Parker Schnabel’s job poses challenges in his life on and off the mine site.
The Gold Rush star sat down with PEOPLE as the show heads into its 15th season to discuss the impact it has had on his life. At just 30 years old, Schnabel has spent half his life as a gold miner on television, and he jokes that he still doesn’t how to describe his job to people unfamiliar with mining.
“I try to explain it in a way that doesn’t sound like Mad Max,” he laughs. “It’s hard to explain that without it sounding like some dystopian insane world. I’m in the woods and you’re living in a f—-ing bunker washing rocks, looking for little shiny rocks.”
“Then it makes dating incredibly difficult,” he adds. “They’re like, ‘What do you do?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’”
Discovery Channel
Schnabel went on to say that his life mainly revolves around his career, but he looks forward to having a family one day.
“I do hope to have a family and a life outside of TV eventually,” he admits. “I do have a life outside of TV, but the show will end completely I think before I have kids, I would suspect.”
As someone who learned everything he knows about mining from his grandfather, Schnabel says he has no intentions of passing the legacy on to his own children unless they want to go into the same field.
“I think that that’s a hundred years outdated,” he explains. “One of the best things about my upbringing is my parents didn’t push me in any direction. My dad ran a construction company and there was zero pressure to be involved in what you would consider the family business. My grandpa was running basically a hobby gold mine. Most years they found a hundred ounces of gold. It was a money-losing venture for 20 years.”
Discovery Channel
“I think it actually really bugged my dad that it was not an economically viable business that I was involved in as a teenager, but he never said anything,” he continues. “He just wanted me to be happy. That’s the best thing you can do for a kid, in my opinion.”
Now in his 30s, Schnabel says he doesn’t know exactly where he will be in the next few years, but that doesn’t scare him.
“I look forward to the next chapter of my life. I really don’t think that it’ll be something where I’m like, ‘Oh, my glory days are behind me,’” he shares. “My dad and I just started another business and he’s 69. He’s living his best life. My grandpa didn’t start gold mining until he was 65 or something. So I’m just like, man, age is absolutely just a number.”
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Gold Rush premieres Friday, Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. ET on the Discovery Channel, with the full series streaming on Max.
