02x09 - Don't Tell Me to Chillax!

[bunniefuu]

Tenhoff: in nome,
reputation is everything.

Vernon: you can't
depend on him.

And when he is here,
he's non-productive.

If you're a screw-up,
it will haunt you.

I don't have a crew left.

Everybody bailed.

Tenhoff:
it's not acceptable at all.

She needs to know her place.

[Bleep] idiot.
What are you doing?!

[Bleep] people
are watching!

Tenhoff:
but if you get on gold...

Moen: [bleep] record
[bleep] right there.

Tenhoff:
...if you never give up...

Steve p.:
Oh, yeah, baby.

Look at this.

The mother lode.

Tenhoff:
...people will remember.

[ "Gold in these hills" plays ]

♪ Listen up close, now ♪

♪ What I say ♪

♪ I'm a-gonna head out west
one day ♪

♪ I heard about a fortune
to be made ♪

♪ And I'm a-gonna get it,
now, just you wait ♪

♪ 'Cause I heard
that there's gold ♪

♪ In these hills ♪

--Captions by vitac --
www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪ Gold ♪

Narrator:
nome, alaska.

Shawn: I see a lot of people
going home with broken hearts

And no gold in their pocket.

Narrator: the summer's
gold-dredging season

Is one of the worst on record.

The weather's so bad.

It's my worst nightmare.

I feel like I'm headed
straight towards failure.

Narrator: some have already quit
the hunt for gold.

You take care, man.
Yeah. You, too, bud.

You can take the bering sea
and stick it up your a*s.

Narrator: but for the miners
sticking it out...

Time to get some gold.

Narrator: ...the time to
turn the season around is now.

It's hard,
but we're still doing it,

And we'll keep doing it until
we get on the friggin' gold.

Steve r.: Windows
of good weather like this --

They're few and far between.

I think we're gonna get
some dredging done today.

[ Laughs ]

Narrator: while the fleet
gets after the gold...

At vernon adkison's trailer...

Vernon: you know,
looking at the numbers here,

The numbers tell the tale.

...the dredge owner
is giving diver steve riedel

A performance review.

Right now, you're producing
about half as much as daryl.

We got 30 years of mining
on his side and 1 year on mine.

So, I'm up to 50%.

I should actually
maybe feel proud.

[ Sighs ]

So far this season...

They're washing all their gold
right out the box.

[Bleep]

Narrator: ...steve has been
one of vernon's many problems.

oh, damn.

well, I guess we absolutely
couldn't be more [bleep]

No, listen!

What I'm telling you is,
I got business, right?

Otherwise, get on the plane
and get the hell out of here!

Narrator:
but on his flagship,

The underperforming diver
is an issue he has to solve.

We'll just have to see
how that develops.

whoa, whoa, whoa.

This isn't happening,
I don't think.

I'm not
seeing any gold.

Vernon: bottom line is,
divers got to produce.

The boat cannot support
an unproductive diver.

Vernon:
at this point in the season,

I'm half a million
into this operation.

The math is not looking good.

It's unacceptable.

Things have got to change.

Narrator:
with the season 2/3 over,

Vernon is 75 ounces
from the 100 ounces he needs

Just to stay in business.

My goal
is to keep my job.

And even though
I'm in competition

With a 30-year miner diver,
I'm up for the task.

Right now,
it's reaching critical mass

As far as my finances
are concerned.

Right.

Bottom line is, it's produce
or find a new business address.

It's just
a matter of survival.

Okay.

Vernon's continually
done this to me.

He totally depreciates me.

But I got the hint.

Whether it's valid or not,
I don't know.

I really don't.

I have a hard time
gauging my own amount of work

That I do down there
because of my inexperience.

If I can't produce, vernon's
gonna take me off the boat.

It's like "produce or get out."

And I'm -- heck, I'm...

I'm all about that.

Narrator:
on the other side of town...

I love you.
Love you, too.

Dad's going.

You have fun in anchorage
with your mom, okay?

Okay.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.
Love you, sweetheart.

Shawn pomrenke
is leaving his family

To start serving a jail sentence
for his d.u.i.

Shawn: you come out
on the christine rose,

I think grandpa
will give you a few nuggets

For working on there.

Yeah,
I bet he would.

Shawn:
I'm getting stressed out.

I know I'm going to jail,

And I got all these people
that look at me

To find enough gold
to support them.

I got "the brady bunch."

I got --
I'm supporting eight kids.

I got to
go to the slammer.

I guess
I'll see you in a week.

Hey, speaking of grandpa,
there he is.

Narrator:
while shawn's headed to jail,

His father is headed to work.

Steve p.: Shawn's spending
a few days in the crowbar hotel.

It's very disappointing.

You know,
drinking and driving too much

And, you know,
just too much damn drinking.

And I think it's really gonna
teach him a lesson about that.

Narrator:
for the christine rose,

Shawn's absence
comes at the worst time --

Only 24 hours before their
$205,000 land payment is due.

Steve p.:
We got to make this land payment

To secure our complex out there.

We've just been
renting this land.

If I don't buy this ground
right now,

The owners might come in
and say,

"You got to get out of here."

Let's get
the [bleep] digging.

[ Beeping ]

Yeah!

We're in good material here.

Narrator: the christine rose
has already put in 70 hours

On this honey hole.

That's the sound of money, baby!

Tickety-tickety-tickety-tickety!

Narrator: now under the g*n
and short-handed,

They have to hope the ground
yields close to 120 ounces

To pay for their compound.

Steve p.:
We're doing 24-hour-a-day work.

You got to push all your iron
right to the maximum

To get the land payment.

Moen:
it's go time.

We got this
frickin' land payment coming

And small weather window
and no time to do it.

So, we got to all come together
and work together.

The whole crew
lives out on the property

That steve's securing for us.

So, you know, it's not just
affecting steve and shawn.

It's affecting all of us.

You know, I think of steve
and shawn pomrenke as a family.

Shawn's going to jail,
and I know it hurts steve

To see his kid
getting put away like that.

Shawn:
heading to jail to do my time.

Kind of an experience
I could have done without.

But I screwed up,
so time to pay the piper.

Steve p.:
We will adapt and overcome.

I'll get cody on there.

He'll make it work.

One way or the other,
you got to make it work up here.

First.

That's seven days
with good time, right?

Yeah, we have to have shawn
on the team.

We can't have shawn
running the christine rose

At a correctional facility.

He's going to
the [bleep] penitentiary.

I mean, he's gonna be in the big
[bleep] house with the big boys.

So, it's scary.

I can't even imagine what
he's going through right now.

The district court
of the second judicial district

In nome, alaska,
is now in session.

Shawn: 10 days out of the season
is 10 days wasted.

Feel like
I'm leaving everybody hanging.

Disappointing my kids, family.

It sucks.

Narrator:
on the wild ranger...

Vernon:


A record!

Narrator:
...lead diver daryl galipeau

Wraps his longest dive
of the season.

Steve r.: I'm gonna go
put my suit on.

I'll be right there.

Galipeau:
this is the best dredging day.

If we can get
a few more hours in,

We'll actually have
a decent clean-up here.

You know,
if we hammered ground like this,

We could make the goals
that we've set for the season.

You gonna
take apart the box now?

Yeah.

Dump its contents into buckets,
and then I'll go diving.

Steve r.:
Vernon has come up with an idea

That he thinks will determine
whether I'm getting the gold.

We're gonna clean out the front
of the box after every diver.

There is some concern that
I'm not as productive as daryl,

And I guess this is the way
he's addressing it.

That's a wild thing.

It's totally,
actually somewhat crazy.

Oh, yeah.

Look at that. Holy...

Elaine:
how nice. Yep.

Wait. Oh, I see.
There's some specks.

There's some gold there
right on the surface,

Which means there's probably
a lot more gold underneath.

So, it's a good sign.

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

No,
I've been on gold.

Narrator: for steve riedel,
a high bar has been set.

Daryl dove 8 1/2 hours.

That's a pretty long dive.

I'm ready to punch it out,
you know?

I'm not a slouch here.

I'm not the loose cannon,

Or I'm not the weak link
that they think I am.

[ Air hissing ]

get after it. Get the gold.

work hard. Be efficient.

know how to handle the nozzle.

Hey, steve,
I noticed you're in the vicinity

That daryl was
before he came up here.

You seeing good gold down there?

alls I got to do
is hang around here

and work hard for six,
seven hours.

life will be good.

Galipeau:
steve is treating the hose

Like it's gonna
bring the gold in itself.

I just cleaned out
that whole area.

Steve's down there dredging in
the hole I've already cleaned.

If he doesn't
get into some fresh ground,

He's not gonna make it.

That's because
he doesn't have the gumption

To look around for a new spot.

It's kind of easy territory
because of, you know,

Given daryl's experience
and prowess,

It's kind of a given
that it's gonna be good ground.

Galipeau:
steve's supposed to be

The other half
of the dive team here.

If he's down there
and he's not in anything,

It affects our bottom line
really hard.

you know, alls I got to do
is hang around here, work hard.

this means
i get to keep my job.

i think I'll be able
to keep my job now.

get after it.

get the gold.

work hard. Be efficient.

Narrator:


[Bleep] yeah, dude,
that's awesome.

That's sweet.

...diver john bunce has been
on the gold for four hours.

Bunce: it's the best gold
i've seen on this lease.

We're on good gold,
and everything's running good,

And the weather's holding.

Things couldn't be going better.

Narrator:
so far this season...

Tenhoff: this year, they're just
throwing the book at me.

It's like there's a neon sign
on my dredge

That says to the agencies,
"come [bleep] with me."

Narrator:
...permit problems...

Tenhoff: john tried
to swim out to the boat.

Oh, my [bleep] god.

Narrator: ...and a dysfunctional
crew of friends...

I never
promised you anything!

I never [bleep]
promised you [bleep]

...have left
captain zeke tenhoff

Well short
of his 400-ounce goal.

But...

[ Laughs ]

Probably not. [ Laughs ]

Narrator: now with good weather
and gold-rich ground,

Zeke's hoping to make up
for lost time...

[ Both laugh ]

...by running two dredges.

Tenhoff: my little brother gabe
and my friend grant

Are gonna run the clark for me.

This weather's
not gonna last forever,

So we need to be more on it.

The dredge owners expect me

To get 300 or 400 ounces
this season.

I know I'm gonna
feel like a failure

If I don't at least
get close to that.

And I'm not close to it yet.

You know, prepare yourself.

We're gonna make our money for
the year right here, I think.

I think we should
just push ourselves

And get ourselves
in really good shape.

Come on.
We're only young once.

There are no more excuses left.

The only thing between me
and a lot of gold

Is how hard I can work.

The ocean
doesn't owe you anything.

Bunce: I'm gonna take the skiff
down to the clark.

I'm taking over
for john.

Narrator: while john motors over
to check in with the clark...

I'm hoping to get a good
five or six hours in myself.

Narrator: ...zeke gears up
for his first dive of the day.

[ Air hissing ]

look at all this gold
right here.

look at that.

it's ridiculous.

i mean, look at all
those [bleep] pieces of gold.

there's no way I could count
all those pieces of gold.

Hey,
hold on a second.

What the [bleep]
is john doing?

Oh, my god.
Oh, my god.

The skiff is without a driver,

And there's somebody
swimming away from the skiff

Toward the clark.

Hey, zeke, I don't know
what the hell happened

Over in clark world,

But the skiff is without
a driver and drifting this way.

And there is somebody swimming
from the skiff to the clark.

okay,
i got to come up.

what the [bleep]
is going on over there?

i have no [bleep] clue what
the [bleep] is going on, dude.

What the [bleep]

Where's the swimmer?

They got picked up
by the clark.

I'm gonna put on a life jacket
and swim over there,

'Cause that's
a [bleep] $10,000 boat.

Yeah.

Emily:
put your hood on.

I don't want to do this.

What are you doing?!

What are you doing?!

Narrator:
on the edge...

What are you doing?!

[Bleep]

What are you doing?!

...diver john bunce
lets zeke's $10,000 skiff

Break free of the clark...

All right.

...and it's quickly
drifting away.

Zeke, zeke,
zeke, zeke, zeke.

I'm really upset.

Zeke, zeke, zeke,
just slow down, okay?

Wait, wait,
wait, zeke. I just --

Wait, wait.
Slow down, zeke.

Zeke, I just turned off
the air compressor.

You can't go down yet.

Just give me
two seconds.

Like, you need to
slow the [bleep] down, dude.

Slow the [bleep] down.

Tenhoff: I got to go tie a rope
onto the nozzle,

Pull the nozzle up,
pull the anchors on the edge,

Go rescue the skiff.

John didn't tie it up
to the clark,

And they're not going to get it.

I don't know what they're doing.

Narrator: the clark scrambles
to get after the skiff,

But zeke can't wait.

[ Air hissing ]

all right.
you have that rope, emily?

rope is coming.
standby.

hurry up.

Before they can
chase down the skiff,

Zeke and emily have to pull up
both the hose and the anchor.

[Bleep]

[Bleep]

[Bleep]

[Bleep]

We need to move the dredge
in order to get it out.

It's, like, completely caught
underneath the dredge.

We were trying to haul a*s
to get the gear out of the water

So we could go get it.

And now the clark managed to get
their [bleep] outboard working,

And they're gonna get it.

Tenhoff: the thing
that's so frustrating to me

Is they're being [bleep]

And I'm responsible for them
while they're out here.

Why don't they [bleep]
communicate with us?

Those [bleep]

All right.

What goes on out here,
like, this far out of town,

As far as this operation,
all the liability falls on me.

And john's already
[bleep] up big time once,

And it really
made things hard on me.

It almost shut our season down,
the scrutiny we were put under.

[Bleep] john goes off
and does something stupid again,

And I can't --

It's just --
I'm really frustrated.

Dude, I'm under
a lot of scrutiny here.

We can't have [bleep]
jackassery like that going on.

It makes my blood pressure
go insane.

If the operation fails
because of a stupid decision,

It's my fault.

It's not john's fault.
He can just walk away.

And I don't think
it's really clicked with him

That there's a lot at stake.

And this is a serious operation.

You can't --
you can't [bleep] up like that.

Tenhoff:
we got this.

Why don't you
just go home?

Narrator:
on the christine rose...

We're gonna try and get the last
five or six hours here today.

Narrator: ...the pomrenke crew
is 14 hours away

From losing their nome compound.

Well, we've been up and running
for like 80 hours now.

We're gonna try and dig
as much as we can,

And then we're going to
do a clean-up tonight.

Narrator: but with over 80 hours
on the sluice box,

Steve pomrenke is betting
his hot spot can pay the bills.

Steve p.: I need at least


Got to be a gambler
to be a gold miner.

The guys that work for it --

They're the ones
that are gonna gain.

The ones that aren't afraid
to take the gamble --

They're the ones
that are gonna gain.

If we don't come up
with this money,

I don't know
where I'm gonna fricking live.

Did a little poking around,
a little searching,

And I got back
on this rocky reef.

Like, just loaded in here,
and there's no sand or nothing.

It's just all big rock
and gravel.

This [bleep] should be
holding some serious gold.

Looks like we're digging
about an ounce or two an hour.

If you can see here
in my bucket,

That's that rock I'm talking
about -- a nice, round rock.

And then you can see
those chunks of clay

Falling out
of the bucket right there.

That's the bottom.
That's the hard pan.

That's where the gold's at, man.

Realistically, that scoop
was only about 1/4 full

Of a bucket, but there was
probably $300 or $400 in gold.

Lord only knows if we got a good
chunk of this land payment

Laying in this sluice box
right now.

I'm hoping we got
a hell of a slug towards it.

But how much exactly,
I don't know.

We're gonna take a peek.

It can look sexy as hell,

But it don't mean that there's
going to be any gold in it.

Oh, yeah, baby!

Look at this.
Look at this.

Yellow, yellow, yellow.
Big time.

Oh, we're stacking it in now,
aren't we?

Yeah. Mole.

Yeah, it's building up
down here, too.

Look at this, steve.

Holy [bleep]

The mother lode,
dude.

We're in the cheese now,
baby.

We have to stay
on this rock pile.

Yes, let's go!
Let's go, let's go.

Dig, dig!

We're wasting
valuable time.

Narrator:
seven miles up the coast...

What john does,
essentially, we do.

And I can understand
why zeke was so angry.

And now I'm angry.

Narrator: ...after losing hours
chasing down a runaway skiff...

What are you doing?!

Sorry about that.

Narrator:
...zeke is back on the bottom...

...but off the gold.

Everything was fine

Before this [bleep] clark
and skiff situation happened.

Now I'm all
[bleep] stressed out.

not only did we lose two hours,

but we got completely
shoved off our spot.

so, we're pretty much --

pretty much
just blown the whole day.

the dredge is in the middle
of a huge sand island.

we just need to be moved
towards the front anchor.

start at outboard and follow me
with the outboard.

Narrator: hopelessly behind
his 400-ounce season goal,

Zeke wants to save time
by having emily move the dredge

While he's still underwater.

If you can't find a spot to
mine, we should just pull up.

no, I don't agree
with you.

Yeah, well,
I agree with me.

In the spirit of safety,
ezekiel,

I'm not comfortable

With [bleep] doing
all this anchor maneuvering.

All anchor maneuvering,
while you're underwater,

While there's
only one tender.

Emily: zeke doesn't have
a danger radar.

Zeke's danger radar might go off
when zeke is dying or dead.

Fine. If you want to move, you
can come up and move yourself.

i'm not happy.

because I don't like --
it's not that, zeke.

because I am not comfortable,
and the safety --

Don't [bleep] tell me
to chillax

When you're just [bleep]
freaking the [bleep] out!

you're being
really stubborn.

you're being
really obstinate.

You know what? I didn't
[bleep] the skiff today.

I didn't like [bleep] go to,
like, socialize on the clark.

I've been
tending all day.

You know what?

I didn't do anything,
and you're blaming me for it.

no,
you're being obstinate.

all right.
i'm coming up.

Why are you coming up?

It's good
to have another voice in my ear

Telling me that the situation
might be getting dangerous.

I'm sorry
I lost my [bleep]

Not cool.
That's okay.

I mean,
I was pretty pissed off, too.

I just didn't want you
to dive that pissed off

Because you get pissed off
and you forget things.

Safety things.

Get back on the bottom.

Narrator: 7 1/2 miles away
on the wild ranger...

dig deep. Make it happen.

Narrator: ...diver steve riedel
is dredging for his job.

Vernon: we're gonna do a series
of upper-box clean-outs

After each dive.

And then that way,

We will be able to quantify
what each diver is producing.

And if steve is not cutting it,
he's out of here.

oh, there's a little flake
right there.

this little guy.

there he goes.

whee! Right into the box.

whoa.

Yeah, there, steve,
how's it going down there?

well, I'm pretty sure
i'm on the gold.

i'm just
rocking and rolling.

Yeah, okay, steve,
I'm hearing you, buddy.

I'm hearing you.

Vernon: well, I hope steve
stays on the gold down there.

Daryl had good luck.

He was pleased
with the way the box looked,

And hopefully,
steve will continue with it.

You know, there's good gold
in my clean-up,

I can tell you that.

You know, dad and daryl have
certain expectations of him.

He needs to pull his weight.

Put up or shut up.

Narrator:
steve calls it quits

After only three hours
on the bottom,

Less than half
of daryl's dive time.

Yeah.

So, I just can't see
a damn thing.

I can't even see the boat
from right there.

Bad viz down there.

Whoo-hoo.

Steve r.: I feel confident
there is gold in there.

I'm seeing some gold down there,

But I'm not really
looking for it.

Daryl found it,
so I'm just following it.

I'll look.

And "oh, yeah,
it's still there."

Did you find
the main hole or...?

I think I did.

The main hole,
yeah.

Because I found the main
deposition pile, too.

Oh.
Tailings pile.

Sorry. Tailings pile.

Galipeau: what he got
is gonna be in a bucket,

And what I got's
gonna be in a bucket.

And we're gonna see who got
the gold during our dive.

Narrator: steve gets to work
rinsing his miner's moss,

Hoping it's filled with gold.

It doesn't
look too good.

Mainly because
I can't see any gold.

And that's why we came here,
all of us.

Vernon: it looked like
steve's just down there

Blindly sucking up dirt.

You can suck up
all the dirt in the ocean,

And if you're not on the gold,

There's not gonna be anything
in the box.

A piece of gold.

There's one.
Cool.

Yeah.
I don't know.

It doesn't look good.

Huh?

There is no gold
in there.

No, I saw one.

Well, okay. Yeah. One.

I hope my "make it or break it"
thing with the ranger

Is not on the first try.

[ Coughing ]

I can't see
what he's doing under there,

But I can see the results.

He's not really
putting that much into it.

And unless
you put something into it,

You're not gonna get anything
out of it.

Which, in my case,
it's getting to be critical.

Narrator:
in nome harbor...

We had to move pretty close
to 30,000 tons of dirt

To get this gold.

Narrator: ...time has run out
for the christine rose.

Gold! Gold! It's all mine!

[ Laughs ]

We'll see what's
in the bottom of this tub.

Narrator: to secure
the financing on their compound,

The pomrenkes
need over seven pounds of gold.

Steve p.: There's almost
too much gold in there.

I can't sift it no more.

Now it goes
to the clean-up shack.

We brought nine buckets here.

We got them dumped into
that galvanized tub there.

Now we're going to
feed them into our shaker

And our long tom
and our centrifuge

And get it broken down
till we have just one bucket.

Gold fever, dude.

Now we're panning off
what came out of the centrifuge.

We got to reduce it down
to pure yellow,

Or it's a whole lot of work.

Give me that magnet
for a second.

The magnet takes out
all the magnetic garbage.

Garbage.

Moen: are you gonna make the
land payment, steve, or what?

We certainly got a big chunk
of the land payment here.

I don't know
if we got it all, but...

Moen: all the fine gold I'm
running through the wheel here.

And this is -- usually comes out
about 95% clean out of this,

So...

This is a lot of gold.

Holy [bleep]

See, last year, steve would have
never let me do this.

You almost get to that point

To where you can't
trust anybody anyhow.

Steve p.:
But you know what, cody?

I'll always trust you,
no matter what.

Even if --

I'll never
steal from you.

I promise you that.

I was raised
better than that.

My dad ever heard about me
stealing a nugget or anything,

He would k*ll me.

Even now.

Even though I'm grown.

Steve p.: Yep.
He'd still k*ll you?

He would
[bleep] k*ll me.

He would trick me
into coming over or something,

And then he'd beat me.

Steve p.: Oh,
that's a good old man.

[ Laughs ]

Boy, oh, boy.

This is looking good.

It's starting to dry out
a little bit now.

Going to take a little while,
though.

This is a lot of [bleep] gold.

It really is.

On the christine rose,

We deal with gold
in poundage, not ounces.

Narrator:
for the christine rose crew,

The moment of truth has arrived.

Kenny,
the buyer.

Hey, guys. How's it going?

Hey, kenny.

Let's take her in
and see what we got.

Awesome.

Narrator:
at the pomrenke clean-up shack,

Steve and cody stand by,

Hoping they're close to
the $205,000 in gold they need

To make their land payment.

Steve p.:
Come on. Come to papa.

Oh, yeah, baby.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
Whoa, baby!

Narrator:
at its current price,


Is worth a $198,000.

Close enough.

Steve p.: That's what
it's all about, baby.

You have to gamble
and go for that wanderlust.

Holy [bleep]

You know, that exceptional
treasure-hunting day

When you hit the mother lode.

That's [bleep]
record [bleep] right there.

Shawn's gonna be
[bleep] a brick.

Hughes:
northwest gold.

Okay, sir.

Thanks,
kenny, again.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

[ Wind whistling ]

Narrator: as growing winds
send the rest of the fleet

Back to port...

Had to scrape and dig and scrape
and dig, but we got it.

Narrator: ...steve heads out
to clear their debt.

Man:
it's all done?

You have check?

$205,000.

Yes.

And that's payable to?

Alaska gold company, llc.

Thank you very much.
Thank you.

Well, that feels pretty good.

I'm looking at --
that's our chunk.

Might still be some gold
on there, too, yet.

Narrator:
with dredging on hold...

Today's the big
panning contest day.

Narrator:
...the fleet gathers

To crown a new champion
of gold panning.

Man: take a chance
at panning some gold.

What's the competition like?

They put three nuggets
in a pan of dirt.

Ready, set, go!

Steve p.: And you got to
get them out of there

The fastest you possibly can.

And then you got to put them
into a little jar,

And then that's
when you call time.

Done!

Narrator: veteran steve pomrenke
is the odds-on favorite to win.

You confident?

I have a second-place trophy
sitting on the wall.

Oh, do you? Okay.

I lost by only 1/4 of a second,
so I'm hoping.

You're pretty confident.
[ Laughs ]

Announcer:
steve pomrenke.

One, two, three, go!

Oh [bleep]

Excuse my language.

Quit shaking them fingers.

You got to
get the lid.

Got to have the lid on?

Yep. No. Time.

Next! Zeke tenhoff.

Ready, set, go!

Time.

Yeah!
Hey.

Go!

Cody moen.

Christine pomrenke.

West beach buddy.

Emily riedel.

Ready, set, go!

Last but not least, john bunce.

Emily:
come on, bunce.

Whoo!

Tenhoff: I think
he beat me.

Whoo!

That was fast, man.

I think
you beat my time.


Anything in the 20s?

We got a 20?
So, that's first place.

What do you got next
on yours?

Now for the winners.

Third place, cody. Okay.

[ Cheers and applause ]

Second place
is west beach buddy.

The shortest beach miner
in nome.

[ Laughs ]

Good job.
And the tallest.

Yeah, really.

Announcer: first place with


Yeah, john.

Be fair with the trophies here

And maybe we can
get a setup picture.

Thank you, sir.
Oh, it's a pleasure.

I got
my first panning plaque.

This is the best day
of my entire life.

Yeah? I'm not
high-fiving you.

[ Laughter ]

Hey, don't be
a sore loser, dude.

All right.

[ Laughter ]

Narrator: two hours later
at vernon adkison's trailer,

The results of steve riedel's

And daryl galipeau's
head-to-head dive are in.

Vernon: well, we've done
the upper-box clean-ups,

And it's pretty obvious
right now

That your production
is lagging behind daryl's.

Oh, okay.

He got 3.2 ounces,
and you got .246 ounces.

I was not expecting that.

Your production
has got to be up.

It's unacceptable.

But I'd like to
stick with what I got.

I mean, I know you, and I know
the content of your character.

Yeah.

So, I want to make sure that
I give you a fair shot at this.

I am
a neophyte gold miner,

So I appreciate
the vote of confidence and --

Well, bottom line, steve,
is, you got to be productive.

Yeah.

Narrator:
in the next room

Cleaning up three weeks
of wild ranger gold...

He's giving steve
another chance,

And I'm just thinking,
"oh, my god."

Steve is not
producing enough gold

To justify vern keeping him.

Steve r.: Daryl,
we had some nuggets in here.

Where'd the nuggets go?

There's some
fantastic nuggets in here.

Galipeau:
hey, hey, hey.

No.

No?
No. That's a no.

You don't need to pour it out
in your hand.

And I'll get on you
every [bleep] time.

I'll get on anyone.
All right.

Galipeau:
that's [bleep] stupidity.

Steve r.: Okay.

The reason
you don't do that --

You don't perfectly
get all the finds out of that.

I mean, I realize
you don't know what you're doing

Around this stuff.

But, you know, maybe you
ought to ask someone

Before you do
something stupid like that.

It's always fun
working around worms.

What does that mean?

Worms?

It's a term
we use in the oil field

For people
who don't know anything

About what
they're trying to do.

Okay.

I'm trying to worm my way
into the gold business.

I'm a worm.

[ Sighs ]

Sorry.
[ Chuckles ]

Just telling it
like it is.

Steve r.:
I'm a worm, according to him.

You know, the fact that
he handles the gold

In the same way apparently,
you know, misses his perception.

So, you know, I'm just targeted.

It's all right.
It's a big whatever.

Galipeau: there's no reason
for steve to even be here.

I'm basically
handling this clean-up.

I guess that's what he figures
he can do, is, you know,

Show us how stupid he is.

[ Chuckles ]

Narrator:
back in nome harbor...

Bunce: I'm pretty much
the best gold miner

On the face of the earth,
essentially.

I mean, you know,
I was just panning,

But panning's
a direct reflection of,

You know, how much
you value gold and hard work.

Narrator:
...a 1.6-ounce clean-up

And a first-place trophy smooth
over a trip full of mishaps.

You know, I'm the best
gold panner in nome.

In nome.

[ Laughs ]

Yeah, I'll let you ride this
for the next year, you know.

I'll let you ride it.

You needed a little pick-me-up,
I guess.

Narrator: the christine rose's


Is more than double
the season total for the edge,

wild ranger,
and anchor management combined.

Vernon:
weather's kicking up.

Boats are going in.

Well, I'm gonna stick it out
till the bitter end.

I don't have a crew left.
Everybody bailed.

[ Voice breaking ]
you know, I feel like

I don't [bleep] have anything
really [bleep] to offer.

Man: i just witnessed someone
commit suicide.

Tenhoff: he answered the door
with a loaded .44

And pulled the trigger.