“Gold Rush” returns for its third season tomorrow (9 p.m.) on Discovery. The series, which averaged a healthy 4.5 million viewers last season, follows three crews of miners, including one crew headed up by Todd Hoffman.
To set the scene for the upcoming season, Hoffman talked about the show — and about the allure of prospecting for the shiny stuff.
“Gold fever is very real,” he says. “And it’s down in every man’s heart. Some people can’t fight it. If they see gold, they have to go after it no matter what.
“They’ll break relationships. They’ll go homeless,” he says. “Gold mining can be like a drug addiction.”
So what is it about gold that drives people batty?
“When you’re scared about your economy and you know your country is in debt and you’re worried about your kids’ future, when you dig rock up out of the ground — and see yellow staring back at you in your sluice box — you feel like you’re turning the tables on your financial situation,” Hoffman says. “You can’t debase gold. The dollar that’s in your pocket is losing value but the gold in your sluice box is not.
“And you think maybe you have a future for your kids with the gold — in a way you may not [have] with dollar bills.”
And, Hoffman says, expect the new season to rife with drama.
“I opened my big mouth and said we’re going to get 1,000 ounces [of gold],” he says. “That’s $1.6 million, up from 100 ounces we got last year.
“That is unheard of, but that was my goal. People told me it was unreachable. The question is, can I do it or am I going to make a fool out of myself, my family and my crew?”
A “sluice box,” by the way, is a long, inclined trough through which water runs, trapping heavier gold particles (it’s different from a pan, which is smaller and usually round in shape).
“Gold Rush” began as “Gold Rush Alaska” in 2010.
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Last, but not least:
* Day/night WNBC doubleheader: Ch. 4’s Ozzie Martinez and Telemundo’s Ivan Taylor receive the “EL” Award today from El Diario at its annual awards luncheon (Grand Havana Room); tonight, Ch. 4’s Darlene Rodriguez is honored at Girls Inc. Westchester’s annual “Power of the Purse” fundraiser . . . Tuesday night’s episode of “Pretty Little Liars” on ABC Family was the day’s top “most social” program, generating 611,000 tweets, according to SocialGuide . . . Keir Simmons has joined NBC News as a London-based correspondent. He previously worked at Britain’s ITV News . . . The second season of the British mystery series, “Vera, Set 2” — starring Brenda Blethyn — makes its US debut on DVD Nov. 6 (Acorn Media).