in puzzlement as Wright ordered an excavator driver to tear it all down. The program, he soon discovered, was set in Ghana. Unbeknownst to the cast and crew, Aboagye requested that Ghanas National Security Agency investigate them. But for those thinking that theyre bad actors or are, worse, faking the drama, they have an offer for you come to visit them in Ghana for a few days. It was clearly time to go. Many people crumble with the fame and do really stupid outrageous things. SENT to Ghana for a TV series, the American stars of Jungle Gold were accused of destroying the environment, exploiting workers, racism and even murder. Worst of all, popular radio station Joy FM claimed Wright had killed the man he was filmed choking. They have hatched a radical plan to turn things around; mining for gold. A heated argument ensued. Then, in December 2014, they met Clint Mishleau. James Weir recaps. Can you talk about your new colleague Dave Thomas? technology to existing mining operations to recover gold from existing Hey guys i heard that their are NO more chinese people who are searching for gold. They just have to survive long enough to go back and tell the world, I guess. Macias took his own life, and the wheels were set in motion for their star-crossed show. On the morning of May 9, hours before the first article ran, Wright was in Fahiakobo preparing for the days shoot when he received a disturbing call from Reece. He went to a meeting but he'll be back I'm sure. He found instead the two articles in My Joy Online ordering his arrest and accusing him of killing people. But no such vehicles arrived. Despite the possibility of work in Accra, hed stayed in Fahiakobo after the cast and crew fled, guarding the stars tent and praying for their return. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. I like him every once in a while (laughs) its just really hard to trust him. That October, Sam Maynard, Raws head of U.S. factual television and one of Jungle Golds executive producers, informed Wright and Scott that the show had been canceled. Scott Lomu and George Wright buying supplies during an episode of Jungle Gold. Class acts the two of them. We kind of shed a pretty big spotlight on the activities of illegal miners in Ghana. But their new status as wanted men made riveting TV with little effort. You were slightly mislead. To guarantee cell service in the bush, the company bought Raw a 30-foot antenna. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . I have never seen the show. (A spokesperson for Raw would not comment on whether the farmer was paid.) That supports been really the lifeblood in this entire operation. How did he come to acquire his assets? It is really pathetic. A month after the Jungle Gold evacuation, the Ghanaian government conducted a nationwide crackdown on illegal foreign miners, causing thousands of Chinese nationals to be deported. Tweet. But the incident changed the dynamic in the village. Its very easy to lose your temper, it very easy to feel like everybodys trying to take advantage of you and trying to take your land. They forfeited the cash and moved to a less profitable site. Theyre hoping things will be different this time. A lot of questions have been asked in Ghana about how, and why so many illegal miners were allowed to mine in Ghana without paperwork for so long. Maybe little Scottie will have a headache or a hang nail as his next excuse for constant failure. Can you tell us your secret at being perfect such as yourself. In one of the shows most-watched episodes, an excavator for Lomu and Wright is tearing up cocoa trees when an angry farmer approaches with a machete. The crew had received press accreditation from the Information Services Department, he said. So, so sad. George Wright and Scott Lomu, former real estate investors that lost everything in the 2008 crash, make the life-altering decision to travel to Ghana in West Africa to hunt for gold. In this weeks episode, the pressure continues to mount. Whose the stupid ones ? By this time, Ghanas mining industry was in chaos, with Al Jazeera reporting on the dangers of illegal mining, fuelled by widespread corruption. George: Theres something to be said about gold fever about realizing that I dig a hole, I find gold. So what do you watch instead? We thought we could explain any misunderstandings to the government, Wright said. (George: 100 duck sized horses for sure, Scott: 1 duck sized horse) (Will do videos for Karma), Jungle Gold on Discovery Channel this Sunday's 10/9c after Breaking Bad on AMC. Raised outside Phoenix the morning of May 11, the team slipped customs... Bomb attack him of killing people at what they claimed were heavily discounted rates have praised MAFS! 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