How Does the CBS True Lies Series Compare to James Camerons 1994 Movie. We didnt exploit anyone, Lomu told me. I have never seen this dude, Marie remembers thinking. This is a tale of our times the new American Dream set in the jungles of Africa, the introduction read. Genre Man vs. Phone calls from furious Ghanaian expatriates poured in. Channel. That February, 5 million people watched the Season 2 finale of Gold Rush, continuing its two-year run as the most-watched cable show on Friday nights. The reality stars of Jungle Gold on the Discovery Channel (DStv 121) face fines, arrest and even possible imprisonment over charges of alleged brutality and illegal mining in Ghana, with the Ghanaian government which now wants to see Scott Lomu and George Wright apprehended and arrested. We just like to do our thing, it's all we can do really. We hope it's a win-win. I believe its God who brought them to me, Alan Tay, who served as a handyman for Wright and Lomu during the Season 2 shoot, later told me. We never used arsenic. entertaining gold mining program `Jungle Gold,' they have an Under Review. S: George is a little wordy, here's the short answer. Six months later, in May 2012, Wright and Lomu met with the Raw crew inside an opulent conference room at the Golden Tulip hotel in Accra to discuss the projected arc of Season 1. His first radio story, which cast doubt on the Americans legal status, aired the first week of May. The Ghanaian government permitted Mormon activities to resume 18 months after the ban. Viewers claimed the show was racist, portrayed locals in outdated colonial stereotypes, and exploited impoverished Ghanians for money and ratings. The Companys business plan also includes bringing capital and For former real-estate entrepreneurs, George Wright & Scott Lomu, the answer was Ghana. Back home at 21, he got married and landed a spot on the Utah Jazz Stunt Team. The men worked 18-hour days, commuting two hours over rutted dirt roads through poverty-stricken villages. The next six episodes unfolded in similar fashion. The little gold they found went directly into equipment costs. It looked like we were being mocked, Donkor said. Many people crumble with the fame and do really stupid outrageous things. Lomu took out a loan modification to save his mortgage; Wrights home went into foreclosure. We split the gold with the locals, & they of themselves dnt [sic] have the machines to get to the gold, Wright wrote to one skeptical American viewer on Twitter who had suggested they mine in the U.S. instead, before softening her opinion. Since Jungle Gold aired, small mining companies from around the world have contacted Wright and Lomu through Facebook to propose mining partnerships. And one of their original crew had taken his own life. Lomu knew his friend had experienced post-traumatic stress from his tours in Afghanistan. Sat 30 Apr PG-VL. In the five years it takes a cocoa tree to fruit, he said, they often make poor decisions that cause them to be economically or physically displaced. The lure of foreign wages, he added, can incentivize village youth to drop out of school. It was shown because it's the main way of gold recovery in Africa, what they didn't show in the show was us trying to get our workers to wear gloves, our seeking for other separating methods that ultimately we didn't have money for at the time etc. Just goes to show how really gullible Hollywood thinks the viewing public is. Season 1 Ep 11. On the night of Nov. 13, Lomu was returning alone from their mining site when he got a phone call from Maciass wife. We are Scott Lomu & George Wright, We can't speak to other reality shows but are happy to share about ours and what it's been like. DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ensurge, Inc. (Trading Symbol: ESGI) announced today that Scott Lomu and I thank my parents. It was tempting, but it didnt make sense: Anyone could sell gold to the state-run Precious Minerals and Marketing Company for just 2% under the global price. That drippy wife should stop whining and deal with it while her husband a finally does a days work. It's really frustrating because we have the same production company and we hear all sorts of stories about him, but all I know of him is the first tweet I sent to him when our show started was a thank you, "thanks for forging the way in gold show so that our story and show could have a shot, thank you!" Jungle Gold is back, having started Season 2 on Aug. 11 (now . Proof: https://twitter.com/JungleGeorgeVI/status/365907125215576064 https://twitter.com/JungleGoldScott/status/365907460332068864, Edit: We are going to keep this open. They had brought in work and money after all. But their return to Ghana was to be even more troubled than round one. Gold prices were high, getting equipment was cheap. Discovery moved the show from Friday to Sunday nights, where it competed with NFL football for the eyes of American men, their primary demographic. A talk with George Wright and Scott Lomu about "Jungle Gold" Season 2, the move to a new night and the reality of "gold fever." . Can you talk about your new colleague Dave Thomas? Why moan about something just find something else to watch. In one of the shows most-watched episodes, an excavator for Lomu and Wright is tearing up cocoa trees when an angry farmer approaches with a machete. Literally, I have never been so scared, Wright told me. $1 Million - $5 Million. Both men had worked in Utah's real estate market, had young families to support and debts piling up. At the moment I jumped in, he was right over [our security guard] and was going to push his head underwater. Desperate for cash, he recruited two men he thought would make enthusiastic gold dealers. So they turn to other means. Last modified on Sat 2 Jul 2022 00.15 EDT. Broke and demoralized, the three men abandoned their nascent mining operation in October 2010. Content Rating. The men expected to make easy money in Ghana. Primary Income source American Football Player (profession). Comments: ", "This is a disgrace for a brand such as the Discovery Channel to glorify what these bandits are doing in our country. As the coastline faded in the distance, Wright leaned across the aisle. A short video about the incident appeared months later on Discoverys website. The entire landscape of the mining industry over the last year has changed dramatically, and so we encountered a lot this season. He later learned Macias had become dependent on pain medication due to injuries he suffered in a roadside bomb attack. Not that Id recommend it, but theyre pretty sure they can school any critics. A heated argument ensued. They were told by the Information Services Department that an arrest warrant had never officially been issued. Bering Sea Gold, a new offshoot, was averaging 3 million viewers a night. We were in panic mode. Wright found work translating Spanish for an Arizona-based equipment supplier bidding for contracts in Colombias mining sector. 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George Wright: Theres a lot of entrepreneurs out there that get in touch with us. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. By then, they each had two kids and houses in the suburbs. We do answer questions and stay in touch here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFDu1cQjqGaj-3wBYavW1Hg/videos. There was a sense of disappointment, said Wright. After averaging 2.65 million viewers a week during its first season on Discovery Channel last fall, Jungle Gold is back, having started Season 2 on Aug. 11 (now airing on Sundays). Last year we were forced to use mercury which was really hard for a lot of people. Other scenes needed no stage-managing. Nature Treasure Hunting Adventure & Exploration As Richard Bushman, a professor emeritus of history at Columbia University, put it: Mormons think things will work out for the best.. As he later told Wright, All it takes is a handful of guys with firearms to see the show and come looking for us.. He watched in puzzlement as Wright ordered an excavator driver to tear it all down. The program, he soon discovered, was set in Ghana. We were like, This is the kind of operation we want to be a part of! Lomu said. Upon meeting me, hed asked hopefully if I was with Raw, heralding the return of Jungle Gold. Lomu and Macias worked construction for a Mormon homebuilder in Utah. In 2010, they and a friend, Wally Macias, invested in a small operation and took turns flying out to work there. Akwesi was preparing to harvest his crops when the crew leveled them, he said. SENT to Ghana for a TV series, the American stars of Jungle Gold were accused of destroying the environment, exploiting workers, racism and even murder. Unbeknownst to the cast and crew, Aboagye requested that Ghanas National Security Agency investigate them. Jungle Gold an action-packed reality show about two Mormons from Utah mining for gold in Ghana was a hit when it premiered on the Discovery Channel in 2012. Please subscribe here for answers, 1st video released today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS7g-l3-M5k. Is it worth all the effort and danger youre going through? ", "The stage is being set for a redemptive second season of Jungle Gold., Your weekday morning guide to breaking news, cultural analysis, and everything in between, This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google. By announcing gold existed in Fahiakobo on an international TV network, Tay believed Jungle Gold would attract other law-abiding American and European gold miners, slowly lifting the village out of poverty. Life saving hugs or to provide tissues for his whiny wife? Ghanas Minerals Commission had taken to decrying what it called the illegal mining menace., These controversies presented possible PR problems. Ensurge Inc. announced that Scott Lomu and George Wright have accepted positions as members of the company's management team. Now Wright and Lomu are the stars When the market fails where do you go? Watch the Run For the Border episode. We came to realize this was a perfect opportunity to show how foreigners can do business the right way in Ghana, Lomu told me. If you take any human being out to a site where theres gold, and give him a shovel and they find gold there, theyll say, Give me more shovels, give me more people! Because its really quite addictive once you catch it. While Ghanaians in the diaspora were railing against Jungle Gold online, members of Ghanas Minerals Commission were quietly fuming about its existence. The cast and crew pulled into Fahiakobo that March. We met him last year. But Alan Reece, a Guyanese mining foreman the men had befriended, discovered a promising alternative in the nearby village of Fahiakobo, a hilltop settlement of around 30 mud huts flanking a red dirt road. These two are typical failed realtors who have entitlement issues just like the rest of the yuppies of their generation. At the time, Wright and Lomu brawny, clean-living Mormons from Utah were in the midst of shooting Jungle Golds second season. I got a chance to talk with the pair about how the show came about, how they feel about those that accuse them of faking and what their wives really think of what theyre doing. To guarantee cell service in the bush, the company bought Raw a 30-foot antenna. In 2009, Macias was working as a private security contractor in Afghanistan, but hed grown tired of war zones. He is from . George Wright has been appointed as Vice President of Spoiler Alert, yeah, can't answer that, we were there for 4 months about. Take a good look, Scottie, he said. And George and I think as a direct result of the show there are a lot of government and military raids on illegal mining camps, and there are a lot of robberies happening. I like him every once in a while (laughs) its just really hard to trust him. Etc. Also, reclaiming and replanting was mentioned and shown, but sadly not near enough, like a 8 seconds. But they had not received permission from the Minerals Commission to film mining lands. Back in Ghana, things were no better. miners were regularly killed or injured thanks to unsafe practices, Queen: Fans fall in love with MAFS wife, MAFS husbands vile boys night act exposed. The men said they received tons of outraged tweets and Facebook messages, many from Africans in the U.S., accusing them of deceiving Ghanaians and raping the countryside. Same here, it completely went down hill with all of the reality shows. Steve Wright is to leave his BBC Radio 2 weekday show after almost 24 years, after the station's boss told him she wants to . They hadnt actually killed anyone, after all, and they were not mining illegally. But their new status as wanted men made riveting TV with little effort. _________________________________________, Scott Lomu, George Wright and Dave Thomas of Jungle Gold: Credit Discovery Channel, The money was given to Dave so they could mine that land,I even think it a bit suspicious that he walked away Scott free and no-one says anything, Really enjoyed watching but what about the money they gave to Dave Thomas are they not wanting it back,after all it wasnt their money it was the father in laws. One op-ed, titled Jungle Gold: A Case Study in the Exploitation of Africa, captured the collective indignation that greeted the series. Theres something to be said about that allure. He was sawing into an overcooked hamburger patty when he glanced at the flatscreen on the wall. The Mormon miners submitted a proposal to Raw TV, the British company that produced the program, and waited. We split the gold with the village, the farmers make a ton of money from us, we employ many, many locals, paying them 10X what they would normally make, we pay taxes, and contribute a ton to the local economy. Scott Lomu is VP:Investor Relations at Ensurge Inc. See Scott Lomu's compensation, career history, education, & memberships. What we finally realized after discussing it was people werent saying they wanted to literally go to Ghana to do gold mining but rather they wished they could do whatever it is their dream was, whatever it is they hoped to be able to do be it open up a restaurant, or open up their own salon or become a writer. The cast and crew hid at a nearby compound, where they discovered Wright was suspected of murder and the authorities wanted them arrested. Petitions called for its cancellation and Wright and Lomu were attacked on social networks and in the media. We knew this was going to be a 5-to-10-year job on our part. George: When we first originally went to Africa gold was actually lower than it is today, even though its taken a hit over this last year. Anytime somebody felt we were taking advantage of them, even this idea of colonialism was so off our radar, it felt so out of left field.. George Wright in 'Jungle Gold' Photo courtesy of Discovery Channel. To ensure the most secure and best overall experience on our website we recommend the latest versions of, Internet Explorer is no longer supported. Scott Lomu and George Wright land at a rural airport in Kumasi, Ghana. If the global gold price plummeted, many more would leave Ghana voluntarily, depriving poor mining villages of what had become a crucial source of support. Most assumed they were mining illegally. (It has since been clarified in the wake of Jungle Gold.) In June, they produced a series of short videos to show prospective investors. The shows first season had been a hit, airing on Friday nights behind Gold Rush, Discovery Channels highest-rated show. The kids autism is just another excuse for the idiot to stop working and run home. What sort of feedback do you get from viewers about the show? At any moment, a police vehicle, a military car, can come in and stop this plane, Lomu says in the finale. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://twitter.com/JungleGeorgeVI/status/365907125215576064, https://twitter.com/JungleGoldScott/status/365907460332068864, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFDu1cQjqGaj-3wBYavW1Hg/videos, http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=273569, http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/jungle-gold/videos/run-for-the-border-part-one.htm, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS7g-l3-M5k. Back at Discoverys headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, the channel was enduring its own crisis. Though it was never confirmed who the men were or why they had attacked the miners, Wright and Lomu quickly concluded that the militia was looking for them. Jungle Gold, Discovery Channel's latest reality effort, follows two Americans on their quest to strike it big in Ghana, Africa.After losing hundreds of thousands in the real estate collapse, George Wright and Scott Lomu tried to find the silver lining actually it was more of . But they soon discovered a more viable option: gold mining. 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1975th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 975th year of the 2nd millennium, the 75th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1970s decade. Given Africans response to Season 1 in the States, Lomu had begged Raw not to air the show in Ghana, fearing retaliation. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Jungle Gold, Discovery Channel (2012 - 2013) Staying international, Jungle Gold sets itself apart by following just one crew, Scott Lomu and George Wright, as they take to the African gold mining industry in an attempt to recover from the 2008 American financial crisis. Whether the Information Services Department had instructed Raw to seek the commissions approval is unclear; the permit protocol for foreign documentary film crews in Ghana was somewhat vague in 2012. The influx of Chinese miners had triggered a rise in armed robberies of Chinese mining camps. And so they were deeply leveraged when the housing market collapsed in September 2008. Near the bottom, he noticed a message from his brother Bill. As the crew debated alternate plotlines, Lomu went out to dinner in Obuasi. Brigham Young, the president of the church, was nervous about it, criticizing it as a tenuous and irregularly profitable profession. Such sermons did little to dissuade Mormons, whose trademark optimism stems from a belief that God is on their side. But many viewers of Jungle Gold thought exploiting Ghanaians was precisely what Wright and Lomu had done. Lomu learned what he needed to know about reality TV, put . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has over 62,000 members in Ghana, the second-highest membership in Africa behind Nigeria. S: That's a great question, we get it a lot. When I asked what he and others had made of the predominantly white film crew in their midst, he shot me a confused look. The next morning, Wright searched his iPhone for news of the incident. Could their adventures be a reality TV show? ET) give the term "gold diggers" a literal spin with this reality show, now in its second season. Around 2.75 million viewers tuned in, making it the fourth most popular primetime cable show that Friday night. According to Wikipedia, Forbes, IMDb & Various Online resources, famous American Football Player George Wright's net worth is $1-5 Million at the age of 72 years old. George Wright have accepted positions as members of the Companys What was the viewer reaction following the season premiere of Jungle Gold? Within months of Jungle Golds U.S. premiere in October 2012, they had become the face of Ghanas foreign mining community, which many blamed for destroying the countrys environment and harming its people. G: Oh man if Scott sees this, he's gonna have hay day on this question. But as Reece explained it, a wealthy Ghanaian who owned land around Fahiakobo was willing to acquire a large-scale license himself and hire Wright and Lomu to mine his property. I feel like its actually underappreciated and underdemonstrated in any medium. According to Lomu, Raw later paid Akwesi $3,000 for his troubles. But nothing prevents foreigners from investing in small-scale companies owned by Ghanaians. But that doesnt tell the full story. After a month of waiting, Alan Reece, the mining foreman, contacted the landowner for an update on his application. Furious, Wright and Lomu gathered a dozen local chiefs and tribal elders to solve the dispute. Yeah, I just about hate the leads of #JUNGLEGOLD 8 min in. Of course theyre concerned for us, of course they worry about our safety. That summer, the men resumed their former routine, traveling to Ghana in shifts. I think they just wanted us out of there, Wright said. He earned the money being a professional American Football Player. Interview: Scott Lomu and George Wright of "Jungle Gold". Sitting on the compounds couch, Wright watched in shock as the clip of him choking the cocoa farmer aired on national television. Season 2. Theres a lot of feedback we get where people are just really inspired by the idea that we have a goal and were willing to do whatever it takes to obtain that goal. Wright caught malaria. They say theyve learnt from their catastrophic, ratings-winning sojourn in West Africa. That November, Bill emailed the treatment to a handful of production companies, including Raw TV, the British company that produces Gold Rush. IE 11 is not supported. But they only had $35,000 left. While the landowner applied for a large-scale license, Raw had paid dozens of local men 40 cedis per day (around $20 in 2013, more than twice the standard rate) to dig 8-foot holes in search of gold deposits, a process known as prospecting. We lost a ton of money! Wright said. Theres more chance if drippy wife getting off her ass and getting a part time job, Dru kelly why so bitter? There is no such thing as an emergency with a diagnosis of autism. Hes a gentleman whos a land broker. Youre doing this all for your families. They had paid locals well, contributed to the local economy, and obeyed Ghanas mining laws, they said. George Wright and Scott Lomu will risk it all to strike it rich as part of a golden plan to recover from losing everything in the real estate crash of 2008. Invigorated by this new prospect, the three men invested in a small-scale operation near the mining town of Obuasi, a four-hour drive from Accra, and took turns traveling to Ghana over the next three months. And yes, I have heard many of them are gone. A lot of questions have been asked in Ghana about how, and why so many illegal miners were allowed to mine in Ghana without paperwork for so long. It's humbling to see the poverty that exists there. The network had green-lit a second season that February. George: We met him towards the end of our last little stint out there. Reeling from the news, Lomu flew to Utah the next day. Mishleau, a fourth-generation gold miner from Wisconsin, had recently been named CEO of Ensurge, Inc., a publicly traded Utah-based holding company that invests in gold mines in the Americas. Lomu and Wright didnt head to Africa with dreams of reality TV stardom, and it seems having a camera crew around when youre trying to work is more of a pain than anything else. During that time What is behind the allure of gold mining? Fortune seekers George Wright and Scott Lomu know there are no rewards without risks, but even the gold-mining stars of "Jungle Gold" weren't prepared for the danger they and the show's crew faced . Season 2 of Jungle Gold airs Sundays at 10pm ET/PT on Discovery Channel. *Discovery Channel has been pushing this as a new season, though the May 29 new episode is listed as Season 2, Episode 9. Couldnt agree with Dru Kelly more. The crew had received press accreditation from the Information Services Department, he said. He was crushed to learn I was not. Six months later, in May 2012, Wright and Lomu met with the Raw crew inside an opulent conference room at the Golden Tulip hotel in Accra to discuss the projected arc of Season 1. Former real estate high-rollers George and Scott regularly turned over million dollar deals. What shocked me is how much seemingly relevant content never gets used. Aboagye was shocked. They toiled for 18 hours a day, travelling two hours from a nearby village to the mine, living in a mud hut and battling with storms, broken equipment and constant delays. Those guys on the dredge they were having a really good time. He paused. George Wright and Scott Lomu of Discoverys Jungle Gold (Sundays at 10:00 p.m. Mensah was a reporter for Joy FM, one of Ghanas most popular news radio stations. To raise the rest, they decided to deal gold in the jungle. Oh my word, they think I killed him, he said. The Mormons and their production team had paid a village chief $12,500 to mine a large plot of land, but they arrived to find it packed with Chinese miners. A soaring Mormon temple, one of only three on the continent, sits in the heart of Accras commercial district, surrounded by European embassies. The show is such a fake with the pretend dangers all around them meanwhile the camera-production crew is right beside them every second with security and back-up, oooh Im so scared! The next day, Joy FM dispatched its Kumasi correspondent, Erastus Asare Donkor, to gather reactions to the story in the citys streets and markets. Back in 2009, Scott Lomu and George Wright, two clean living Mormons, were trying to find a way to make money after suffering huge losses when the housing bubble popped the year before. As Brigham Young understood, gold mining is an inherently unstable profession. We kind of shed a pretty big spotlight on the activities of illegal miners in Ghana. But he dropped out after a year to serve a Mormon mission in Buenos Aires. Watch part 1 unfold here: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/jungle-gold/videos/run-for-the-border-part-one.htm. George Wright and Scott Lomu, former real estate investors that lost everything in the 2008 crash, make the life-altering decision to travel to Ghana in West Africa to hunt for gold. When the episode ended, he immediately decided to investigate Jungle Gold. Ghanaian law prohibits non-Ghanaians from mining on plots of 25 acres or less, which make up Ghanas small-scale mining sector. Scott Lomu and George Wright join our company. For anyone who thinks their decision to pursue gold mining is utterly insane, they explained to me how they came to this conclusion in a way that sounds entirely logical. Judging from locals reactions to them, the show may indeed have been on the road to redemption. They hired a former special services agent to beef up security and instituted a no-mercury policy, barring laborers from handling the toxic liquid. Theres a lot of hostility we ran into this year; quite a few from locals, from other miners, and, unfortunately, from higher authorities, and well just leave it at that. Share. November 23, 2012. Runtime. Interview from the Chicago Resource Expo with George Wright & Scott Lomu from Discovery Channles hit show Jungle Gold He moved to Utah in 2000, and when the Olympics Winter Games came to Salt Lake City two years later, he rented furnished houses and apartments to people in town for the event. It now occurred to him that theyd simply resumed filming after the August meeting. When I asked what they made of accusations that theyd exploited Ghana for their personal gain, the men insisted the opposite was true: They had done good things in the country and could have done even more if they'd been allowed to keep filming. He went to a meeting but he'll be back I'm sure. The site itself was a wide clearing in the jungle scarred by gaping 20-foot pits, where Ghanaian laborers wrangled the equipment in pools of coffee-colored mud. And were kind of a fast-paced, explosive show, and I do think we attract a little bit younger audience. We met that guy a few weeks back. It may have been their worst nightmare, but it made gripping TV. The camera catches a masked African man dashing into the jungle, a submachine gun in one hand and Lomus gold bar in the other. What the freak is this? Lomu shouted. Weve always felt like maybe we need to have the production company subtitle him with truth. Bottom line, hes surprised us in a lot of good ways, and hes surprised us in a lot of bad ways, as youll see in the season to come. It begins now, Wright wrote. But with the chaos of Season 1 fresh in mind, Discovery had imposed new conditions for Season 2. Scott receives life-changing news that could change their gold mining futures.