INTERVIEW: Freddy Dodge, from ‘Gold Rush,’ is ready to rescue these other miners

Photo: Freddy Dodge’s new spinoff series from Gold Rush finds him helping out other gold miners. Photo courtesy of Discovery / Provided by press site with permission.

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Freddy Dodge has become one of Discovery Channel’s stars thanks to his tenure on the mega-successful series Gold Rush. Now he’s venturing into the streaming world with a new spinoff series, Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge’s Mine Rescue.

On the new series, which is currently streaming on discovery+, Dodge heads out across the western United States with his business partner Juan Ibarra. Together, they meet up with struggling miners and try to turn around their operations. Their goal is ultimately to find more gold, and they definitely find success in the first set of episodes.

“I’ve helped miners out for years, and when this opportunity came about, especially with Juan Ibarra, we work great together, it was just go,” Dodge said in a recent phone interview. “It’s not only trust with Juan. He’s an excellent mechanic, and he’s an excellent person. Of all the people I’ve worked with over the years, Juan Ibarra is the one I would choose over anybody else. He’s just a definite good person, and he’s very good at what he does.”

Dodge said that when he met with these other miners, he realized how much struggle is out there because of the bleak economic conditions. Many people have been laid off from their jobs, and with the loss of income, some people with an entrepreneurial spirit are turning their hobby of gold mining into a full-time job.

“They didn’t have the experience to jump it up to make a living at it in some cases, so that’s where we came in,” he said. “Everybody we helped this summer, we were able to help out. We were able to increase their recoveries, and in some cases, we increased their gold by hundreds of percent. But Juan and I are both still nervous. We come rolling in blind, so we don’t know what we’re getting into until we actually get there and see what’s going on. We’ve been doing this a long time, and we’re pretty confident. That doesn’t mean we’re going to pull into a situation that’s going to beat us. We’re confident we can help these people.”

Dodge and Ibarra worked on mines around the western states, and their “rescuing” took place in summer 2020. As Dodge likes to say: “You have to go where the gold is; the gold is not going to go to you.”

Filming his adventures was difficult because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Dodge said he and the team didn’t venture out, and they remained in isolation. They took regular tests for the virus, and he counts himself “very, very lucky” that no one came back with a positive.

“We were diligent on being safe, wearing masks, staying isolated the best we could, but it makes it difficult like for sourcing parts that you need and steel and other things,” Dodge said. “So it really added another difficulty factor to helping these people out, but at the same time, that’s what caused a lot of the problems, these people out there trying to making a living was because of the coronavirus. So just do the best you can.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge’s Mine Rescue is now streaming on discovery+, Discovery Channel’s new streaming service. Click here for more information.