‘Gold Rush’ Exclusive: Ness Crew Leah’s Crash A Near Death Moment, Preview
On this week’s Gold Rush, team Rick Ness has a big muddy and expensive problem. Ness rookie Leah Turnbull has driven a half-million-dollar truck into a silt pond, nearly drowning.
At Duncan Creek, greenhorn rock truck driver Leah Turnbull has crashed into the 20-foot deep tailings pond.
And if Leah had driven another few feet, she could have drowned in the quicksand-like silt that fills the pond. So now Leah is safe, and Rick needs to rescue his half-million-dollar rock truck.
TV Shows Ace’s exclusive clip below show that Ness is concerned for her safety, and once he realizes she is okay, he is barely hanging on to his anger.
Brennan Ruault, who jumped ship from Team Schnabel, advises her to keep a lid on her comments and laughing and sit somewhere until things cool down.
Team Ness on Gold Rush
Rick’s skeleton crew added Nathan Thornington to the mix with Ruault and Cruse. Thornington’s expertise is to maneuver the distribution box into the wash plant. After a rough start with Rick asking the guys if they had ever moved a couch into an apartment, they get the heavy parts connected.
They dragged the wash plant 25 yards to the creek cut, and that in itself was nerve-wracking. However, the move succeeded, and they hooked it to the water seamlessly. Brennan and Chris Cruse were pleased to be sluicing in May with Nathan and his additional help, and then Ness expanded his crew again.
The bare-bones three-person crew washed rocks for three days, and the pay revealed gold right out of the gate during the cleanup. Brennan pulled out a nugget the size of a Corn Pop. Remember, to make his 2000 ounce season goal, Rick needs at least 100 ounces a week, and the first three-day run needs to be at least 50 ounces. Their first run yielded 67.50 ounces, better than he did last year for sure.
The right prep work and the lean and competent crew made Ness’s initial run a positive thing, and to keep some momentum, he hired Leah Turnbull. Unfortunately, it was her mistake that threw a wrench into the flow this week.
Not just that, but this week’s drama sees that malfunctioning seals on his water pump are the bane of his existence. And, Ness needs a full-time mechanic to assemble his million-dollar excavator sitting on the sidelines. So, he rings up mechanic and pal Carl Rosk, who is not well. Side note: TV Shows Ace sends all our best wishes to Carl for good health and recovery.
Rick is now in a pinch. He has no mechanic, a greenhorn who cannot drive very well, and a smaller 480 excavator doing the work his 750 excavator needs to be doing. Enter baby-face Torsten Petersson, the 20-year-old mechanic who has his mom drop him off. And he cannot grow a beard.
Check out the exclusive preview ahead of Friday’s episode here:
Gold Rush airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on Discovery.
Season 12 of Gold Rush premiered Friday, Sept. 24, while The Dirt is back at 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5.
