Parker Schnabel Confronted By Gang of Illegal Miners in ‘Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail’ Exclusive Sneak Peek

Parker Schnabel’s Peruvian mining expedition just got a whole lot more dangerous. The Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail star takes a huge risk in a PopCulture.com exclusive sneak peek of Friday’s all-new episode of the Discovery show when he decides to play ball after being stopped by a gang of illegal miners.

In a territory where criminal mining runs rampant, Parker and his crew take a dangerous detour on their journey to discover 100 million dollars worth of untapped gold after a gang of miners on motorbikes stops their caravan. “I think these dudes are beeping their horns,” Danny says, confused. “They’re tryin’ to get past, I think.” 

With the gang of bikers surrounding them, the cars must come to a stop, as one of the men approaches the window looking for Parker. “I was told that he’d be here,” he says. While guide Diego insists, “We’re filming a documentary, we’re not looking for problems,” the man informs the group that he wants to take Parker to their gold mining operation “to give ideas on what works and what doesn’t” after seeing him on TV. 

Getting out of the cars, Diego confirms that these men are not running a legal mining operation – but it doesn’t look like there’s much of a choice when it comes to Parker’s cooperation. “I think [that] given the variety of environments that we’re gonna see in Peru, it’s definitely gonna be very brutal,” he says in a confessional. “There’s a lot of illegal mining around. It’s not outta sight, outta mind.”

Parker tells the men he’s willing to go check out their mining site if it’s close by, but they insist only two people accompany them to the site – which they must travel to on their motorbike. It’s another dangerous aspect to this request, but Parker is happy to go along if the rest of the crew is alright with waiting for his return. With a three-hour time limit set by the Gold Rush crew, the clock is ticking as Parker rides off with the illegal mining gang. Catch the rest of the intense adventure when Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery.