Between the dangers of diving for gold and their limited time frame, there are many reasons why Gold Rush: White Water usually only has one diver underwater.
The Gold Rush: White Water crew has faced some pretty daunting odds over the last few years. And sometimes it is difficult to believe that they managed to dredge up any gold at all.
But while we do get to see most of the crew’s highs and lows through every season – there is only so much of the action that the show’s producers can fit into the show’s 40-ish minute episodes.
And as a result, many of the nitty-gritty behind-the-scenes details are often left on the cutting room floor.
The reasons why Gold Rush: White Water often does not have a second diver
One detail that has never been directly addressed on the show itself and has had many Gold Rush: White Water fans scratching their heads through the years is why the crew (almost) always only has one diver in the water at a time.
Fortunately, though, the show’s crew has let a couple of the behind-the-scenes details slip over the years.
For the most part, the Gold Rush: White Water divers rely on the dredge to power the suction hose and to supply the air and warm water needed for them to dive in these difficult conditions.
This means that the number of divers is typically limited to the number of dredges operating at the time. However, there are many reasons why the Gold Rush: White Water crew usually only has one person diving at a time.
Gold Rush: White Water season 8
While the behind-the-scenes details are certainly interesting, there is still plenty of on-screen action to come in the final few episodes of Gold Rush: White Water season eight.
New episodes of this season air as follows:
| Detail | Description |
| Day | Friday |
| Time | 8 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. CT |
| Availability | Discovery Channel |
Reason 1: Everyone has a job to do
The Gold Rush: White Water crew is often criticized for just “standing around” while the crew’s diver is busy battling the currents and rocks below the water.
But though this might be true to some extent, simply standing around is not always as simple as it seems.
In season eight, the Gold Rush: White Water crew has downsized considerably, which has shone new light on exactly how many jobs have to get done on a remote white water mining claim.
The crew on Gold Rush: White Water cannot only focus on finding the gold, as they also need someone to manage the communications systems, perform equipment maintenance on the fly, move rocks to divert the water coming from up-stream and more.
We even saw recently (in season 8’s episode 5) how Carlos had to stand at-the-ready during James’s dive to pull him out of trouble if and when he needed it.
Reason 2: Limited time
The former Gold Rush: White Water cast member, Scott Allen, took to Facebook in 2022 to explain what really goes into diving for gold at the bottom of Nugget Creek.
Of course, longtime Gold Rush: White Water fans already know that the crew often has to make use of, er… unconventional methods, to get to their remote mining claims (including the zip-line, the airboat-turned-ice-sled and more).
However, once they get there, they still need to traverse the wilderness, enduring a few treacherous climbs up the mountain and through the snow to get from camp to the dive site.
According to what Scott shared, the journey from house rock to the dive site took about half an hour, but it was so complex that he lost about 45 pounds at the end of the season.
And since the dangerous trek back to camp is best done in the daylight, this only leaves the crew with about 6 hours at the dive site daily.
Reason 3: It takes some serious work to get everything up and running
In classic Gold Rush: White Water fashion, however, the six hours at the dive site cannot always be devoted solely to diving – no matter how much the crew wants to get to that paydirt.
As we have seen on the show when a flash flood damages the dredges, the crew often has to spend quite a few hours doing maintenance and repairs on their equipment before they can start diving.
Then, at the end of the day, the dredges need to be secured again, and the crew needs to get back to camp before darkness sets in.
So while it might seem like the Gold Rush: White Water crew is just standing around, there is often not much spare time in the day to send down a second diver.
