Discovery announces limited-run “Gold Rush” spinoff series

The three crew leaders from Discovery Channel’s Gold Rush series will be featured in a limited summer series called Gold Rush South America, the network announced today.

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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. The spinoff series follows the miners from the jungles of South America, to the mountains of Alaska, to the Klondike.

From Discovery Channel:

“In the Aug. 2 premiere episode of Gold Rush: South America, Todd Hoffman assembles his skeleton crew and sets his sights on his first South American location, Peru. From the beginning, the Hoffman crew is forced to overcome dense jungle, deadly roads, and turf wars with local miners to get at gold rush ground. This intrepid crew’s epic quest continues in episodes two and three in Chile and Guyana, as the crew venture high into the Andes Mountains and deep into the jungles of the Amazon basin. These men are no strangers to defeat and danger, and they find themselves pushing like never before in environments never imagined. Other highlights of this summer series include the latest mining plans from the Dakota Boys up in Alaska. Their search for virgin ground takes them to Cahoon Creek, a rugged gold claim so remote it can only be accessed by plane or on foot. And Parker Schnabel, who mined out his grandpa’s Big Nugget mine last season, makes the biggest decision of his young life. He forgoes college and leaves the comfort of his parents’ home to strike it rich with the big boys up in the Klondike. Parker will be under the watchful eye of his mentor, Tony Beets.”

Discovery also says that a new episode of The Dirt, hosted by Gold Rush executive producer Christo Doyle, will premiere Aug. 2 at 8pm ET/PT. Doyle picks up where Gold Rush left off and, through conversations with the miners and production crew, reveals what to expect during Gold Rush: South America. A second episode of The Dirt will air Aug. 30 at 8pm ET/PT, taking a look at the trials seen in the summer series, and teasing the new season of Gold Rush.

Gold Rush: South America premieres Aug. 2 at 9pm ET/PT on Discovery Channel.