Focused on the action, the show failed to explain the complicated licensing process, causing many to assume they were mining illegally. 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. In April 2013, it premiered on Ghanaian TV. 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. Nevertheless, the district officer demanded Raw visit the Minerals Commissions headquarters in Accra before they continued filming. Lomu learned what he needed to know about reality TV, put . How is the gold market lately? We have estimated George Wright's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets. 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. Maybe little Scottie will have a headache or a hang nail as his next excuse for constant failure. mining operations. George: I think this all would have ended a long time ago had our wives and our children, and even extended family and close friends, not been so supportive. He was sawing into an overcooked hamburger patty when he glanced at the flatscreen on the wall. The next morning, Wright searched his iPhone for news of the incident. The heart and soul of this amazing piece of equipment are the people, Wright narrates. Despite their failures, the pair remain hopeful for the future. 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. mining company with profitable operations., Ensurge, Inc. is a Colorado-based holding company that has been engaged This was met with disappointment in the first 5 days of our trip to Africa because it's not even CLOSE to easy to get cheap gold in Africa, they know the price of Gold better than anybody! Scott Lomu and George Wright buying supplies during an episode of Jungle Gold. Furious, Wright and Lomu gathered a dozen local chiefs and tribal elders to solve the dispute. The robbery scene was intense but definitely felt like the video was pulled off a little too well. Afterward, the farmer said, people viewed them more cautiously. Hey guys i heard that their are NO more chinese people who are searching for gold. Tall, handsome, and half-Polynesian, he studied business at Arizona State University and did his Mormon mission in Indianapolis. And were kind of a fast-paced, explosive show, and I do think we attract a little bit younger audience. But Raw believed they could meet the challenges of filming a gold-mining operation in Ghana; in the Season 1 synopsis, they noted that their contributors would be paragons of responsible mining. Discovery, which had green-lit the show in March, had insisted Wright and Lomu hire locals, replant cocoa crops on mined land, and abide by the rules of Ghanas Environmental Protection Agency. 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. But Wright doesnt regret fighting back. After averaging 2.65 million viewers a week during its first season on Discovery Channel last fall, Jungle Gold is back, having started Season 2 on Aug. 11 (now airing on Sundays). They hired a former special services agent to beef up security and instituted a no-mercury policy, barring laborers from handling the toxic liquid. 43 min. At the moment I jumped in, he was right over [our security guard] and was going to push his head underwater. Fortune seekers George Wright and Scott Lomu know there are no rewards without risks, but even the gold-mining stars of "Jungle Gold" weren't prepared for the danger they and the show's crew faced . 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. It could be a painful reality but that's the way it is. Jungle Gold. He earned the money being a professional American Football Player. We hope it's a win-win. Tens of thousands of foreigners, the majority of them Chinese, had flocked to the countrys rural mining regions since the recession, lured by stories of Klondike-caliber windfalls. Literally, I have never been so scared, Wright told me. George Wright and Scott Lomu will risk it all to strike it rich as part of a golden plan to recover from losing everything in the real estate crash of 2008. (DStv, they later learned, chose not to air the second season in Africa. Hopefully you guys get some good stuff, so everyone can benefit, she responded. Additionally, Mr. Lomu has been appointed as Chairman of the Company . But its neocolonial echoes had caused Ghanaians at home and abroad to accuse Wright and Lomu of exploiting Africa for their personal gain. We didnt exploit anyone, Lomu told me. One of them was Wright, whose entrepreneurial drive and years in South America Lomu saw as an asset. Watch the Run For the Border episode. 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. 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. By paying for excavators and local laborers, foreign investors could split the gold profits with the companys owner. it was rated as one of the top programs on the Discovery Channel. 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. They hoped early struggles would lead to large profits by the end of the 10-episode run, benefiting . Gold miners George Wright and Scott Lomu sit down with THR to talk about what their wives think of their adventures, whether they watch "Gold Rush" and what they have to say to people w 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. If so, what do you think of those guys up in Alaska? Content Rating. Airing in the slot behind Gold Rush, it had helped Discovery dominate the Friday night cable ratings. The camera catches a masked African man dashing into the jungle, a submachine gun in one hand and Lomus gold bar in the other. ", "This is a disgrace for a brand such as the Discovery Channel to glorify what these bandits are doing in our country. As it happened, Akwesi was the brother-in-law of the landowner, who had cut him out of the $5,000 the show paid in compensation for the cocoa crops. Villagers routinely set up roadblocks and demanded hundreds of dollars to pass. 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. Email. In this weeks episode, the pressure continues to mount. Then, in December 2014, they met Clint Mishleau. Scott Lomu and George Wright land at a rural airport in Kumasi, Ghana. But after Missing the warning signs of a real estate market about to crash and burn, both men lost everything. It looked like we were being mocked, Donkor said. 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. 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. In early August 2012, records show, several Raw crew members sat down with Joseph Aboagye, the Minerals Commissions stern director of policy, planning, monitoring, and evaluation. How Does the CBS True Lies Series Compare to James Camerons 1994 Movie. Snow-covered peaks rose in the distance behind him. 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. A fight breaks out and martial arts-trained angry George, as he was nicknamed, strangles the man until he passes out. As methodical and reserved as Wright is impulsive and outspoken, Lomu, eight years Wrights senior, was raised outside Phoenix. In a 2013 Reddit AMA, several commenters asked Wright and Lomu whether the scene was scripted. They stop mining, protecting the environment and local communities. Coincidentally, Discovery had recently reserved a Russian helicopter to take aerial shots of Wright and Lomus new excavator as it trundled into Fahiakobo. Weary of small-scale mining, the men enthusiastically agreed. This time, they mined on the land of a Ghanaian Mormon bishop who had partnered with Lomus father-in-law. According to Wikipedia, Forbes, IMDb & Various Online resources, famous American Football Player George Wright's net worth is $1-5 Million at the age of 72 years old. To me, reality shows are like watching professional wrestling. Petitions called for its cancellation and Wright and Lomu were attacked on social networks and in the media. The crew had received press accreditation from the Information Services Department, he said. By announcing gold existed in Fahiakobo on an international TV network, Tay believed Jungle Gold would attract other law-abiding American and European gold miners, slowly lifting the village out of poverty. Read Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper Archives, Feb 15, 1862, p. 2 with family history and genealogy records from chicago, illinois 1860-1945. Around 2.75 million viewers tuned in, making it the fourth most popular primetime cable show that Friday night. George Wright and Scott Lomu of Discoverys Jungle Gold (Sundays at 10:00 p.m. Taxis that once passed every 10 minutes, shuttling miners to work, now came a few times per day. The new operation went as poorly as the first. Edit 2: It's September 18th 2013, I just went through and caught up with most of the questions here. When the cast and crew arrived on the first day of filming, however, they found it crawling with Chinese miners. They needed to find money, fast. 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. But what you do with that really defines who you are.. Invigorated by this new prospect, the three men invested in a small-scale operation near the mining town of Obuasi, a four-hour drive from Accra, and took turns traveling to Ghana over the next three months. One Ghanaian commenter wrote, This is a disgrace for a brand such as the Discovery Channel to glorify what these bandits are doing in our country.. of this type of mining? With prices at an all-time high, Ghana has become a hotzone for . Wally was convinced it would happen, Wright said. In April 2013, six months after its U.S. premiere, Jungle Golds first season had debuted in Ghana on DStv, an African satellite network with 8 million subscribers. The show premiered in the US in October 2012 to widespread horror, particularly from African Americans. We were very happy with them, he said. Language. Instead, the men joined a mine support company, run by a fellow Mormon, in the nearby village of Romaso. Now, it seemed, Ghana was taking its revenge. 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. As chronicled in their Rainstorms and excavator breakdowns caused endless delays. We have a full Biography, Photos, Theatre Credits, and more! God-fearing pair are now back in the game, trying their hand at mining in Guyana, on South America's Caribbean coast, posting hair-raising videos on Instagram . Its a sad story, but their determination to continue in Wallys honor is one you have to hear. Keep 'em coming if you have them. provide mining consultation worldwide. Weve learned the people of Ghana and weve always known this are great, humble people.. We saw mining as an opportunity and used our cash to purchase some equipment. 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. ET) give the term gold diggers a literal spin with this reality show, now in its second season. I stopped watching discovery channel when discovery channel stopped being about science. 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. But Alan Reece, a Guyanese mining foreman the men had befriended, discovered a promising alternative in the nearby village of Fahiakobo, a hilltop settlement of around 30 mud huts flanking a red dirt road. 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. If you cannot answer that for Spoiler reasons, how many months were you in Ghana for, this year? Class acts the two of them. Whether the Information Services Department had instructed Raw to seek the commissions approval is unclear; the permit protocol for foreign documentary film crews in Ghana was somewhat vague in 2012. But many viewers of Jungle Gold thought exploiting Ghanaians was precisely what Wright and Lomu had done. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=273569. But no one seemed to recognize them. Sitting on the compounds couch, Wright watched in shock as the clip of him choking the cocoa farmer aired on national television. A couple of years ago, Utah Valley residents Scott Lomu, 37, and George Wright, 29, decided to investigate after Lomu's father-in-law, who had explored the booming Ghanaian gold market himself . From left, Victor Kpah, Scot Lomu and George Wright of 'Jungle Gold' Photo courtesy of Discovery Channel. Watch part 1 unfold here: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/jungle-gold/videos/run-for-the-border-part-one.htm. But on Macias and Wrights first trip in May 2010 (Lomu stayed behind in Utah), buying gold proved trickier than theyd anticipated. What sort of feedback do you get from viewers about the show? Broke and demoralized, the three men abandoned their nascent mining operation in October 2010. Thats the last were going to see of Ghana.. Its still higher than when we originally went to West Africa to find it. Heres Our Review Of Cocaine Bear: Oh Hell Yes! Ask something else I can answer. The series chronicles the continuing efforts of former real-estate dealers George Wright and Scott Lomu . While Ghanaians in the diaspora were railing against Jungle Gold online, members of Ghanas Minerals Commission were quietly fuming about its existence. 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Jungle Gold, Discovery Channel's latest reality effort, follows two Americans on their quest to strike it big in Ghana, Africa.After losing hundreds of thousands in the real estate collapse, George Wright and Scott Lomu tried to find the silver lining actually it was more of . George Wright and Scott Lomu from Discovery's "Jungle Gold" visited the KCAL9 studios Friday to talk about season two of their hit show. No way. We say, Yeah, we travel back and forth between here and West Africa. And then they always said the same thing which I felt there needed to be some deciphering after theyd say it theyd always say, I wish I could do that. And I said, Well, I dont think you understand what youre saying. With their excavator back, Scott and George only have 48 hours left to prove that they can get to the gold or their mining deal with Dave Thomas will be terminated. In Ghana, non-Ghanaians are allowed to mine on plots of more than 25 acres, known as large-scale concessions. I can say this, the head guy on Gold Rush hates us and we don't know why? George Wright has been appointed as Vice President of Public Relations and Scott Lomu as Vice President of Investor Relations. Why is mining for gold better (in your opinion) than taking your initial capital and investing it wisely? I saw Tickle hit the front page today, that is pretty silly. They had first heard about the show in July 2012, while the cast and crew were still in Ghana filming Season 1. understanding of conducting mining operations in underdeveloped So now I'm just leaving this thing open . How did he come to acquire his assets? 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. It mostly comes down to the bravest of us all which is our wives they support us 100 percent. There were more tweets during our reruns that Sunday [during a Season 1 marathon] than we got all of last year. Season 1. Reeling from the news, Lomu flew to Utah the next day. They cast Wright and Lomu as hardworking family men engaged in a heroic struggle against hostile and uncooperative natives. She was crying hysterically. In April 2015, they were hired by Utah-based mining company Ensurge to share their mining expertise in Guyana and help attract investors. For constant failure Lomu learned what scott lomu and george wright now needed to know about reality TV, put the Minerals Commissions headquarters Accra. Salary, income, and I do think we attract a little too well large-scale... Enthusiastically agreed we do n't know why on Ghanaian TV Yeah, we travel back and between. Hit the front page today, that is pretty silly, I have never been so scared, Wright me. Around 2.75 million viewers tuned in, making it the fourth most popular primetime cable show that Friday night visit! 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