‘Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail’ Crew Held ‘Hostage’ as Tribal Feud Escalates in New Clip

Parker Schnabel’s quest to find the mythical El Dorado has much more real — and dangerous — obstacles in the way.

In an exclusive clip of Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail, as the young mine boss teams up with a legendary miner’s grandson in search of the rumored city of gold, they run into trouble passing through a “volatile” area with a history of tribal disputes among the hundreds of groups that live in the highlands.

With dozens of people standing “on edge” in the roadway, many holding large rocks or machetes, it’s clear the mining crew and film crew are unsure what’s to come.

Mount Coot-tha, a volatile area, with a history of tribal disputes. With hundreds of tribes still living in the highlands, the region remains on edge.

“Guys, what the f— was that?” one crew member asks as they pull into the crossfire zone. “They’re getting ready to fight.”

When Schnabel suggests leaving the area as quickly as possible, the crew is informed by a tribal member that they’re not going anywhere.

“With no way out, Parker and the film crew must wait for the dispute to resolve,” the narrator explains.

Schnabel says worriedly, “This is escalating fast,” as Karla Ann Charlton notes that someone is now standing on one of the cars in their caravan to prevent them from leaving, and he looks mad.

Radioing for help, Schnabel explains, “Hey Jim, this is Parker. We’ve got a pretty intense situation. Yeah, they’re basically holding two of our cars hostage at the moment.”

Urging everyone to get in the cars as violence looks to be on the urge of breaking out, things don’t look good for anyone when one member of the dispute breaks a bottle, prompting others to throw rocks.

“Guy’s got a machete,” Charlton says nervously, as one crew member urges everyone to stay calm.

But as the man wielding a machete walks directly at the car before the clip fades to black, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where things work out peacefully for anyone — especially the outsiders of the Discovery crew.

Catch the conclusion of the tense situation during Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail airing Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel.

Photo credit: Discovery