14x06 - Hustle and Overflow

[bunniefuu]

♪ I'm never lettin' up
until I get what's mine ♪

[man] it's nome's worst winter
in almost 100 years.

And with the season
almost halfway over,

the pressure
is gonna build to a boil.
[indistinct]

♪ up against the wall
[indistinct] ♪

we're not gonna quit

until we find
this pile of gold.

♪ I'm unstoppable ♪

[zeke] I've never been
so hungry for gold.

There's a lot riding on
there being gold here.

[zeke] and if we can't find
any gold today,

I might be out of options.

It's too thick.

Cannot even get
through this ice.

♪ I run through
fire and ice ♪

[man] I'm running out of time
to pay my debts.

Come on down.

And there's no time
to play it safe.

I'm getting a lot of
water in my mask.

As long as
you're getting gold,

that's all that matters.

♪ I'm never lettin' up ♪

[vernon]
the ice is getting weaker,

but when the gold
is this good,

we'll follow it
wherever it leads.

That's some nice,
clean goal right there.

♪ I'm unstoppable ♪

we're close to something big,
and we know it's there.

That might be primo gold.

I like it.

♪ I'm unstoppable ♪

I'm seeing
all these rivers of gold.

[man] that's the stuff
we were looking for.

Yeah.

♪ I'm unstoppable
I'm never lettin' up
until I get what's mine ♪

I'll write on this
damn pizza box.

We'll just go
about 40 feet to the south.

We'll put the sluice box in,
and then we'll start
cutting the holes

and getting everything set up.

All right.
Sounds good.

All right, let's start.
All right.

Going to a new hole.

[narrator] halfway through
the stormiest season
in 100 years,

vernon adkison is on the move,

following a rich vein of gold
under the ice,

he could be playing with fire.

We'll put the show
on the road.

[engines revving]

[vernon] this winter,
we've been k*lling it.

Absolutely primo gold.

That's the good news.

Unfortunately,

the trail is headed
directly towards
a huge open water lead.

This thing is massive.

But if I want to hit
200 ounces,

I got to drill a new hole
and keep following it.

We'll be pressing our luck,

but that's where we got to go.

[machinery whirring]

[vernon]
what a beautiful hole.

That is a nice one.

We got everything moved
over here to the new area.

Right now, we're all set
to get a diver down.

If I'm gonna roll the dice
on a hole this close
to that lead,

I've got to get as many hours
on that box as I possibly can.

So that's the plan.

Tempt fate
and load up on hours.

I'm gonna send
gary simpson down first.

And if he can get us
on the gold,

we can double up
with old jerry
right after that.

[music]

[gary speaking]

[vernon] yeah. Roger that.

[music]

[gary speaking]

hey, gary,

can you tell if it looks like
it's been worked?

[gary speaking]

all right.
All right.

[gary speaking]

come on. This all looks good.

[gary speaking]

all right.
All right.

That's the shallow stuff
we were looking for.

[gary speaking]

uh-huh.
That is looking good, gary.

When you're hot, you're hot
and we're smoking right now.

We keep following the trail
and it's delivering.

My only concern is the ice
is getting thinner

and that lead
is getting wider.

So this is turning
into a game of chicken,

but miners like
to live dangerously,

especially this one.

[gary speaking]

[vernon] yeah.

This might be
that primo ground
we've been looking for.

Matter of fact,
that might be the name for it,
primo gold.

If it plays out, that's what
we're gonna name it.

[gary speaking]
whoo!

[narrator]
while vernon rakes it in,
12 miles west.

[shawn] storm just got over.

We're gonna go shovel a
bunch of crap out of the snow.

[narrator] shawn pomrenke
is still trying to get
his operation back on track,

still on the hunt
for a jackpot
hiding in an ancient riverbed.

We're close to something big
and we're not gonna quit

till we find
this pile of gold.
And we know it's there.

I made enough money
to put a down payment
on the tomcod,

put a down payment
to buy my dad up,

but now I still have to make
these huge payments.

So if I don't make
these payments,

then I lose it all.

But if you don't gamble,
you'll never win.

And I'm a gambling fool.

I have payments on the tomcod,

the inland mine,
and the myrtle

and I'm not even halfway
to the 120 ounces
I need to pull it off.

The easy thing to do
would be to squeeze it out.

But that's not the plan
I'm going with.

I'm gonna go
for the motherlode.

I know what's out there,
I'm getting closer.

[wind howling]

oh, it's blowin'.

[shawn]
everything's still here, but
everything's getting buried.

This is not good.

Well, there's no crying
in gold mining.

This is the problem.

The weight of all the snow
is changing everything.

This generator is sinking
into the overflow.

We got to get it jacked up
out of the water.

Otherwise,
the whole operation
will be *bleep*.

Snow's so heavy,

it's forcing the ice down
and the water up through
the dive hole

and any cracks in the ice.

The result is massive overflow
that can destroy

all your equipment
and all that additional
weight weakens the ice.

So if we stay here,

it's a good chance
that all of our equipment

and us are gonna end up

at the bottom
of the bering sea.

[music]

*bleep* snow. *bleep* wind.

Generator is in the water,

pump is in the water,
tom cat is in the water.

If we leave this stuff,

where it's at, we'll be done
for the season.

There's a *bleep* hole
right here, too, somewhere.

Oh, come on, you *bleep*.

[shawn speaking]

trying to fight through it,

but it just doesn't want to go
our way.

Right now,
mother nature
is kicking our a*s.

We have to do
something different,

because we can't just
keep doing this.

This is turning
into a dangerous situation

and possibly a season ender

if we can't get
our shacks off.

Digging ain't gonna cut it.

We're gonna have
to try yanking them out.

But if they're frozen
in too solid,

it's just
gonna tear them apart.

That'd be game over.

Ah, come on.

[engine revving]

[shawn] holy *bleep*.

Holy *bleep*.
[strains]

it's going *bleep* amazing.

Oh, no.

It's not going well at all.

Pulling them out, it's a bust.

Nothing's working.

The ice is getting weaker
by the second.

This could possibly
be a season ender

if I don't figure out
something quick.

Can't work in a foot of slush.

*bleep* nightmare.

[man speaking]

[shawn] yeah, I don't know,
we need to do something else.

We don't get rid of the snow,
we're done.

Season's over.

[music]

[shawn] it went down
to subzero temperatures.

We got to move the operation.

Everything is really frozen
into the ice.

It's gonna be a big project
to get everything thawed out
and moved.

[narrator] heading into
the second half of the season,

zeke tenhoff
needs to chip away
at his gold deficit,

but as usual,
mother nature didn't get
the memo.

Our track
is stuck in the ice.

See the water,
when it reaches a certain
temperature, it freezes.

This is something
that we were completely
caught off guard by.

Chemical reactions,
it happens.

I mean, really,
there was no way to know.

[zeke] this winter
has been absolutely brutal.

I've only gotten like
two ounces.

And if I don't get
substantially more before
the winter ends,

I might have to call it quits.

It's that serious.

I'm thinking
that if we yank on it
real hard,

it'll pull the shack
right out of the snowbank
and we can just pull it up...

-[man] yeah.
-...Kind of right above
where the hole is gonna be,

-and it can just live there.
-Okay, let's do it.

[zeke] all right.

On my last dive,
I used a long hose extension

and I found a trail of gold
at the very end of my reach.

We're gonna find out
if this is the real deal
or not.

If not, I'm gonna have
to switch to a new claim,

which this late in the winter
might cost me my season.

All right?

[snowmobile beeping]
[man speaking]

[man] okay. One, two, three.

[engines revving]

[zeke] all right.

I think that'll be good.

The plan is to start
a new dive hole like


by where I found
that new trail.

That should give us
a good radius to be
able to move

and follow the gold.

That looks like
it's a pretty good space.

This has got to work.

I'm running out of time,
and I need five or six

more ounces to keep
this operation going.

We can move over to tomcod,

but it'll eat up a lot of time
that I don't have,

and we can still end up
with no gold.

[machinery whirring]

-wow.
-Nice.

That was easy.

Let's see
how thick this ice is.

Man,
that's deep ice.

[machinery whirring]

goodness gracious.

Wow.

Dude, what the hell?

Oh, my god.

[indistinct]

[zeke] damn.
Ice is at least this deep,

which is pretty deep,

'cause I'm like
six feet tall,

it's a whole person deep.

A short dude.

[man] there's still like
a sheet of bottom ice there.

[zeke] yeah, there's
something else
going on down there.

Yeah, yeah,
we're not actually through.

[man] no, we're not.

If we can't get
a hole made in this ice,

we'll have to make
a ice hole elsewhere,

where the ice is not as thick.

I'm just processing
this information

and trying to think of a plan.

I just can't catch
a break right now.

Seven feet of ice is just
too thick to drill through.

This is just
not gonna work.

Once again, we're gonna
have to reassess

and figure out
a new plan of attack.

Dude, if we can't get
through the ice,

we can't get through the ice.

What the hell?

[narrator] eight miles west...

Your umbilical line
is the biggest problem

you have underneath the water,

because that *bleep*
if it gets tangled up,

it will k*ll you.

[narrator] ...Kris kelly
embarks on his big plan

for the back half of winter.

[man] there's also
a current underneath

this ice
that will wash you away.

So, you know, don't worry,
you're gonna be just fine.

So we're way behind
where we need to be right now.

I owe a boatload of money,
and we only have seven ounces.

We need to catch up fast,

but I have an itty bitty
little life-changing situation

coming in right now.

The baby could come
any time right now.

We've got
to expand our team.

That means teaching james,
who has never dove for gold,

has never seen gold underneath
the water,

and doesn't know
what the *bleep* he's doing.

[brad] taking bets
right now on james.

I have faith in him,
what do you...

How long do you think
he's gonna last?

[andy] I want less than 15.
[indistinct]

[kris] put in 20 bucks on
less than 10 minutes for me.

[man] kris is saying
you're gonna last
less than ten.

Andy says
you're gonna last 15,

but I'd say you're gonna
last 20 minutes at least.

[kris] I'm just saying
dude, hey.

We're gonna see
if he can do it.

We all have faith in him.

We're gonna see.

[kris] jim's ready to go
underneath the water.

[man]
if you see my mom, say hi.

If you see your mom,
you're not gonna have to.

[laughing]

first dive ever,
and just so happens,

it's gonna be
under the ice,

probably
not the smartest thing

and then diving with people
that may not dive properly,

but what could go wrong?

Come on down,
you're the next contestant.

The timer is not starting
until he touches

the bottom
of the *bleep* ground,

because anybody can stay
on the ladder.

Mining underneath
the ice is brutal.

I need james to k*ll it,
but I've got to be realistic.

There's always
a learning curve
and it's steep, very steep.

You can do it.

You can do it, james.

[james speaking]

wow! This is awesome.

Yeah,
I'm looking right at you,

that's not awesome.
Get down there.

He's two feet down,

you know, it's gonna take
half-an-hour
just to start the timer.

Hey, you can swim, right?

[james] uh, yeah.

[kris]
get your a*s down there.

We're waiting
to start the time on you.

[james] dude, this is cold.

[kris] that's great.

Now, pull your a*s
down to the bottom
and make my money.

[james] I'm on the bottom.

[kris] okay.
Timer started, tell me

when you get to the nozzle
and you want to tie it all up

so you can actually
start working.

[james] dude, this is a trip.

Hey, is water supposed to come
at the bottom of my mask?

There's no water supposed
to come in your mask?

[james] oh. Uh, I got
salt water in my mouth.

[kris]
drink it and keep going.

[james] all right.
Okay.

Come up.

We'll drain the mask
and figure it out.
Guess who won.

[james] ah!

That *bleep* counts,
he made it to the floor

and he had to come back up.

Hey, you know what, *bleep*
that, stay on the bottom

for another 14 minutes
until I win.

[james laughs]

[james]
can somebody fix the mask?

I know what the problem is,

the mask is too tight.

At least you're not scared
when you're down there.

The learning curve
is always super steep.

But for james, it's the size
of mount everest.

But hey, where there's risk,
there's a reward,

and james is gonna make
or break my season.

Comfortable?

Okay, go underneath the water,
try it.

[james speaking]

[brad] all right. Tell me
when you're at the bottom.

[james speaking]

dude, we all know
what the bottom looks like.

Just get to work.

[james speaking]

[brad] I didn't mean walk like
a grandma, dude.

[james speaking]

grab the nozzle

and start
sucking the bottom up
and get to the clay.

And don't let
a lot of big rocks go up
the nozzle, okay?

[james speaking]

wow!

Are you
vacuuming up the bottom?

[james] yeah.
I'm vacuuming.

[james speaking]

oh, dude,
I'm gonna blow
past 15 minutes.

Either we find
a thin spot around here,

where we can get
through the ice

or we just like pack up
and, like, move down
to tomcod.

But like, there is gold here.

So like, that's why I am
careful with making
that decision

because it's gonna be
a big,

huge effort moving.

[narrator] zeke tenhoff
is giving his current claim
one last shot at greatness.

But the ice gods are making
a desperate situation
even more desperate.

[zeke] well,
I just want to check

and see if the ice
is any thinner
right over here.

I'm watching my career die
right before my eyes

thanks
to this seven-foot thick ice.

Can't even get
through this ice.

I haven't found nearly
enough gold so far to keep
this operation running.

If we can't find
any thinner ice,

then I think
that just might be it
for me this season.

Did it go all the way down?

Yeah.

This is gonna give me
a radius,

you know, of another


But it's...
You know, it's not,

it's not as much
new territory as I would like.

But I know
there's some gold here

that I don't want
to leave behind.

[machinery whirring]

-[man] you good?
-Yeah.

[man speaking]

okay. Here we go.

We got
this whole ice pan right here.

The blocks are like stacked
on top of each other.

But it doesn't look like
it goes all the way
to the bottom.

Oh, yeah,
looks like this is right

about where I was
dredging before, I think.

You might as well get
the pump going.

[man] all right.

[machinery whirring]

[man] yeah, there we go.

[man] yeah, it's super dark,
it's spooky.

Got giant ice cones that
are just, like, terrifying.

Yeah, I don't really
want to go under there.

There's plenty of gold
everywhere else.

Let's just mop up
what we can here
and the *bleep* out.

[man] this is right
where I left off last time
I was diving,

basically right underneath
our new hole.

But if the gold is gonna
lead me way out there,

I'll go out there,
mark my words.

[music]

okay,
now that you're down there,
you're comfortable,

make sure you have an exit
in case everything goes bad,

which it does sometimes.

[james speaking]

[man] okay. That's called
planning your exit.

[james speaking]

[kris] don't look up too much.

[james speaking]

[narrator]
kris' second half plan
is underway,

as james barclay
attempts to get
his sea legs ice mining.

[james speaking]

I wish there was
a river of gold down there,

but that doesn't exist,

so you have to look
for itty bitty little flakes.

James knows his way
around an excavator,

but that's all topside.

This is real work,

under the ice,
it's a whole new ballgame.

Hopefully,
he learns this fast.

We're gonna need
a third diver
for the rest of the season.

Make sure you get
all the black sand,

even if you don't see
gold in the black sand,

there's gold in it.

[james speaking]

[kris] that's great.
Good job.

I told you
he was gonna work out.

You know,
what makes the best miner,

when you're too stupid
to *bleep* know
you're in trouble.

Right now, he's doing it,
he's making gold.

He doesn't know
about all the problems
that could happen.

And it's beautiful.

He doesn't need to know.

[man] welcome to the reaper.

[music]

[shawn] time to get
the little dozer going.

[narrator]
with his season on the line,

shawn pomrenke
is bringing out the big g*ns.

[shawn]
time to move some snow.

Priority number one,

I need to get as much snow off
this site as I possibly can.

It's weighing down
the ice so much.

It's bursting through
all the holes
and any cracks in the ice.

Of course,
putting this much pressure
on weak ice is risky,

but with only a few weeks left
in the season,

it's a chance I have to take.

It's gonna take
a whole lot of work.

[joe] definitely a lot easier
than shoveling.

Ooh, yeah!

[shawn] obviously,
I can't plow

all the snow off the entire
bering sea.

Hopefully, I can clear off
a big enough area

that the ice will float up
and we won't be working in
five feet of overflow

and we can get back to diving.

[man] we got
a little bit of overflow.

[shawn] well,
that's not working out well.

The ocean is coming up
on top of the ice.

There's too much weight
on the ice.

[man] you see that?

[shawn]
you got a foot of water
on top of the ice.

Get the dozer
stuck in that,

it'll be
the end of that dozer.

I can't be anywhere
near of these holes.

I'm not gonna lie.

It's pretty grim.

Plan's not working at all.

But we're gonna go
try a new spot,

where we haven't drilled.

See if it works there.

Hopefully,
I can get enough weight off

that area
to stop the flooding.

If not, it's game over.

[shawn] we got
a lot of weight in this area
with all the shacks,

we're gonna go
over a little further,

try to clear
our area,

see what it does.

Hopefully, I can get
this ice to come up.

If it doesn't, then that's
the end of this ice season.

[engine revving]

[shawn]
we're gonna have to clear
a big area.

There's no doubt.

Look, there's so much snow.

[music]

[man] I don't know,
what do you reckon?

[shawn] drill a hole
and see what happens.

[machinery whirring]

[man speaking]

[shawn] yeah.

Our plan worked.

We got all the weight
of the snow off the ice.

Ice raised up.

We're good.

Thank god it worked.

Now, let's get back to mining
and get some gold.

I think, get
out here tomorrow morning
and get all the stuff pulled,

get it back underwater and get
to mining and dredging.

I love it when a plan
comes together.

[music]

-[man] hey, gary.
-[gary] yeah.

Why does the ocean roar
all the time?

[gary] why does the what?

Why does the ocean roar
all the time?

[gary] why is that?

[man] well, if you had
that many crabs

on your bottom,
you'd roar too.

[gary laughing]

[gary] all right.

[narrator] vernon adkison
is laughing all the way
to the bank

and in the face of danger,
as the operation marches
towards an ever growing lead.

Okay, well,
you've got 5 hours
and 20 minutes,

then it's time to come up.

All right.

Throw a little gold out there

in front of your nose
and I'll know it's time
to get you up.

[gary] I mean,
I don't know what it is.

I kind of like it down here.

[vernon] good. Iron man.
Or a gold man I should say.

We're getting
closer and closer
to that open lead.

And with all our equipment
up on that thin ice

and our divers underneath it,

we've got to be
extremely careful.

So we're gonna take
a break,

check the box
and make sure the gold
is as good as we think it is.

Holy *bleep*.
Look at all that.
*bleep* yeah.

See all that, right there?

[man] oh, yeah.

Got a lot of gold
in there.

Good gold.
Love it.

All I got to say is booyah.

Our hot streak
just keeps going.

So we're gonna keep
creeping closer to that lead

as long as the ice holds up
and the guys are willing,

but we'll need to
keep our eyes and ears
open at all times.

The hole is looking
really good.

We'll send gary down
to finish up the day

and put some more gold
in the box.

All right, gary.

Get after it, buddy.

[gary] all right, I'm working
my way back towards the hole.

All right.

Oh, this looks like
some good stuff.

[vernon] that looks
like a pretty easy dredging
right now, huh?

[gary speaking]

you see
this little air, right here,
the hole keeps coming out.

That looks good.

[vernon] this might end up
being an extremely good hole.

[narrator] ten miles west.

[james speaking]

[kris] see lots of gold?
[james speaking]

we're all gonna make
a nice paycheck out of this.

[narrator] for kris'
newest diving protege,

james barclay,
things are going swimmingly

after nearly four hours
under the ice.

[james speaking]

[man] that's great.

[james speaking]

[man] don't worry about it,

as long as
you're getting gold,

that's all that matters.

[james speaking]

[kris] that mask
is a piece of *bleep*.

It's too *bleep* small
for our *bleep* face.

Reach up and grab the strap
and pull it a little bit.

[james speaking]

[brad] he's seeing more gold
than he sees on his excavator.

[james speaking]

[kris]
this is the rich area, huh?

[james speaking]

okay.

Uh, how much is too much?

[james speaking]

well, that's not bad.

Keep working.

Is it still coming in
or is it just like that's it?

[james speaking]

*bleep* man.

Okay, well, come up,
that's too much water.

[james speaking]

-how you doing, buddy?
-Good.

You did better than

I thought
you were gonna do.

[james]
*bleep* loads of water.

I was holding my mask
the whole time
I tried to dredge.

[laughing]

I didn't want to stop.

Honestly, I thought james
was gonna get down there,

cause nothing but trouble.

Get a rock jam.
Make no gold.

This is way better than
I hoped for.

I think we set ourselves up
for the rest of the season.

Hey, buddy,
you did a good job.

I knew you would.
All right.
And you made me money.

[music]

[zeke] I am seeing flakes here
and there,

but nothing like
super awesome yet.

Gotcha.

We put a lot of work
into digging this hole
and getting set up on it.

So there's a lot riding
on there

being a good amount of gold
here.

[narrator] looking to tap
into a new pay street
and save his season,

zeke tenhoff is giving
west beach one more try.

[man] zeke, you've been
down there a couple hours.

Does it looked like
it's worth staying?

[zeke] well, it's not looking
super hot out here.

There's a lot of sand
around here,

and I was just dredging up
a bunch of sand.

What's the ice
look like above you?

All I see above me
is like all these ice blocks

that are on
top of other ice blocks.

It's pretty sketch up there,
I don't like it.

I don't like thinking about
that on me, you know.

And I haven't seen
a single little puddle
of gold that I like.

I think
this hole is just a dud.

I think that it's a clear sign

that it's time
to move out of here.

Yeah,
I'm just gonna head on up.

Here he comes.

[indistinct]

[zeke] right where
I stopped dredging last
time, that was like

the end of there being
really anything at all.

This is a huge disappointment.

It's already
the back half of the season,

we're gonna have to move
this entire operation

and set it up on a new claim.

And it's not like I can just
show up at tomcod
and start diving.

First,
I'm gonna have to make
a deal with pomrenke.

It's not a cool ice hole.

There's no gold in it,
so it's time to bail.

Let's get out of here.

[kris] hello and welcome
to another edition
of kris kelly's secret guide

to successful mining.

So today,
we're gonna be talking
about a 6-inch operation

and an 8-inch operation.

Hold on, calm down.

Get your head
out of the gutter.

I'm talking about mining.

I'm freezing.

I didn't even bring my pants
or nothing.

In mining, size does matter,

maybe not in everything
in life.

But whoever says
that's kind of *bleep* too.

The 6-inch is lighter,
easier to handle.


probably under half the price.

But what do you really
want to do?

You want to get down there
and get as much gold
as you can.

And that's what
an 8-inch operation
will get you.

[man] oh, yeah. Yeah!




Two inches count.

With that extra two inches
that you have,

you're not gonna have
to move as many rocks.

You know,
you're not going
to have to get down there

and physically work
all *bleep* day long.

Once you've been
with an eight,

it's extremely hard
to go back to a six

and everybody out there will
probably agree with me.

Thank you very much
for watching

another edition of secret...
What the *bleep* am I doing?

Thank you very much
for watching

another episode
of kris kelly's secret guide
to successful mining.

[music]

[brad] that spot we're
on now is the motherlode.

[kris] that's a lot of gold.

[narrator] kris' plan
for the back half of winter
may already be bearing fruit.

James is working all right,
you know, his first dive.
[indistinct].

Yeah.

He did better than
any other diver

we've had down there,
and you got to admit
he's a pretty good diver.

Let's not start high-fiving
each other yet.

For the reaper to hit


I need james
to be a reliable diver.

He actually did pretty good
for his first time.

Now, we'll weigh it out
and the proof will be
in the pudding.

Let's weigh this up.
Let's see where we're at.

Okay.

That's one ounce, two ounces,
two and a half, three,

four,

five,

six ounces.

[kris] whoa, 6.4 ounces.

All right.

That's really good money.

That is awesome money.

[narrator] 6.4 ounces
is worth over $12,000.

A successful haul
for any diver,

let alone a first timer.

-Hey, cap that
*bleep* up. Let's go.
-Okay.

Everything's good.

[man]
mission successful so far,

now that I move
us to the real goal.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The sun shines
on a dog's a*s some days.

[brad] well, it always shines
on my a*s. Let's go.

[music]

[zeke] we got to figure out
how to make this work.

[indistinct]

[narrator] zeke's looking
to tomcod to pick up
a sagging season.

And that means making a deal.

[zeke] hey, shawn.

[shawn] what's up, zeke?

[narrator] with mr. Gold.

[zeke]
we got our ice operation
pretty much running.

Yeah.

But where we are
by the causeway,

kind of feel like
pretty well picked over.

Yeah, well, you know,

that area is close to the...
Close to the port,

so it gets hammered
because it's easy.

I was wondering
if you still had any spots
open on tomcod

we could go out and check out.

[shawn] we've got
some spots out there for you.

[zeke] nice.

Moving the entire operation
this late in the game

could just be a disaster
for me.

But I'm desperate.

If I can't find enough gold
to keep going,

my mining season is over.

Cool.

We'll probably need to get
some paperwork
together for you.

[shawn] yeah.

And get all that straight.

But as soon as
we get that straight,

I'm ready to go out there.

What about royalty?

What are you thinking?

I'd like 20.

Fifteen would be better.

It's up to you.

[shawn] I mean, I like it,

and I know
how hard ice mining is,

so I'll give you a


-[zeke] right on.
I appreciate it.
-Yeah, no problem.

I could have probably
squeeze zeke
for a little bit more.

It's late in the season
and he's getting desperate,

but zeke's a good dude.

I know
he's gonna bust his a*s.

And the more gold he gets,

it's better for both of us.

Right on.
We'll see you out there.

-[shawn] okay. Yeah.
-We'll see you on the ice.

-Thanks, shawn.
-Yep. We'll see you.

[zeke] see ya.

[music]

[gary] this is looking good.

Packing the box full.

[vernon] that's some nice,
clean gold right there.

[narrator]
after pushing closer
to the open water lead,

the question is will it lead
vernon's team to make a gold?

[vernon] weigh it up, gary,
let's see what we got there.

[gary] all right.
Here we go.

One, two, three,
four, five, six, seven,

eight, nine, ten, eleven,

twelve, thirteen,
fourteen, fifteen,

sixteen, seventeen.



[narrator] 18.04 ounces
is worth over $34,000.

Proof that if they can outlast
the thinning ice,

this spot may lead
vernon straight to the top.

I'm telling you, buying


I've ever made in my life.

[gary] yeah.

I mean, that's gonna be

my retirement program
right out there on 56.

More money,
more money, more money.

This claim just keeps
on delivering,

and this new spot might be
the richest of all.

I'm hoping the lead
doesn't expand any further.

Otherwise,
both our underwater atm

and our safety
will be at risk.

We might have to call
this el primo.

I mean, I'm liking super gold,

but this is
the cream of the crop
right here.

All right, gary,
let's get this tucked away

and get the hell
on back out there.

[narrator] vernon
takes the lead. While
mr. Gold stalls out.

Next time on bering sea gold.

[kris] the baby could come
pretty much any time
right now,

so we need to get as much
gold as we can today.

We need to k*ll ourselves
to get that gold.

Where you at gold? Right.

Oh!

This is the spot.

Time to make some money
right now.

[man]
we're on the best ground

that we've seen
since we've been in nome.

[man speaking]

oh, come on.

[man]
ready to get on a new hole.

[man] I love it.
So glad we're out here.

[man] I know
we'll find some gold.
I can feel it, dude.

-[man] all right.
-Heck, yeah. Booyah.

Hi, baby.
Oh, she's cute.