'Bering Sea Gold' Captain Emily Riedel Has Potential 'Season-Ender' Problem on the Eroica in Exclusive Sneak Peek

Bering Sea Gold star Emily Riedel has a serious problem on her hands. The Eroica captain has a possible "season-ender" of a mechanical issue on her hands in a PopCulture exclusive sneak peek of Friday's episode of the Discovery show. As Rick does his dive work in the Bering Sea, Emily takes charge above the waves, tracking the routine progress when she hears a grinding noise out of nowhere.

"We got a problem!" she radios down to Rick, telling him to come up to the surface as quickly as possible. As Rick makes his way up from the depths, Emily investigates the source of the noise, finding a major issue when she does. "We've got a big problem," she tells Rick, who responds with disbelief, "For real?" Emily answers, "The pump is the problem."

When Rick gets back on board the Eroica, she explains, "Sorry Rick. Look, I didn't know what it was. All I know is that it had like, a huge, grinding noise happening with the motor and I just told you to come up right away, so... Yeah it sucks, but it is what it is." Rick is obviously disappointed but tells Emily to fire up the boat so they can take it into port and get the pump replaced or fixed.

"You can't operate without the pump, it's really the heart and soul of the operation," Emily explains of just how serious of a situation this is. "We're going to lose a lot of time here, and I don't know if we're gonna be able to recover from this — this might be a season-ender." She adds, "Pump's not working, we're not working."

With gold prices on their way to an all-time high due to the pandemic-induced stock market collapse at the start of the summer, Emily had the possibility of turning a one-in-a-lifetime profit but told PopCulture ahead of the season she could have made "twice or three times as much" money this season if she simply had a replacement part on board for the broken pump.

It's a mistake the captain "flogs" herself for, but being able to work amid the global pandemic is enough to be grateful. "The important thing is my greed is definitely up there with wanting more, but everybody survived, the boat survived," she said. "We got gold and we were able to work during a pandemic, so I'm very grateful for those aspects." Bering Sea Gold airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery and is streaming on discovery+.