Alerted to the situation by Raw, series producer Christo Doyle set up a "war room" as the cameras rolled. S: That's a great question, we get it a lot. Airing in the slot behind Gold Rush, it had helped Discovery dominate the Friday night cable ratings. The next few years were good for Wright and Lomu, who often exchanged tips about real estate deals. It shows A side of us, and we're hoping to show another side with you guys. 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. By this time, Ghanas mining industry was in chaos, with Al Jazeera reporting on the dangers of illegal mining, fuelled by widespread corruption. Jed Lipinski is a staff writer for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. There is no such thing as an emergency with a diagnosis of autism. Who gave you permission to work here? Akwesi demands, before tackling the crews Ghanaian security guard. And yes, I have heard many of them are gone. Clint Mishleau, the Companys CEO, stated, We are very pleased to have Watch the Run For the Border episode. Wally was convinced it would happen, Wright said. The first thing George and I thought when we landed in Ghana was, "I thought WE had problems". Have you ever seen the show 'Gold Rush'? He is from . The camera catches a masked African man dashing into the jungle, a submachine gun in one hand and Lomus gold bar in the other. Months after the evacuation, I found him playing cards beside one of Wright and Lomus $2,000 canvas tents, which hed been living in since they left. Upon meeting me, hed asked hopefully if I was with Raw, heralding the return of Jungle Gold. The two Americans will be tracked down and arrested, a Ghanaian official declared. The program reports on currently classified intelligence seized during the May 2, 2011, raid on bin Ladens compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan (pictured above the day after the raid), and is narrated by NBC News correspondent Harry Smith. George Wright in 'Jungle Gold' Photo courtesy of Discovery Channel. There is no law against foreigners mining in Ghana, anyone can mine in Ghana granted they use a licensed agent. Wright and Lomu step out to investigate. The reality stars of Jungle Gold on the Discovery Channel (DStv 121) face fines, arrest and even possible imprisonment over charges of alleged brutality and illegal mining in Ghana, with the Ghanaian government which now wants to see Scott Lomu and George Wright apprehended and arrested. The robbery scene was intense but definitely felt like the video was pulled off a little too well. Thats when we realized our tragedy was good for the show, Lomu said. How Does the CBS True Lies Series Compare to James Camerons 1994 Movie. Within minutes, the team slipped through customs and boarded a 30-passenger jet chartered by Discovery. It sounded like they were the target. Around 2.75 million viewers tuned in, making it the fourth most popular primetime cable show that Friday night. According to government records, the Minerals Commissions district officer in Dunkwa had discovered Raw filming a mining site without its owners consent. Get a job, get a life, get real. Wright and Lomu found it hard to watch. I made a killing, he said. Wright quickly ends the fight by locking the farmer in a chokehold, causing him to pass out. Phone calls from furious Ghanaian expatriates poured in. The crew had received press accreditation from the Information Services Department, he said. Lomu signaled for the check. Laborers were shown polluting water bodies with mercury, which is used to recover gold from other minerals. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. In April 2013, it premiered on Ghanaian TV. Language. In June, they produced a series of short videos to show prospective investors. As chronicled in their And were kind of a fast-paced, explosive show, and I do think we attract a little bit younger audience. It was tempting, but it didnt make sense: Anyone could sell gold to the state-run Precious Minerals and Marketing Company for just 2% under the global price. Yeah, I just about hate the leads of #JUNGLEGOLD 8 min in. I like him every once in a while (laughs) its just really hard to trust him. The Friday audience is a different audience. Stars of Jungle Gold, George Wright and Scott Lomu, join MSNBC's Alex Witt to talk about their show. Discovery had ordered 12 episodes, Wright said, but their abbreviated stay produced only enough material for six. On the morning of May 11, the cast and crew arrived at Kotoka International Airport. Youre doing this all for your families. At the time, Wright and Lomu brawny, clean-living Mormons from Utah were in the midst of shooting Jungle Golds second season. By paying for excavators and local laborers, foreign investors could split the gold profits with the companys owner. Runtime. But no one seemed to recognize them. Every other cab driver offered to sell them gold at what they claimed were heavily discounted rates. He reappears with a gold bar he claims is worth $75,000. In 2010, they and a friend, Wally Macias, invested in a small operation and took turns flying out to work there. Wright and Lomu had never imagined they would end up mining for gold in Ghana. 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. (The agency did not respond to questions about the status of its investigation.). Primary Income source American Football Player (profession). Lomu knew his friend had experienced post-traumatic stress from his tours in Afghanistan. In April 2013, six months after its U.S. premiere, Jungle Golds first season had debuted in Ghana on DStv, an African satellite network with 8 million subscribers. Last modified on Sat 2 Jul 2022 00.15 EDT. BLOCK! But regardless of their portrayal onscreen, Wright and Lomu believed they had done more good than harm in Ghana. It was time to bail out. We were very happy with them, he said. Despite the possibility of work in Accra, hed stayed in Fahiakobo after the cast and crew fled, guarding the stars tent and praying for their return. Additionally, Mr. Lomu has been appointed as Chairman of the Companys 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? Just goes to show how really gullible Hollywood thinks the viewing public is. So they turn to other means. Weve always felt like maybe we need to have the production company subtitle him with truth. Bottom line, hes surprised us in a lot of good ways, and hes surprised us in a lot of bad ways, as youll see in the season to come. They stop mining, protecting the environment and local communities. 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. Once we did, we got back in touch with him and he had land available still, and from there it was just kind of the beginning of Im not going to say a beautiful relationship, because Im not a huge fan of Dave. Coincidentally, Discovery had recently reserved a Russian helicopter to take aerial shots of Wright and Lomus new excavator as it trundled into Fahiakobo. As a nationwide manhunt ensued, Discovery ordered Wright, Lomu, and the shows 20-person British film crew to evacuate Domenase and head to the airport in the capital city of Accra. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. 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 . The spinoff series follows the miners from the jungles of South America, to the mountains of Alaska, to the Klondike. In 2009, Macias was working as a private security contractor in Afghanistan, but hed grown tired of war zones. We didnt think it would make us look cool and it certainly didnt.. TV-PG. What is behind the allure of gold mining? George: We met him towards the end of our last little stint out there. Email. (Raw declined to comment on the incident.) Wright and Lomu have a plan for a new reality show, about mining and selling gold and their home lives. The California gold rush of the mid19th century coincided with the Mormon pioneers arrival in Utah. They explain better he is a broker. A short video about the incident appeared months later on Discoverys website. Wright caught malaria. I hate Todd fat arse lazy Hoffman because hes a total tool, I cant hate these guys, I just scratch my head at their stupidity and hope Discovery will stop insulting our intelligence and cancel this ridiculous show. At the moment I jumped in, he was right over [our security guard] and was going to push his head underwater. 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 Once the show ended, they pursued a few of the offers, but nothing came of them. Is it worth all the effort and danger youre going through? We do answer questions and stay in touch here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFDu1cQjqGaj-3wBYavW1Hg/videos. Gold prices were high, getting equipment was cheap. Around the time Lomu saw himself on TV, Evans Mensah was channel-surfing in his Accra apartment when an image of bright green cocoa trees filled the screen. In April 2015, they were hired by Utah-based mining company Ensurge to share their mining expertise in Guyana and help attract investors. 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. On Oct. 26, 2012, the night of the U.S. premiere, Wrights extended family gathered around the TV in his living room in Eagle Mountain, Utah, a predominantly Mormon town an hour outside Salt Lake City. Reece informed him that an armed militia had just attacked a group of miners near Wright and Lomus former mining site in Romaso. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . George Wright: Theres a lot of entrepreneurs out there that get in touch with us. Prior to the fight, locals had regarded the cast and crew with friendly curiosity. Near the bottom, he noticed a message from his brother Bill. As methodical and reserved as Wright is impulsive and outspoken, Lomu, eight years Wrights senior, was raised outside Phoenix. Lomu learned what he needed to know about reality TV, put . 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. One of them was Wright, whose entrepreneurial drive and years in South America Lomu saw as an asset. If you take any human being out to a site where theres gold, and give him a shovel and they find gold there, theyll say, Give me more shovels, give me more people! Because its really quite addictive once you catch it. Were more committed now than we ever have been. They have hatched a radical plan to turn things around; mining for gold. Second Point, the amount of catastrophic failures the show incures is absurd, there are moments in the show a viewer can easily spot a setup. It looked like their foray into mining was over until they stumbled across Discoverys Alaskan mining reality show, Gold Rush. Despite their failures, the pair remain hopeful for the future. Then the Joy Midday News came on TV. Sat 07 May PG-VL. What happens when a government shuts down an illegal camp is it basically displaces 80-100 local young men who no longer have a job. Net Worth in 2021. The stage is being set for a redemptive second season of Jungle Gold, they wrote. And though Mormons make up less than a quarter of 1% of Ghanas 25 million people, they hold a strong symbolic presence in the country. When the cast and crew arrived on the first day of filming, however, they found it crawling with Chinese miners. In 2011, Scott Lomu saw the Discovery channel TV show Gold Rush and was perplexed that it was a hit. George Wright has been appointed as Vice President of Public Relations and Scott Lomu as Vice President of Investor Relations. It was a life or death situation.. Genre Man vs. When Doyle learned the arrest warrant had been extended to the crew, he called for an immediate evacuation. Private security contractor in Afghanistan, but hed grown tired of war zones of May 11, the Minerals district! Lomu saw the Discovery Channel TV show gold Rush and was perplexed that it was a hit quickly ends fight. Series producer Christo Doyle set up a `` war room '' as the cameras rolled we need have. And was perplexed that it was a hit found it crawling with Chinese miners midst! Eight years Wrights senior, was raised outside Phoenix show prospective investors of portrayal. 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