Aboagye was shocked. In the May 29 midseason* premiere of Discovery Channels Alaskan Bush People, A Wolfpack Divided, the Brown family is ready to move into their new home when Ami requires immediate medical attention and must travel to a big city for surgery. Tay saw the show itself as a good thing for the village. We were entirely without expectations, Wright told news.com.au. The series chronicles the continuing efforts of former real-estate dealers George Wright and Scott Lomu as they mine for gold in Ghana in an attempt to pay off the over $1 million debt they face in the wake of the real-estate crash. Weve always felt like maybe we need to have the production company subtitle him with truth. Bottom line, hes surprised us in a lot of good ways, and hes surprised us in a lot of bad ways, as youll see in the season to come. Wally was convinced it would happen, Wright said. viewers. Those guys on the dredge they were having a really good time. He paused. Building Element United to lead the mining industry to a profitable + sustainable future. It was a humbling experience. He was still there when I showed up six months later. Board of Mining Advisors. Prior to the fight, locals had regarded the cast and crew with friendly curiosity. The Ghanaian government permitted Mormon activities to resume 18 months after the ban. Additionally, Mr. Lomu has been appointed as Chairman of the Companys I thank my parents. Patchy reception made it hard to hear, but a few words registered clearly: Wallys dead. That morning, Macias had driven into the mountains outside Kanab and shot himself with a rifle. But they had not received permission from the Minerals Commission to film mining lands. 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. Upon arrival, the cast and crew had paid the landowner $50,000 and set up camp on the villages perimeter. It was the second season of Jungle Gold set in Ghana that the fans of TV shows about gold prospecting are still talking . The Mormon miners submitted a proposal to Raw TV, the British company that produced the program, and waited. They have to prove the new claim is stacked with gold or their investors will pull funding. The following year, they tried again, on the land of a Ghanaian Mormon bishop. So, gold fever its addictive. I personaly found it entertaining and interesting. All were shocked to think Americans would film themselves engaging in illegal mining, let alone broadcast it. As many obstacles as theyve faced, theyve also learned from them and made smart decisions as well. When I visited Romaso months after Wright and Lomu fled, a cocoa farmer whod witnessed the fight told me it had been painful to watch. You were a bad realtor, a dreamer, no clue about mining, engineering, equipment operation, management, or investment. Wright quickly ends the fight by locking the farmer in a chokehold, causing him to pass out. 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. At the moment I jumped in, he was right over [our security guard] and was going to push his head underwater. Last year we were forced to use mercury which was really hard for a lot of people. But as Ghanaian mining activist Daniel Owusu-Koranteng told me, illiterate cocoa farmers are not accustomed to receiving giant sums of cash at once. Phone calls from furious Ghanaian expatriates poured in. Greenhorn gold miners George Wright and Scott Lomu put everything on the line -- their lives included -- to hit pay dirt in the gold-rich and danger-filled jungles of Ghana. #Colonialism, good job discovery channel youve made a reality show about the rape and theft of african natural resources #junglegold #kinglepold. Months before the shoot, Lomu had paid a village chief $12,500 of his Utah investors money to secure a 25-acre plot of land an hour outside the town of Dunkwa, the epicenter of Ghanas gold rush. Within minutes, the team slipped through customs and boarded a 30-passenger jet chartered by Discovery. 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. The California gold rush of the mid19th century coincided with the Mormon pioneers arrival in Utah. The kids autism is just another excuse for the idiot to stop working and run home. But we like to think our presence is making a difference. Scott and I know we could have done better. And its worked up to this point. Aboard a two-story mining dredge as it plies the brown waters of the Amazon jungle, he captures Guyanese miners laughing and telling jokes over lunch. The next day, Joy FM dispatched its Kumasi correspondent, Erastus Asare Donkor, to gather reactions to the story in the citys streets and markets. He also thought their brand identity could help attract new shareholders in the U.S. Ensurge has operated in Guyana for several years, with a board of directors, environmental standards, and an established network of distributors, drivers, and laborers. Wright and Lomu had never imagined they would end up mining for gold in Ghana. Id understand if the kid was in a coma or on life support but for the love of god, he wil still be autistic when daddy does a few weeks work and hopefully finds some gold. When the United States Navy SEALs killed bin Laden during the operation, they captured a prize far greater and more valuable [], Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), on Discovery announces limited-run Gold Rush spinoff series, on Discovery special presents details on classified bin Laden intel, http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1124.html, Discovery announces limited-run Gold Rush spinoff series, Discovery Channels Alaskan Bush People recap: A Wolfpack Divided, Discovery special presents details on classified bin Laden intel, Single Ladies Decide if Country Livin is for Them in Farmer Wants a Wife. Maybe Utah poor is different to my poor. The network had green-lit a second season that February. In a 2013 Reddit AMA, several commenters asked Wright and Lomu whether the scene was scripted. ", "The stage is being set for a redemptive second season of Jungle Gold., Your weekday morning guide to breaking news, cultural analysis, and everything in between, This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google. 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. They cast Wright and Lomu as hardworking family men engaged in a heroic struggle against hostile and uncooperative natives. I stopped watching discovery channel when discovery channel stopped being about science. Website: www.ensurgegold.com, Ensurge, Inc.Clint Mishleau, 702-728-5187ensurgeinfo@gmail.com, Internet Explorer presents a security risk. We kind of shed a pretty big spotlight on the activities of illegal miners in Ghana. RELATED: GOLD RUSH SEASON 4 PREMIERE DATE In Gold Rush South America, premiering Aug. 2 at 9pm ET/PT, Gold Rush crew leaders Todd Hoffman, Dakota Fred and Parker Schnabel take their operations to find new, gold-rich ground in preparation for Gold Rush Season 4, which Discovery says will premiere in the fall. Unfortunately, sometimes, some of those kids will turn to armed robbery, and theyll rob other miners. WHEN two Mormons from Utah signed up to star in a reality show about gold mining in Ghana, they had no idea what they were getting into. This show Insults the viewers into believing its a reality non-scripted show. I have never seen the show. 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. Most of the times one of the celebrity is famous and then because of him/her, other members get famous as well. Big fan of the show, one my friends is from Ghana and I got him watching the show as well. We really liked the people of Ghana, the people we worked with. Our cutting room floor can have its own AmA! _________________________________________, Scott Lomu, George Wright and Dave Thomas of Jungle Gold: Credit Discovery Channel, The money was given to Dave so they could mine that land,I even think it a bit suspicious that he walked away Scott free and no-one says anything, Really enjoyed watching but what about the money they gave to Dave Thomas are they not wanting it back,after all it wasnt their money it was the father in laws. They forfeited the cash and moved to a less profitable site. (The news site had failed to provide attribution for the murder accusation.). In the Season 1 finale, Lomu stuffs the remains of their initial investment into his backpack and walks into the bush. All times AEDT (GMT +11). He moved to Utah in 2000, and when the Olympics Winter Games came to Salt Lake City two years later, he rented furnished houses and apartments to people in town for the event. 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. Former real estate high-rollers George and Scott regularly turned over million dollar deals. Did Ghana ever try to arrest you two as indicated in this article on Ghana Web? Jungle Gold achieved a worldwide audience exceeding 60 million But the. In Ghana, non-Ghanaians are allowed to mine on plots of more than 25 acres, known as large-scale concessions. Discovery had ordered 12 episodes, Wright said, but their abbreviated stay produced only enough material for six. 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. I guess this is what your generation who grew up in a fancy world is all about. Since Jungle Gold aired, small mining companies from around the world have contacted Wright and Lomu through Facebook to propose mining partnerships. (Raw refused to comment on Aboagyes claim.) They had paid locals well, contributed to the local economy, and obeyed Ghanas mining laws, they said. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. Jungle Gold is back, having started Season 2 on Aug. 11 (now . Bering Sea Gold, a new offshoot, was averaging 3 million viewers a night. S: George is a little wordy, here's the short answer. I think our audience got younger and that could be because we were advertised heavily during Shark Week. Lomu and Wright promised to show people more respect and understanding. We were like, This is the kind of operation we want to be a part of! Lomu said. Gold dealing, they concluded, was a scam. That summer, the men resumed their former routine, traveling to Ghana in shifts. There were things we didnt expect, things that normally wouldnt happen to us happened because the cameras were there, said Lomu. Instead, the men joined a mine support company, run by a fellow Mormon, in the nearby village of Romaso. Cameras or no cameras, we went out there to provide for our families and I feel we let them down with some wrong decisions We didnt properly plan.. They were convinced theyd be arrested at the airport and imprisoned. Wright caught malaria. 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. "We didnt exploit anyone. With prices at an all-time high, Ghana has become a hotzone for . Jungle Gold. He was sawing into an overcooked hamburger patty when he glanced at the flatscreen on the wall. In perhaps the best-known episode from Jungle Gold, an excavator is ripping up an acre of cocoa trees when an irate cocoa farmer named Akwesi emerges from the bush, machete in hand. Ensurge Inc. announced that Scott Lomu and George Wright have accepted positions as members of the company's management team. Under Ghanaian law, Wright and Lomu could not physically mine. Literally, I have never been so scared, Wright told me. George Wright and Scott Lomu filming in Ghana for Jungle Gold. In many ways, the cast and crew reminded Tay of the Chinese miners, whod come to the area three years earlier and boosted demand for taxis, food, clothing, and bottled water. In 2010, they and a friend, Wally Macias, invested in a small operation and took turns flying out to work there. Share. 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. Afterward, the farmer said, people viewed them more cautiously. Jungle Gold an action-packed reality show about two Mormons from Utah mining for gold in Ghana was a hit when it premiered on the Discovery Channel in 2012. But many viewers of Jungle Gold thought exploiting Ghanaians was precisely what Wright and Lomu had done. It could be a painful reality but that's the way it is. Follows Americans George Wright and Scott Lomu, two hard working men who risk it all to strike it rich as part of a golden plan to recover from losing everything in the real estate crash of /10(). When I asked what he and others had made of the predominantly white film crew in their midst, he shot me a confused look. We have a full Biography, Photos, Theatre Credits, and more! 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. The two Americans will be tracked down and arrested, a Ghanaian official declared. It now occurred to him that theyd simply resumed filming after the August meeting. (DStv, they later learned, chose not to air the second season in Africa. To raise the rest, they decided to deal gold in the jungle. They wanted to know how we had allowed such a disgusting program to air on TV, a spokesperson for the commission told me. But their return to Ghana was to be even more troubled than round one. Channel. For instance, the men boasted of paying farmers 10 times their annual wages to mine on their farmland. On the morning of May 10, 2013, George Wright woke up in the small Ghanaian town of Domenase to learn that the countrys largest media outlet was accusing him of murder. So if you ask us a question, we'll get you answered. They hired a former special services agent to beef up security and instituted a no-mercury policy, barring laborers from handling the toxic liquid. That summer, the farmer in a fancy world is all about and George and! As Chairman of the Companys I thank my parents show itself as a good thing for the.. Walks into the mountains outside Kanab and shot himself with a rifle some of those kids will turn to robbery. A security risk locking the farmer in a small operation and took turns flying out to work there commenters Wright... 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