Freddy Dodge and Juan Ibarra have hit the road once again for Gold Rush Mine Rescue. And with prices at historic highs, the stakes are higher than ever. Not just for them, but the people they’re looking to help. Many who have nowhere to turn and are on the brink of financial ruin hope the two can help turn things around for them. For Season 5 of the Discovery Channel spin-off, Dodge and Ibarra head throughout North America to help these miners climb out of the rubble.
They have a successful track record lined with gold, meshing Ibarra’s mechanic skills alongside Dodge’s troubleshooting abilities. First on the itinerary is the Yukon during the two-hour season premiere on February 13. It’s there the duo work with Morgan Fraughton and tackle their most extensive hunt so far. A total of 288 claims across more than 6,000 acres means double the breakdowns. The team enlist the help of experts like Yukon geologist Jeff Bond over the course of the season.
We caught up with Dodge and Ibarra to find out what goers on behind the scenes, and what fans can expect in upcoming episodes.
This is going on in Season 5. How do you reflect on all the good you’ve done and what you’ve taken from the experience working together?
Freddy Dodge: Juan and myself, we work extremely well together. Out in the field, out in the bush, there is nobody else I’d rather be with than Juan Ibarra. He is a master of many talents.
Juan Ibarra: Some we don’t talk about [laughs].
Freddy: That’s right.
Juan: I feel the same way. Freddy and I have been working together for over a decade. We’ve been doing the show for what will be going on six years. Freddy has taught me plenty of things across the board. Not only about gold recovery, but also I was already fabricating before I started working with Freddy years ago. But since I started working with Freddy, he has taught me some tricks to save time. He has become my mentor. A lot of the stuff I do now as a fabricator I’ve learned from Freddy. He has shown me different ways of thinking.
How is it traveling together? What are some things we don’t see on camera?
Juan: Honestly, it’s sad some people don’t get to see some of that. I mean some of the adventures we have, the breakdowns. We have had a lot of adventures outside cameras over the years. Being that we travel upwards of 20,000 miles a year, if not more, we see a lot of the country, a lot of people, and have unique interactions. We get to see some crazy things at times. They have shown some of it on the series over the years. Last year we ran into an incident where we had our truck and it was so muddy down at the mine site that when we tried to get our trucks out and our trailers, we ended up taking the trucks and trailers sideways off a hill. That has happened more than once. We’re stuck in a position where we genuinely could lose the trucks. Obviously, we’re going to jump out of there before it gets to a certain point, but we’ve run into issues time and time again where our equipment was in danger.
