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‘Gold Rush’ Star Rick Ness Has His Own New Show: What Do We Know About Parker Schnabel’s Right-Hand Man?

By Georgia Makitalo
Published on: 00:21 PST, Dec 20, 2017

Gold Rush fans that got a kick out of watching Rick Ness huff and puff in Parker’s Trail may want to start getting ready for a new adventure into the Amazon. Realty star, and Parker Schnabel‘s foreman Rick Ness just returned from six weeks of filming a new Discovery show in the Amazon.

On December 14, Ness posted on Twitter a photo of himself holding an enormous bug. Held between his index finger and thumb, the freakishly large critter resembles a cockroach. Is this lunch, or is Rick just showing off?

Below the photo, the Gold Rush star revealed what he had been up and where he had been the past six weeks.

“6 weeks survived in the Amazon Jungle. One BAD A** 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.”

The Gold Rush star did not reveal the name of the show, who was in it, when it starts or any other details, but fans can pretty much imagine what Ness endured.

No Gold Rush fan will ever forget Todd Hoffman and his crew’s ill attempted foray into gold mining in Guyana, South America. Apparently, Discovery had such fond memories of this adventure that they returned to South America, but this time to the Amazon.

While it does not appear that Ness will be mining gold, the photo of the huge bug and the hint that he was participating in an adventure outside of his “comfort zone” that promises some squirmy perils.

Last year, Rick Ness, who is in charge of one of Parker Schnabel’s claims in the Yukon, filmed Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail, along with Schnabel, cameraman James Levelle and wilderness guide Karla Ann Charlton.

Parker, who had spoken to Channel Guide Magazine last spring, appeared quite amused at the thought of putting Rick Ness through some tough mental and physical challenges through the Klondike. He may have even used Rick’s probable snuggles as incentive to get Discovery on board for Parker’s Trail.

“I thought that it would be hilarious to get Rick out of his element and, for me, it was a bit of an experiment with him. He was not the right guy for this type of thing as you can see in the first episode. Not built for this. I knew that something would happen. Either he would mentally break down or come above all of it and I knew that something would have to happen with him. That’s why I really wanted Rick to come, I wanted to see how he responded to that challenge.”

Parker went on to say that although Rick has some beefy-looking biceps, his lifestyle habits are not conducive to camping, paddling, and trekking in the harsh wilderness.

“He’s gonna hate me for saying this, but Rick is a guy who is the exact opposite of everything that we kind of stood for on this trek,” Parker added. “He drinks a h*** of a lot of beer, smokes piles of cigarettes, the only workout he’s really done the last 20 years, I think, is weightlifting. … He’s not a cardio, hiking, paddling kind of guy.”

There is no indication whether Parker Schnabel has anything to do with the new Amazon show, or if he will just have to watch Rick huff and puff on television like the rest of us.

What do we know about Rick Ness? According to the Discovery website, Ness had to end a promising college football career due to an injury. After learning how to play the upright bass, he started a band called.357 Stringband.

Rick’s fate completely changed when he was on tour with the band and he met Parker Schnabel at the Southeast Alaskan State Fair. He joined Gold Rush in Season 3, and because of his leadership skills, was promoted to foreman in Season 5.

Ness has a love for tattoos, motorcycles, cut-off sleeves, and “adventure.”

Milwaukee native Ness is also a car aficionado. Looks like handshake bets between Parker and Todd’s crew is the new normal, but there was no betting of gold between Freddy Dodge and Rick Ness. Back in February, Ness purchased Freddy Dodge’s 1970 Z28 Camero.

Gold Rush fans still have to wait to see when Rick’s Amazon adventure will be on Discovery. Meanwhile, there is plenty of Gold Rush to still watch.

The popular adventure channel has been quite busy with Gold Rush offshoots. As the Inquisitr recently reported, the Dakota boys are back! Fred and Dustin Hurt are starring in Gold Rush: White Water, which starts on January 12.

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