‘Bering Sea Gold’ Star Draws ‘Wild Card’ for Mining Operation in Exclusive Premiere Clip

The new season of Bering Sea Gold launches on Discovery Tuesday, and promises to be as high-stakes as previous seasons. The show follows Shawn Pomrenke, Zeke Tenhoff, Kris Kelly, and Vernon Adkison as they mine for gold in Alaska. In an exclusive preview clip shared with PopCulture.com, Tenhoff and his crew set to work on increasing their output this season to take advantage of the rising price of gold.

“It took us a hot minute, but we found a hole with the cobble, so now it’s about getting on the gold and getting as many hours on the box as we possibly can,” Tenhoff said in the clip. “Or honestly, this could be my last mining season.” 

Tenhoff has some inexperienced crew members this season, so he brought in Steve Riedel as a “wild card” to help out. Rydell comes riding into the scene on a snow blower, as if a lone warrior ready to save a town. Riedell immediately has ideas to help Tenhoff’s operations. It’s a “high-risk, high-reward situation, but I’m willing to take the chance with it,” Tenhoff said.

“Either the price [of gold] was way too high [to resist], or Steve or Zeke are way too unemployed,” Riedel’s daughter told PopCulture.com in May when Tenhoff and her father returned to mining last season. “Gold mining does have a way of reaching out and grabbing you. Once you have the gold bug, you never want to relinquish it — you want to go out and get some more.”  

Elsewhere in the new season of Bering Sea Gold, Pomrenke tries to fight wind chills of 50 below zero to get the gold he needs for a successful year. He enlisted diver Joe Fullwood, but Pomrenke still runs into trouble and he finds an ancient river bed to mine.

Kelly also has incredible pressure on his shoulders, both from off and on the ice. He wants this season to be the best year of his life, but he is also preparing to become a father. He has to juggle those priorities with also buying pricey new mining equipment. Adkison is another wild card this season, as he tries to keep a hot streak on Claim 56 going. He pushes his crew to the extreme and is about to find out if he’s going too far.

Bering Sea Gold launched on Discovery in 2012 and is produced by the same team behind Deadliest Catch. The new season begins on Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery. Episodes will also be available to stream on Discovery+. Past seasons are also available on the streaming platform.