Todd Hoffman on Gold Rush season finale and why his guys get more gold

As the Klondike winter closes in exhaustion and frustration fuels many of the mining teams in the Gold Rush season finale. Season 5 could be summarized as the season where “enough was never enough.” For Parker and the Hoffman team, despite meeting their goals, they still fall short in the eyes of their bosses.  Both men are Todd Hoffman on Gold Rush season finaleasking their teams to make one last push for more ounces, as Parker is looking to get out from Tony Beets and Todd Hoffman wants to secure land for the 2016 season. We talked to Todd Hoffman earlier this week about the season finale on Friday, March 6, which begins with The Dirt at 8pm ET/PT, Gold Rush Season 5 finale at 9pm ET/PT, and then an After Show at 10pm ET/PT on Discovery.

Hoffman is never short on words or calling things as they are — right, wrong or indifferent. Here he gives us some thoughts on how things went down this season and what’s in store for the future.

While the Hoffman team reached their goal of 1,000 ounces, their claim owner Peter Taulman wanted more. We say – how is that fair? Todd says we need to understand the bigger picture …
ToWell, I already know what happened. The thing is that it wasn’t so much that he was trying to be mean. It’s that he had something in his hand he wanted to give us, which was a way bigger opportunity than what we had sitting there in front of us. To be able to do that, his bosses required more than 1,000, so I think he was disappointed and then obviously we were disappointed because there wasn’t anything in writing that said we had to get so much. It was in writing that we had to get at least 1-500. What you’ll see is it will all come together and you’ll understand what I’m talking about on Friday.
… You’ll see how we deal with it. It’s going to be kind of crazy because getting another 300 ounces that late in the season, it was kind of looking at it like a mountain you couldn’t climb, you know?

The task to come up with another 300 ounces certainly sees impossible as the ground is starting to freeze. When Dave Turin has what we think is some sort of epiphany —  working the road — we think, why didn’t you do that earlier? Todd reminds that we need to understand the bigger picture …
Well, in the back of your head you kind of know [gold is under the road] but it’s not something that you talk about. It’s your only way in and out of there. The reason why a lot of us are late this year, why my team was late is we had to build miles and miles of road to get into our camp. All I had was a little dirt track or trail. It had never had big, heavy tanker trucks full of diesel. That’s the big difference. There are a lot of places you can drive with your car that you can’t take a tanker truck with a trailer with tens of thousands of pounds of fuel. That’s what we had to do. We had to build that road in there. To rip up any road, even though you know there’s some pay dirt under it is something that you just don’t even bring up. Dave knows it’s there. I know it’s there. It’s just pretty painful to try to run the road, you know what I mean?
… We just started building this road. It was frustrating. Parts of the road took a lot longer because they kept sinking into the tundra. There’s part of our road that has 8 feet of rock in the ground before it stops sinking. It’s horrible. When you’re up there, building a road across tundra is a nightmare. We experienced that.

Gold Rush Season 5 finaleWhat also is painful is pushing your team to work harder, faster and longer, where we saw varied approaches to that from Todd, Parker and Tony. Todd sees working with his team differently …
My guys work super hard but I don’t drive them to the brink of hating me. I don’t go through 20 guys a season like Parker does. These guys are my family, so we just kind of work together and work as hard as we can. In the end, I don’t want them going anywhere. They’re my family.

What does Todd credit for his success having such a late start to the season? If you know the Hoffmans, of course, it’s God and the people he works with.
We got lucky with a lot of things and I think God gave me an opportunity to give it a shot. My guys are just trying to make the best of it. It wasn’t perfect. I’m not a perfect boss and they’re not perfect workers. We’re not a perfect team but we would do have a safe and a love that’s different than any other team on the Klondike … you see that.
… We were excited. I think we had an opportunity. We got land. The best drill holes we had were down on that riverbed. The areas that we had to mine, I was really, really nervous because I didn’t think we’d even get to 1,000 because we’re mining down at $10, $12 a yard. I had a drill hole where we started where Dave couldn’t get through that iced-off river, and drill holes down there are $20-$30 a yard. It was really nerve-wracking even to get to this. I think a lot of it was in Andy’s wheelhouse. I got a superstar, Andy. He just works so hard and he turned our guys into a team.
He just really, really did good. We were able to just move the yardage. Once we started going, we knew we were behind but once we started going, we just started running dirt and moving it.

Jack Hoffman of Gold RushFive years ago Todd and his dad, Jack Hoffman, set out to make themselves millionaires, so where do they stand today?
Well, sorry I can’t say but I’ll tell you this, my team, my guys get more gold and are paid the best probably than any of the workers in the Klondike. They might show Parker giving a little bit of gold here and there …  I give out as much as I can to my guys. We just live. It’s not BS philosophy you live by. Your guys take a risk with you and if you are truly family then you give it more gold. You just don’t treat them like an employee. These are the people that are helping raise your kids. These are the people that you’re trusting with your life, you know? … It’s a different philosophy of living and I think it’s the best, best philosophy.

22 Comments

  1. Todd is the laziest person on the show every member of the othe teams work except that fat pig.and your tight every person the works to get that gold should be included in the clean up.i wouldnt trust jack as far as i could throw him.

  2. Saludos, señor TOOD HOFFMAN,permitame desirle que busco integrarme a su equipo de búsqueda y recolección de ORO en el mundo,soy un operador y buen mecánico para maquinaria pesada como le comento opero cualquier equipo pesado así como los reparo trabaje para CAT,POR 20 AÑOS.

  3. Have enjoyed watching Gold Rush from day one but recent shows
    Have turned me off. What caused this is Todd Hauffman who is so self
    centered and arrogant and self important. The producers of the
    show need to remove Hauffman and crew and replace with someone
    fresh. Until then, I will no longer watch this man and his father who
    neither know about how to mine for gold. Am sure there are many
    other viewers who feel the same.

  4. Your prayers are so offensive. The Lord deserves “thanks.” Your prayers are so shallow.
    Please God , make us rich. Amen

  5. Presciso entrar em contato com todd hoffman tenho otimo garimpo aki no brasil por favor e serio

  6. Do you use the tailings to build roads and if you have any left over can you sell it? Also can you sell boulders that you dig up?

  7. Would like to find out how to get a job with Todd Hoffman. I am a miner and can operate heavy equipment

  8. I love to go wiv u crew big jake but I cant dig for shit… maybe u get me job big nake???

  9. Im the big nake an love the show, gona head out nxt yr wiv my crew an mine for gold, stand back parker!

  10. I like a few of the guys on Todds crew super hard working likable dudes, but Todd and his old man really bother me! Neither one of them have any idea how to be gold miners! The kid and the Viking are the real deal and could get gold out of any spot they mine lol Todd it’s always problems and excuses and coming up short how does anyone even give him land to dig on hahaha it’s always ohh I will get a million onces this season and it ends with the claim owner pissed off because he did a crappy job and very little gold. As the old fart says NO GUTS NO GLORY hahaha I’m going back to deadliest catch

  11. I’ve come to watch Gold Rush quite late, started at the start of season 5 and caught myself up.

    I’m glad I did, because watching the Hoffman’s is the worst thing on this show. I just skip their BS. The petty rivalry and superiority, the clear performing for the cameras.. Eugh!

    Deadliest Catch is still the best show on Discovery. By FAR.

    • I did agree with that, once. I started watching Gold Rush on Discovery reruns where the later seasons were mixed together. I got the worse part of Todd were he seemed disconnected from reality betting everything on this magic trommel that never manifested. Dave seemed the only sober person of the two. Every time the nitty gritty work got rolling, Todd seemed detemined to work some sort of corner cutting angle no matter how many times haste made waste. Then, in spite of Todds antics, they actually managed to save the season and they had hit their stride doing it Dave’s way, Todd moved shop to the jungle.
      But now I’ve watched from season1 and I have developed appreciation and respect for Todd. I think the turning point was his talk with Dave when Dave wanted to be partner, and watching from season1 solidified it. He is a strong person, a good leader, a caring parent and gets back up after life hands him a bloody nose.
      And ol’ Jack is serving some refreshingly self serving prayers. Myself being an atheist, I get a chuckle out of them almost every time.

      • You are kidding. They treated the kid, forget his name, like dirt from the first episode on. Not very Christian of Todd and crew. The kid is eventually fired by Todd but turns out it was Todd and Jack’s attitudes that created the problem. Continuing to this season Todd’s use of a substitute word for the F bomb isn’t fooling anyone. Doesn’t matter what word comes out of your mouth when you mean the real one. Todd and his dad are jokes.

      • Oh and let us see if any of his crew is allowed to leave the claim for a weeks vacation. Settle up with your kid when the short season is over.

  12. TENHO UMA JAZIDA DE OURO E GOSTARIA DE FAZER UMA PARCERIA AQUI TEM MUITO OURO

    FAVOR ENTRAR EM CONTATO SE TIVER INTERESSE ENVIO DOCUMENTOS E FOTOS DA JAZIDA OK

  13. I truely wish there was more honesty about how financially successful the mining operation is. It has been documented by other miners and accountants that the Hoffman team has never even covered expenses in any of their seasons. Losing money every year. It is only TV revenue that keeps them afloat. Tough to balance the Chrisianity with the dishonesty.

  14. Can i please join you guys in the klondike. ..I’m willing to learn and I’m ready for a new chapter in my life

  15. U the only team that always says a prayer and thank god..during good times and bad. ..and you also a good example. …If one fail. ..don’t give up. ..stand up and keep walking. .keep up the good work and good luck for next season mate

  16. I love watching the gold rush series. ….when is the new season starting and what is there to expect

    From
    M Mansfield. …cape town. ..South Africa

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