What shocked me is how much seemingly relevant content never gets used. George Wright and Scott Lomu of Discoverys Jungle Gold (Sundays at 10:00 p.m. That Mormons would choose to deal gold in West Africa may seem odd, but the pursuit of gold carries historical significance in the Mormon church. We lost a ton of money! Wright said. For former real-estate entrepreneurs, George Wright & Scott Lomu, the answer was Ghana. As he later told Wright, All it takes is a handful of guys with firearms to see the show and come looking for us.. Back in 2009, Scott Lomu and George Wright, two clean living Mormons, were trying to find a way to make money after suffering huge losses when the housing bubble popped the year before. Inusah Fuseini, minister of lands and natural resources, said the show portrayed Ghana as a jungle, vowing to arrest the Mormons. Ensurge Inc. announced that Scott Lomu and George Wright have accepted positions as members of the company's management team. When Lomu suggested removing the miners by force, a chief replied: If you attempt it, they will kill you! The crew captured everything on film and loved it. Class acts the two of them. Oh my word, they think I killed him, he said. It was a humbling experience. Other scenes needed no stage-managing. It was a typical move: Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast, was one of the earliest African countries to declare its independence from colonial rule in 1957. S: That's a great question, we get it a lot. Bering Sea Gold, a new offshoot, was averaging 3 million viewers a night. He had some access to some land that Scott and I were needing, if we can come up with the money, so we had to come back home and figure out how were were going to do that. 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1975th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 975th year of the 2nd millennium, the 75th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1970s decade. They toiled for 18 hours a day, travelling two hours from a nearby village to the mine, living in a mud hut and battling with storms, broken equipment and constant delays. 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. And were kind of a fast-paced, explosive show, and I do think we attract a little bit younger audience. Onscreen, an overweight guy with a wizardly goatee was struggling to fix the motor of an excavator. . Aboagye was shocked. As far as they knew, they said, Raw had all the required permits. Maybe Utah poor is different to my poor. Though it was never confirmed who the men were or why they had attacked the miners, Wright and Lomu quickly concluded that the militia was looking for them. They just have to survive long enough to go back and tell the world, I guess. Nevertheless, the district officer demanded Raw visit the Minerals Commissions headquarters in Accra before they continued filming. They whine at how poor they are, yet no wife works (the husbands hardly do either) they live in big mansions, drive fancy cars? A short video about the incident appeared months later on Discoverys website. We kind of shed a pretty big spotlight on the activities of illegal miners in Ghana. On Oct. 15, 2012, more than two months after the meeting, the synopsis arrived. Jungle Gold. The company owned a large mining operation in Guyana, a former British colony on the Caribbean coast of South America. Under the section Danger and Risk, Raw wrote: It would be easy to paint Ghana as a dangerous and risky environment, and by our audiences standards it certainly is. Jed Lipinski is a staff writer for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. From left, Victor Kpah, Scot Lomu and George Wright of 'Jungle Gold' Photo courtesy of Discovery Channel. We were very happy with them, he said. Season 1 Ep 12. It was shown because it's the main way of gold recovery in Africa, what they didn't show in the show was us trying to get our workers to wear gloves, our seeking for other separating methods that ultimately we didn't have money for at the time etc. Many people crumble with the fame and do really stupid outrageous things. Lomu couldnt believe what he was seeing. They hired a former special services agent to beef up security and instituted a no-mercury policy, barring laborers from handling the toxic liquid. The heart and soul of this amazing piece of equipment are the people, Wright narrates. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=273569. In 2010, they and a friend, Wally Macias, invested in a small operation and took turns flying out to work there. It begins now, Wright wrote. 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. In June, they produced a series of short videos to show prospective investors. Scott: Things have been getting pretty tense in Ghana because our show has shed a lot of light on a lot of illegal mining activity happening in Ghana. Even way back then we kind of had a number saying, Okay, what happens if it goes this low, are we still good? Its still a viable business, and we believe it still will be for many years to come. After rainstorms, locals with nothing else to do had taken to searching the gutters for specks of gold. The entire landscape of the mining industry over the last year has changed dramatically, and so we encountered a lot this season. You would make a good politician though, you could go cry with Speaker of the House John Boehner about how tough it is to support your trophy wife. It was that simple. It brought back a lot of stressful memories, Wright said. Really angry that certain things would happen here on our soil. Many thought the stars had killed a man a rumor based on a YouTube clip of Wright choking out the cocoa farmer. But on Macias and Wrights first trip in May 2010 (Lomu stayed behind in Utah), buying gold proved trickier than theyd anticipated. I think they just wanted us out of there, Wright said. But the sight of two white guys standing by as a half-dozen Ghanaians labored in the heat created a disquieting visual reminder of Ghanas years as a British colony. Six months later, in May 2012, Wright and Lomu met with the Raw crew inside an opulent conference room at the Golden Tulip hotel in Accra to discuss the projected arc of Season 1. I have never seen the show. Season 2. To ensure the most secure and best overall experience on our website, we recommend the latest versions of. Lomu took out a loan modification to save his mortgage; Wrights home went into foreclosure. (A spokesperson for Raw would not comment on whether the farmer was paid.) Wally was convinced it would happen, Wright said. By August 2012, more than two months into the shoot, the stars joint venture had found only a few ounces of gold. Since small-scale mining is reserved for Ghanaians, he assumed the Americans were mining illegally. Contact Jed Lipinski at jed.lipinski@gmail.com. Fans have praised stunning MAFS newcomer Evelyn for her mission to hold a groom accountable for his bad behaviour towards his wife. ET) give the term gold diggers a literal spin with this reality show, now in its second season. But, you will find Ghana a fantastic country. Weve learned the people of Ghana and weve always known this are great, humble people.. 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. Can you talk about your new colleague Dave Thomas? Unfortunately, most locals can't afford to mine the gold, they need outside investment. With Scott Lomu, George Wright. 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. I have never seen this dude, Marie remembers thinking. Not everything works out how you want it to, said Wright. 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. Alan Tay, Wright and Lomus handyman, was doing something similar. Reeling from the news, Lomu flew to Utah the next day. America. 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. Months after the evacuation, I found him playing cards beside one of Wright and Lomus $2,000 canvas tents, which hed been living in since they left. But they soon discovered a more viable option: gold mining. As the coastline faded in the distance, Wright leaned across the aisle. Once we did, we got back in touch with him and he had land available still, and from there it was just kind of the beginning of Im not going to say a beautiful relationship, because Im not a huge fan of Dave. We also discussed the fact that they initially started out with another partner who committed suicide just one day before they got the call from Discovery. Visionary entrepreneur and leader. Scott Lomu: Because weve moved from Friday to Sunday it seems like our audience has gotten a lot younger. Theyd spent the past year trying to dramatize their daily lives for the cameras. When Lomu proposed gold dealing in Ghana, Macias needed no convincing. As many obstacles as theyve faced, theyve also learned from them and made smart decisions as well. For a split second, in between the man hug you could see blonde dude thinking WTF! This was a good start. I can say that Parker is a cool kid, he's been supportive to us and so has Fred. For anyone who thinks their decision to pursue gold mining is utterly insane, they explained to me how they came to this conclusion in a way that sounds entirely logical. Now, it seemed, Ghana was taking its revenge. 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