‘Gold Rush’: ‘Parker’s Trail’ Gets Exotic Second Season on Discovery

Discovery Channel has renewed Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail for another season, taking Parker Schnabel’s team deep into the Amazon rainforest for what’s sure to be a dramatic hunt for treasure.

The show, which is a spin-off of the network’s popular Gold Rush series, will return Friday, March 30 at 9 p.m. ET, according to The Hollywood Reporter, after scoring a win ratings-wise as the most-watched new unscripted series on cable for men 25-54.

Viewers loved watched Schnabel and his crew, including fan favorite foreman Rick Ness, survival expert Karla Anna and cameraman Sam Brown, search for gold in the frozen north of the Klondike Gold Rush Trail last season.

This upcoming season, the crew will take their skills into the jungles of Guyana, South America to chase gold at the site of the legendary El Dorado.

Fans of the show will remember this as the same site where fellow Gold Rush miner Todd Hoffman was defeated in 2013 after mining only 2 ounces of gold.

But by leaving the heavy equipment at home and tapping into the local population of miners, Schnabel hopes to have more success.

However, the hunt for gold isn’t the only difficulty the team will be facing. Ness opened up in an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com about his experience in the Amazon jungle.

“Personally, I’ve never wanted to go to a jungle in my life, but I did and it was about as bad for me as I thought it would be,” he said in early February. “I’m deathly afraid of spiders, it’s the only thing in the world that I’m afraid of, spiders. I’ve got severe arachnophobia, so … it was terrifying.”

When asked what exactly brought him out of his comfort zone during his mysterious trip, Ness answered, “Everything!”

For example, he brought up “sleeping in a hammock every night in the middle of the jungle when the lights go out.”

“Getting used to being in the jungle during the day is hard enough, but at night? It is completely different. It’s so loud. And if you didn’t know what was making those noises, like say Howler Monkeys…you would think there was an 100-foot tall animal coming at you through the woods. It’s scary,” he explained.

He also teased that the crew found more success than Hoffman’s, hinting that fans should expect an exciting season that’s like nothing they had seen before.

“It’s bigger and better,” Ness said. “That’s what we continued to do, speaking from Parker and I’s crew on the show. We’re always looking to grow.”

Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail season two premieres Friday, March 30 at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery.

Photo credit: Discovery