During a layover at JFK, he checked his voicemail and found it full of condolences from friends and family. Todd Hoffman, Tony Beets, and Parker Schnabel in Gold Rush. Only the most coldhearted, inhumane person could spend more than an hour in Ghana and think to do that.. What are some of the more hair-raising encounters well see you experience in Season 2? (Raw refused to comment on Aboagyes claim.) We met that guy a few weeks back. DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ensurge, Inc. (Trading Symbol: ESGI) announced today that Scott Lomu and Scott Lomu. Worst of all, popular radio station Joy FM claimed Wright had killed the man he was filmed choking. I thought, Why have the authorities not intervened?. 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. Comments: A month after the Jungle Gold evacuation, the Ghanaian government conducted a nationwide crackdown on illegal foreign miners, causing thousands of Chinese nationals to be deported. They needed to find money, fast. The spinoff series follows the miners from the jungles of South America, to the mountains of Alaska, to the Klondike. Bering Sea Gold, a new offshoot, was averaging 3 million viewers a night. To guarantee cell service in the bush, the company bought Raw a 30-foot antenna. 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. With prices at an all-time high, Ghana has become a hotzone for . 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. Lomu knew his friend had experienced post-traumatic stress from his tours in Afghanistan. The series chronicles the continuing efforts of former real-estate dealers George Wright and Scott Lomu . Public Relations and Scott Lomu as Vice President of Investor Relations. 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.. 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 . For fun (I didnt want anything out of it, Bill told me), he learned the format for reality show treatments from a producer friend in Los Angeles. Season 2 of Jungle Gold premiered in the U.S. on Aug. 11, 2013. When the cast and crew arrived on the first day of filming, however, they found it crawling with Chinese miners. Never had a real job or a real education, never think ahead or do research about anything. America. Prior to the fight, locals had regarded the cast and crew with friendly curiosity. 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! Not a land owner. And one of their original crew had taken his own life. Proof: https://twitter.com/JungleGeorgeVI/status/365907125215576064 https://twitter.com/JungleGoldScott/status/365907460332068864, Edit: We are going to keep this open. Around 2.75 million viewers tuned in, making it the fourth most popular primetime cable show that Friday night. Can you tell us your secret at being perfect such as yourself. Lomu had heard that Americans could expect to buy gold in Ghana and resell it in the U.S. for a profit approaching 20%. But no such vehicles arrived. Season 2. IE 11 is not supported. Still, the acceptance of Mormonism in Ghana today belies a troubled history. (Raw declined to comment on the incident.) They banned workers from touching mercury, paid workers twice the going rate and hired security. 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. Genre Man vs. The disclosure threatened to derail the season. Contact Jed Lipinski at jed.lipinski@gmail.com. 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. Fahiakobo was hit hard by the June 2013 crackdown. When I asked what he and others had made of the predominantly white film crew in their midst, he shot me a confused look. They forfeited the cash and moved to a less profitable site. His own face stared back. Filming at home. 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. 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 2008. Broke and demoralized, the three men abandoned their nascent mining operation in October 2010. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. So, so sad. As they prepared for shooting one day in May, they heard that armed militia had attacked miners near their old site. It sure could. We never used arsenic. 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. How could I not show that?. During that time 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. Furious, Wright and Lomu gathered a dozen local chiefs and tribal elders to solve the dispute. With Scott Lomu, George Wright. But he dropped out after a year to serve a Mormon mission in Buenos Aires. (George: 100 duck sized horses for sure, Scott: 1 duck sized horse) (Will do videos for Karma), Jungle Gold on Discovery Channel this Sunday's 10/9c after Breaking Bad on AMC. Had anyone in the terminal listened to the radio the day before, the sight of two dozen white people discreetly filming themselves on iPhones and iPads should have rung alarms. To ensure the most secure and best overall experience on our website we recommend the latest versions of, Internet Explorer is no longer supported. (DStv, they later learned, chose not to air the second season in Africa. 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.. From [], Do the Alaskan Bush People get paid? As the crew debated alternate plotlines, Lomu went out to dinner in Obuasi. In 2011, Scott Lomu saw the Discovery channel TV show Gold Rush and was perplexed that it was a hit. mining company with profitable operations., Ensurge, Inc. is a Colorado-based holding company that has been engaged Is this show supposed to be a comedy? Obviously, wed appreciate it if the gold prices were higher, always; however, were still feeling very good about the price of gold today. How does it feel to go to the poorest continent on the planet with the goal to take as much of the little wealth they have left? The ratings fell. The Mormons stuck to soda. In the Season 1 finale, Lomu stuffs the remains of their initial investment into his backpack and walks into the bush. Read Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper Archives, Feb 15, 1862, p. 2 with family history and genealogy records from chicago, illinois 1860-1945. The Ghanaian government permitted Mormon activities to resume 18 months after the ban. In April 2015, they were hired by Utah-based mining company Ensurge to share their mining expertise in Guyana and help attract investors. It's Africa's second largest gold-producing country, so finding the precious metal isn't the hard part. Jed Lipinski is a staff writer for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. According to government records, the Minerals Commissions district officer in Dunkwa had discovered Raw filming a mining site without its owners consent. Share. Were more committed now than we ever have been. Lomu signaled for the check. The new reality show Jungle Gold started broadcasting across Africa on MultiChoice's DStv from the . Stars of Jungle Gold, George Wright and Scott Lomu, join MSNBC's Alex Witt to talk about their show. The kids autism is just another excuse for the idiot to stop working and run home. 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. Was he born into wealth or was it his own accomplishment? 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(). S: That's a great question, we get it a lot. become affiliated with a public mining company. Can you talk about your new colleague Dave Thomas? But we like to think our presence is making a difference. Searching to find out more about George Wright? We saw mining as an opportunity and used our cash to purchase some equipment. 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. A soaring Mormon temple, one of only three on the continent, sits in the heart of Accras commercial district, surrounded by European embassies. Wright caught malaria. It described how miners were regularly killed or injured thanks to unsafe practices, with 150 dying when one unlicensed mine flooded, and how cyanide, lead and mercury, used to extract gold then dumped in rivers poisoned communities. First Aired. George Wright and Scott Lomu from Discovery's "Jungle Gold" visited the KCAL9 studios Friday to talk about season two of their hit show. 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. They were told by the Information Services Department that an arrest warrant had never officially been issued. It was that simple. Lomu took out a loan modification to save his mortgage; Wrights home went into foreclosure. (It has since been clarified in the wake of Jungle Gold.) We didnt want them to present Ghana as a lawless place where foreigners can come and engage in illegal mining, he explained. Wright and Lomu have a plan for a new reality show, about mining and selling gold and their home lives. According to Lomu, Raw later paid Akwesi $3,000 for his troubles. While Ghanaians in the diaspora were railing against Jungle Gold online, members of Ghanas Minerals Commission were quietly fuming about its existence. The chief warned that if they fought the miners, they would be killed. Lomu and Wright promised to show people more respect and understanding. Back at Discoverys headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, the channel was enduring its own crisis. 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. 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. Jarred by the response, Wright and Lomu responded to many of them, trying to clarify any misunderstandings. When season two of Jungle Gold aired in August 2013, it flopped, competing with NFL for ratings. 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. Olivia Newton-Johns daughter has revealed how she keeps her connection to her mother alive months after her tragic passing. They had brought in work and money after all. So they turn to other means. We were very happy with them, he said. He also began investing in real estate, which was how he met Scott Lomu. 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. Of course theyre concerned for us, of course they worry about our safety. We thought we could explain any misunderstandings to the government, Wright said. But regardless of their portrayal onscreen, Wright and Lomu believed they had done more good than harm in Ghana. Wright and Lomu step out to investigate. G: Oh man if Scott sees this, he's gonna have hay day on this question. The Friday audience is a different audience. Literally, I have never been so scared, Wright told me. Alerted to the situation by Raw, series producer Christo Doyle set up a "war room" as the cameras rolled. So now I'm just leaving this thing open . 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. Discovery was so impressed by the clips they upped the season from 10 episodes to 16. 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. 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. BOOM! Get a job, get a life, get real. James Weir recaps. We asked! We have estimated George Wright's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets. That November, Bill emailed the treatment to a handful of production companies, including Raw TV, the British company that produces Gold Rush. We were like, This is the kind of operation we want to be a part of! Lomu said. We knew this was going to be a 5-to-10-year job on our part. We were like, well show them the failures, the terrible, horrible stuff. I thank my parents. Weary of small-scale mining, the men enthusiastically agreed. Take a good look, Scottie, he said. George Wright and Scott Lomu of Discoverys Jungle Gold (Sundays at 10:00 p.m. Tweet. Who gave you permission to work here? Akwesi demands, before tackling the crews Ghanaian security guard. How Does the CBS True Lies Series Compare to James Camerons 1994 Movie. But its neocolonial echoes had caused Ghanaians at home and abroad to accuse Wright and Lomu of exploiting Africa for their personal gain. If you cannot answer that for Spoiler reasons, how many months were you in Ghana for, this year? The influx of Chinese miners had triggered a rise in armed robberies of Chinese mining camps. 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 The men said they received tons of outraged tweets and Facebook messages, many from Africans in the U.S., accusing them of deceiving Ghanaians and raping the countryside. 43 min. 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. The show, the first article said, captured horrifying scenes of foreigners taking over mining sites and killing indigenes. In the second, Fuseini promised to track down and arrest the two Americans. Taxis that once passed every 10 minutes, shuttling miners to work, now came a few times per day. 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. All the details of the secret MAFS boys night are spilt at a boozy dinner party that shocks the experts. But in Ghana, as in other former colonies, a strong aversion to neocolonialism endures. They found almost no gold, sinking the last of their cash into the failed enterprise. 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. Scott Lomu might have a wife or a husband. In the Season 2 synopsis, Raw admitted the first season had produced disastrous results. But lessons had been learned. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. . Big fan of the show, one my friends is from Ghana and I got him watching the show as well. Villagers set up roadblocks and demanded hundreds of dollars. BLOCK! 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. When I asked a 21-year-old local named Nana Jyamfi what he did for a living, he laughed: Im waiting for the Chinese to come back.. Couldnt agree with Dru Kelly more. Maybe Utah poor is different to my poor. 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. (The news site had failed to provide attribution for the murder accusation.). We partner with mines to digitize their precious elements. But none of them seemed We just wanted to show what its like in Guyana from our perspective, Wright said. Macias took his own life, and the wheels were set in motion for their star-crossed show. How, in less than a year, did its cast and crew get accused of everything from manipulating Ghanaians to murdering them? 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. 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. His first radio story, which cast doubt on the Americans legal status, aired the first week of May. The next morning, they passed through customs and boarded a privately chartered jet bound for Paris. By then, they each had two kids and houses in the suburbs. The most recent episode where Scottie had to fly home immediately because his boy was diagnosed with autism was just another laughable fake emergency. They had paid locals well, contributed to the local economy, and obeyed Ghanas mining laws, they said. 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