Exclusive: ‘Gold Rush’ in the Amazon? Foreman Rick Ness Hints at Secret Discovery Channel Project

Gold Rush foreman Rick Ness is taking on the Amazon Jungle in his newest endeavor for a secretive Discovery channel project slated to be announced sometime in March.

While he couldn’t reveal much about the project, the Discovery personality told PopCulture.com exclusively that he recently returned from six weeks filming this secretive spin-off in South America, and that what he saw there put him completely out of his comfort zone.

“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 told PopCulture.com. “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.”

While Ness won’t reveal exactly what he was doing during his time in the Amazon, he did post a photo of himself holding up a pretty impressive beetle on his Facebook page on Dec. 14.

“6 weeks survived in the Amazon Jungle,” he captioned the photo. “One wicked awesome TV series wrapped. It is amazing the things you can do when you get out of your comfort zone and just flat out go for it. Homeward bound.”

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.

Fans will recall that this isn’t the mining foreman’s first spin-off, as he also appeared in boss Parker Schnabel’s show, Parker’s Trail last year, in which they tackled the Klondike Trail over the Chilkoot Pass which claimed the lives of many miners before them.

As the Gold Rush franchise expands, the men and women behind the scenes are always looking to go bigger, Ness told PopCulture.com.

“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.”

Photo Credit: Facebook/Rick Ness