They watched as the title card flashed onscreen to the sounds of an explosion and a screeching howler monkey. I have never seen the show. Whose the stupid ones ? I was astonished, Mensah said months later. But the optimistic, God-fearing pair are now back in the game, trying their hand at mining in Guyana, on South Americas Caribbean coast, posting hair-raising videos on Instagram. Lomu took out a loan modification to save his mortgage; Wrights home went into foreclosure. entertaining gold mining program `Jungle Gold,' they have an That October, Sam Maynard, Raws head of U.S. factual television and one of Jungle Golds executive producers, informed Wright and Scott that the show had been canceled. Their wives are also dedicated to the idea of not just funding their own families but making sure Wallys kids and wife are taken care of. Wright and Lomu have a plan for a new reality show, about mining and selling gold and their home lives. 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. A rosy conclusion to Season 1 looked unlikely. The stars solved the dilemma by essentially pretending to mine, digging in the mud or washing gold by hand when a scene called for it. It looked like we were being mocked, Donkor said. We didnt want them to present Ghana as a lawless place where foreigners can come and engage in illegal mining, he explained. But they had not received permission from the Minerals Commission to film mining lands. That was hard, said Wright. I guess this is what your generation who grew up in a fancy world is all about. His optimistic nature notwithstanding, Lomu saw more cause for hope in Ghanas relationship to Mormonism. Jarred by the response, Wright and Lomu responded to many of them, trying to clarify any misunderstandings. Fearing another attack, the Jungle Gold cast and crew evacuated Fahiakobo and holed up in Raws Domenase compound 20 miles away. BOOM! Wright and Lomu step out to investigate. When Doyle learned the arrest warrant had been extended to the crew, he called for an immediate evacuation. They abandon $20-60 thousand dollar machines, ( 2 excavators, and a wash plant) in the jungle while they fly back and forth to Utah for two years to whine and complain about how bad there lives are and to beg more money from really stupid investors. . While Ghanaians in the diaspora were railing against Jungle Gold online, members of Ghanas Minerals Commission were quietly fuming about its existence. They were convinced theyd be arrested at the airport and imprisoned. 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. Reeling from the news, Lomu flew to Utah the next day. But like gold miners throughout history, a mixture of delusion, pioneering instinct, and financial desperation drove them to it. Jungle Gold achieved a worldwide audience exceeding 60 million 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. Haha! I thank my parents. Then the Joy News team got ahold of Inusah Fuseini, Ghanas minister of lands and natural resources. So, gold fever its addictive. Broke and demoralized, the three men abandoned their nascent mining operation in October 2010. Based on the interview, My Joy Online, Joy FMs heavily trafficked website, published two short but searing articles about Jungle Gold on May 9 and May 10. Every other cab driver offered to sell them gold at what they claimed were heavily discounted rates. locations., Scott Lomu stated, George and I have been approached numerous times to Phone calls from furious Ghanaian expatriates poured in. In 2011, Scott Lomu saw the Discovery channel TV show Gold Rush and was perplexed that it was a hit. 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. Fans have praised stunning MAFS newcomer Evelyn for her mission to hold a groom accountable for his bad behaviour towards his wife. George Wright has been appointed as Vice President of Public Relations and Scott Lomu as Vice President of Investor Relations. Runtime. Wright, 32, a mixed martial arts enthusiast with long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, grew up in California before moving to Utah at 16. 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. Viewers were shocked that Americans would broadcast illegal mining, and activists claimed throwing money at people unused to financial decision-making was a mistake. I believe its God who brought them to me, Alan Tay, who served as a handyman for Wright and Lomu during the Season 2 shoot, later told me. Within months of Jungle Golds U.S. premiere in October 2012, they had become the face of Ghanas foreign mining community, which many blamed for destroying the countrys environment and harming its people. tailings, improve recoveries of existing milling operations and improve Metacritic TV Reviews, Jungle Gold - Season 1, After borrowing $150,000, George Wright and Scott Lomu travel to Ghana to mine for gold.. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . Couldnt agree with Dru Kelly more. Thats when we realized our tragedy was good for the show, Lomu said. What the freak is this? Lomu shouted. The first thing George and I thought when we landed in Ghana was, "I thought WE had problems". Scott Lomu and George Wright, . 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! Ghanas National Security Agency, meanwhile, had yet to contact them. Contribute to changjiangsx/sbm development by creating an account on GitHub. 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.. Keep 'em coming if you have them. Edit: added second related question. The California gold rush of the mid19th century coincided with the Mormon pioneers arrival in Utah. 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. Unbeknownst to the cast and crew, Aboagye requested that Ghanas National Security Agency investigate them. Before the men could start legally mining, however, the large-scale license had to come through. When the captain took off the seatbelt sign, they roamed the cabin, high-fiving each other and cracking cans of beer. Ready to get to work in Africa!, Jungle Gold may have enraged Ghanaian ex-pats and officials, but it was a hit with Americas 1849-year-old demographic. 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. Jed Lipinski is a staff writer for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. But the. Alerted to the situation by Raw, series producer Christo Doyle set up a "war room" as the cameras rolled. But their return to Ghana was to be even more troubled than round one. The disclosure threatened to derail the season. Two guys lose their shirts when the real estate bubble bursts and decide to do the logical thing hunt for gold in Ghana! Both men had worked in Utah's real estate market, had young families to support and debts piling up. We do answer questions and stay in touch here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFDu1cQjqGaj-3wBYavW1Hg/videos. Unfortunately, sometimes, some of those kids will turn to armed robbery, and theyll rob other miners. Meanwhile, the pressure is on the boys to secure a wood-burning stove so the family can stay warm over winter. In 2009, Macias was working as a private security contractor in Afghanistan, but hed grown tired of war zones. As he later told Wright, All it takes is a handful of guys with firearms to see the show and come looking for us.. Scott Lomu and George Wright land at a rural airport in Kumasi, Ghana. We just like to do our thing, it's all we can do really. Missionaries first arrived in Ghana in the 15th century, but the Mormon church was not established in West Africa until 1978, when it reversed a long-standing policy barring black men from the priesthood. (The news site had failed to provide attribution for the murder accusation.). When the cast and crew arrived on the first day of filming, however, they found it crawling with Chinese miners. Brigham Young, the president of the church, was nervous about it, criticizing it as a tenuous and irregularly profitable profession. Such sermons did little to dissuade Mormons, whose trademark optimism stems from a belief that God is on their side. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=273569. He didnt even sound convinced himself when he said to the blonde Neanderthal that he was going back to Utah.for what? On Demand DVD New Releases Aug. 26-Sept. 1, The three crew leaders from Discovery Channels Gold Rush series will be featured in a limited summer series called Gold Rush South America, the network announced today. If you cannot answer that for Spoiler reasons, how many months were you in Ghana for, this year? On Oct. 15, 2012, more than two months after the meeting, the synopsis arrived. That night, Wright and Lomu rendezvoused with the crew at the Golden Tulip, where everything began. I saw Tickle hit the front page today, that is pretty silly. The episode catalogued a series of ugly confrontations, including an illegal roadblock, the tense argument with tribal chiefs, and a risky back alley gold deal. Mensah was a reporter for Joy FM, one of Ghanas most popular news radio stations. G: Good question, for us this was nothing more than the right opportunity at the right time. Obviously, wed appreciate it if the gold prices were higher, always; however, were still feeling very good about the price of gold today. Tweet. George Wright and Scott Lomu filming in Ghana for Jungle Gold. ), Earlier this year, I met Wright and Lomu at Wrights four-bedroom house in Eagle Mountain, Utah. We were like, well show them the failures, the terrible, horrible stuff. Still, the acceptance of Mormonism in Ghana today belies a troubled history. We They banned workers from touching mercury, paid workers twice the going rate and hired security. George Wright have accepted positions as members of the Companys 43 min. We didnt think it would make us look cool and it certainly didnt.. Edit 2: It's September 18th 2013, I just went through and caught up with most of the questions here. Its author, Amma Bonsu, a Ghanaian activist and investment banker in Toronto, wrote that Jungle Gold reprised the antiquated narrative of Africa as a lawless jungle. [The] under-bed of racism is so alive in this [show]! she later told me. When I watch the gold mining shows (especially the Alaska one) it seems no different to me than simply taking the money to Vegas and playing blackjack. Despite their failures, the pair remain hopeful for the future. What we finally realized after discussing it was people werent saying they wanted to literally go to Ghana to do gold mining but rather they wished they could do whatever it is their dream was, whatever it is they hoped to be able to do be it open up a restaurant, or open up their own salon or become a writer. Season 1 Ep 11. It's Africa's second largest gold-producing country, so finding the precious metal isn't the hard part. It shows A side of us, and we're hoping to show another side with you guys. Season 2. By then, they each had two kids and houses in the suburbs. Wally was convinced it would happen, Wright said. ET) give the term "gold diggers" a literal spin with this reality show, now in its second season. It was January 2011, and Lomu had stumbled onto the first season of Gold Rush, a Discovery Channel reality show that follows three men from Oregon as they mine for gold in Alaska. Gold miners George Wright and Scott Lomu sit down with THR to talk about the mistakes they tried not to repeat and why they keep returning to Ghana despite the life-or-death stakes. But no one seemed to recognize them. Though vilified in the press, Tay said, the Chinese miners had improved the local way of life: installing electricity in thatched huts, building a public restroom with flush toilets, and putting dozens of unemployed young men to work in the mines. Laborers were shown polluting water bodies with mercury, which is used to recover gold from other minerals. Searching to find out more about George Wright? The most recent episode where Scottie had to fly home immediately because his boy was diagnosed with autism was just another laughable fake emergency. The crew had received press accreditation from the Information Services Department, he said. Now Wright and Lomu are the stars When the market fails where do you go? Theres something to be said about that allure. The new reality show Jungle Gold started broadcasting across Africa on MultiChoice's DStv from the . I have never seen this dude, Marie remembers thinking. In April 2015, they were hired by Utah-based mining company Ensurge to share their mining expertise in Guyana and help attract investors. 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. The chief warned that if they fought the miners, they would be killed. Wright and Lomu considered escaping into the jungle, but Discovery made the final decision. Check out George Wright's Bio Now Their families reaped the rewards of their hard work as both men enjoyed the American dream. 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). Viewers claimed the show was racist, portrayed locals in outdated colonial stereotypes, and exploited impoverished Ghanians for money and ratings. Alan Tay, Wright and Lomus handyman, was doing something similar. Lomu signaled for the check. In 2009, when Lomus father-in-law, a wealthy lawyer in Salt Lake City, suggested Lomu try dealing gold in Ghana, he latched onto the idea. All were shocked to think Americans would film themselves engaging in illegal mining, let alone broadcast it. 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. Around 2.75 million viewers tuned in, making it the fourth most popular primetime cable show that Friday night. management team. The Ghanaian government permitted Mormon activities to resume 18 months after the ban. You were a bad realtor, a dreamer, no clue about mining, engineering, equipment operation, management, or investment. The cast and crew pulled into Fahiakobo that March. The new operation went as poorly as the first. Lomu couldnt believe what he was seeing. How is the discovery of Autism an emergency? That drippy wife should stop whining and deal with it while her husband a finally does a days work. Its still higher than when we originally went to West Africa to find it. 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. In November 2011, two things happened. They explain better he is a broker. Oh my word, they think I killed him, he said. Life saving hugs or to provide tissues for his whiny wife? It was a life or death situation.. When he and other commission officials watched clips of the show online, they were appalled by its depiction of Ghana. The heart and soul of this amazing piece of equipment are the people, Wright narrates. In Ghana, non-Ghanaians are allowed to mine on plots of more than 25 acres, known as large-scale concessions. In the most cases they also have children. Lomu and Macias had been best friends growing up; as a teenager, Lomu had baptized him into the Mormon church. What shocked me is how much seemingly relevant content never gets used. The people are very friendly and non aggressive. Two weeks later, before the commission had a chance to review the seven-page document, Aboagye said, Jungle Gold premiered in the U.S. Channel. Class acts the two of them. Were more committed now than we ever have been. Do you guys take any measures to minimize your impact? The men worked 18-hour days, commuting two hours over rutted dirt roads through poverty-stricken villages. As Brigham Young understood, gold mining is an inherently unstable profession. Large-scale licenses begin at around $3 million, putting them out of Wright and Lomus price range. It begins now, Wright wrote. [], On May 1 one day before the first anniversary of Operation Neptune Spear, the special operations mission that led to the killing of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden Discovery Channel will premiere the one-hour special Secrets of Bin Ladens Lair. They hadnt actually killed anyone, after all, and they were not mining illegally. I talked with Scott and George by phone recently about Jungle Gold, a few days after the Season 2 premiere. We were very happy with them, he said. But we were willing to wear our heart on our sleeve.. Never had a real job or a real education, never think ahead or do research about anything. Season 1. Take a good look, Scottie, he said. believe Ensurge has the potential to grow into a significant junior of this type of mining? Jungle Gold. Last year we were forced to use mercury which was really hard for a lot of people. It is really pathetic. 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. According to Lomu, Raw later paid Akwesi $3,000 for his troubles. Comments: This was a good start. mining operations. Nature Treasure Hunting Adventure & Exploration Since completing the series, Lomu and Wright continue to George Wright and Scott Lomu of Discoverys Jungle Gold (Sundays at 10:00 p.m. 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. George Wright and Scott Lomu from Discovery's "Jungle Gold" visited the KCAL9 studios Friday to talk about season two of their hit show. Of course theyre concerned for us, of course they worry about our safety. Scott and George test out a brand new claim after racking up huge debts on the Romaso gold mine. Instead, the men joined a mine support company, run by a fellow Mormon, in the nearby village of Romaso. Season 2 of Jungle Gold airs Sundays at 10pm ET/PT on Discovery Channel. Jungle Gold. We just wanted to show what its like in Guyana from our perspective, Wright said. The Chinese miners remained on the site, and Lomu forfeited the money he paid for it. According to Lomu, Raw had replied that Discovery could not pull the show from Ghana without pulling it from DStv altogether. these comments make me laugh, if show is that bad stop watching it. What is behind the allure of gold mining? Prior to the fight, locals had regarded the cast and crew with friendly curiosity. 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. His first radio story, which cast doubt on the Americans legal status, aired the first week of May. 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. Weary of small-scale mining, the men enthusiastically agreed. Salary in 2020. Big props to the crew if they really risked themselves like that to get the footage. How Does the CBS True Lies Series Compare to James Camerons 1994 Movie. Aboagye was shocked. Theyre hoping things will be different this time. In the show Dave Thomas is portrayed as a major landowner/prospector in Ghana. People were actually angry! Donkor told me. Proof: https://twitter.com/JungleGeorgeVI/status/365907125215576064 https://twitter.com/JungleGoldScott/status/365907460332068864, Edit: We are going to keep this open. Scott receives life-changing news that could change their gold mining futures. In the five years it takes a cocoa tree to fruit, he said, they often make poor decisions that cause them to be economically or physically displaced. The lure of foreign wages, he added, can incentivize village youth to drop out of school. When I visited Aboagye in his cluttered office the following year, he told me hed requested a synopsis of the program the crew planned to make. We didnt exploit anyone, Lomu told me. Only the most coldhearted, inhumane person could spend more than an hour in Ghana and think to do that. Tay saw the show itself as a good thing for the village. 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(). They found it frustrating that Ghanaian ex-pats, many of whom were out of touch with the realities of Ghanas mining communities, criticized them for exploiting Ghanaians, when in fact, they said, theyd put unemployed Ghanaians to work. And so they were deeply leveraged when the housing market collapsed in September 2008. viewers. And its worked up to this point. Interview from the Chicago Resource Expo with George Wright & Scott Lomu from Discovery Channles hit show Jungle Gold But once again, the cost of equipment and labor exceeded the meager amount of gold they found. But what you do with that really defines who you are.. Gold, which ran two seasons on the Discovery Channel. And yet they also felt a strange sense of calm. It was that simple. technology to existing mining operations to recover gold from existing Bering Sea Gold, a new offshoot, was averaging 3 million viewers a night. It may have been their worst nightmare, but it made gripping TV. The two are former American real estate investors who lost everything in the 2008 market collapse, and are now over $1,000,000 in debt. One op-ed, titled Jungle Gold: A Case Study in the Exploitation of Africa, captured the collective indignation that greeted the series. I can say this, the head guy on Gold Rush hates us and we don't know why? A month later, the government cracked down illegal foreign miners, and thousands of Chinese nationals were also deported, removing a vital source of income for many villages. The dialogue is that of a B-rated actor and not free flowing as a Real conversation would be. But it was Lomus identical twin brother, Bill, a divorce mediator then living in Arizona, who finally took action. But with the chaos of Season 1 fresh in mind, Discovery had imposed new conditions for Season 2. Discovery was so impressed by the clips they upped the season from 10 episodes to 16. Then the Joy Midday News came on TV. That February, 5 million people watched the Season 2 finale of Gold Rush, continuing its two-year run as the most-watched cable show on Friday nights. Taxis that once passed every 10 minutes, shuttling miners to work, now came a few times per day. This is a tale of our times the new American Dream set in the jungles of Africa, the introduction read. I feel like its actually underappreciated and underdemonstrated in any medium. There was also an image problem. When I asked what they made of accusations that theyd exploited Ghana for their personal gain, the men insisted the opposite was true: They had done good things in the country and could have done even more if they'd been allowed to keep filming. Sorry we ruined Discovery Channel for you. To raise the rest, they decided to deal gold in the jungle. 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. 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 looked like their foray into mining was over until they stumbled across Discoverys Alaskan mining reality show, Gold Rush. Within one season, they were being accused of racism, exploitation, destroying the environment and even murder. Lomu and Wright promised to show people more respect and understanding. There are plenty of other channels. S: Well, I hope that all the miners that were there illegally are gone. 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. When Lomu proposed gold dealing in Ghana, Macias needed no convincing. We have a full Biography, Photos, Theatre Credits, and more! The shows first season had been a hit, airing on Friday nights behind Gold Rush, Discovery Channels highest-rated show. Since Jungle Gold aired, small mining companies from around the world have contacted Wright and Lomu through Facebook to propose mining partnerships. But they soon discovered a more viable option: gold mining. As far as they knew, they said, Raw had all the required permits. Seconds later, a gunshot rings out. George Wright has been appointed as Vice President of There was a sense of disappointment, said Wright. There were more tweets during our reruns that Sunday [during a Season 1 marathon] than we got all of last year. But its neocolonial echoes had caused Ghanaians at home and abroad to accuse Wright and Lomu of exploiting Africa for their personal gain. At the moment I jumped in, he was right over [our security guard] and was going to push his head underwater. Youre doing this all for your families. Content Rating. Ghana challenged their intentions from the start. Judging from locals reactions to them, the show may indeed have been on the road to redemption. Ask something else I can answer. The spinoff series follows the miners from the jungles of South America, to the mountains of Alaska, to the Klondike. Lomu knew his friend had experienced post-traumatic stress from his tours in Afghanistan. Scott Lomu and George Wright, hapless heroes of Discoverys Jungle Gold, finally had to flee the country by plane to escape arrest and the armed militia who seemed to be pursuing them. Fri 1 Jul 2022 13.18 EDT. We have estimated George Wright's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets. When I asked what he and others had made of the predominantly white film crew in their midst, he shot me a confused look. I like him every once in a while (laughs) its just really hard to trust him. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Because it really is a joke how nave and unprepared these douche bags really are. George Wright and Scott Lomu filming in Ghana for Jungle Gold. This show Insults the viewers into believing its a reality non-scripted show. But regardless of their portrayal onscreen, Wright and Lomu believed they had done more good than harm in Ghana. On the morning of May 11, the cast and crew arrived at Kotoka International Airport. He reappears with a gold bar he claims is worth $75,000. The Mormons stuck to soda. So, thanks again. Wrights wife, Marie, sat in amazement as her unflappably nice Mormon husband imitated Rambo: shouting orders, grimacing at the camera, and heaving logs out of the road, his every flippin' and shoot bleeped out to create a bawdier impression. The show is such a fake with the pretend dangers all around them meanwhile the camera-production crew is right beside them every second with security and back-up, oooh Im so scared!

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