At the time, Ghana, Africas second-largest gold producer behind South Africa, was in the midst of a modern-day gold rush. Former real estate high-rollers George and Scott regularly turned over million dollar deals. He also thought their brand identity could help attract new shareholders in the U.S. Ensurge has operated in Guyana for several years, with a board of directors, environmental standards, and an established network of distributors, drivers, and laborers. The California gold rush of the mid19th century coincided with the Mormon pioneers arrival in Utah. But what you do with that really defines who you are.. The holes revealed a high concentration of gold in the ground. Wright and Lomu found it hard to watch. Because it really is a joke how nave and unprepared these douche bags really are. The stage is being set for a redemptive second season of Jungle Gold, they wrote. 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. (The agency did not respond to questions about the status of its investigation.). We initially we went to Africa with the last of our cash to flip gold, arbitrage, we hoped to buy it low and sell it for a bit more and create some velocity with that initial capital secured by a real asset the entire time. Rainstorms and excavator breakdowns caused endless delays. Discovery Channel. There was also an image problem. I have never seen this dude, Marie remembers thinking. Last year we were forced to use mercury which was really hard for a lot of people. Viewers were shocked that Americans would broadcast illegal mining, and activists claimed throwing money at people unused to financial decision-making was a mistake. Desperate for cash, he recruited two men he thought would make enthusiastic gold dealers. Still, the acceptance of Mormonism in Ghana today belies a troubled history. Etc. One of them was Wright, whose entrepreneurial drive and years in South America Lomu saw as an asset. 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. Couldnt agree with Dru Kelly more. This show Insults the viewers into believing its a reality non-scripted show. I think our audience got younger and that could be because we were advertised heavily during Shark Week. George Wright has been appointed as Vice President of Public Relations and. Just goes to show how really gullible Hollywood thinks the viewing public is. At the time, Wright and Lomu brawny, clean-living Mormons from Utah were in the midst of shooting Jungle Golds second season. Life saving hugs or to provide tissues for his whiny wife? We met him last year. George: We met him towards the end of our last little stint out there. 43 min. The show not only increased the chances theyd be recognized, he thought, it also provided a detailed map to their Season 1 mining claim, which lay on the same road as Fahiakobo. Theyd spent the past year trying to dramatize their daily lives for the cameras. Email. Board of Mining Advisors. He had some access to some land that Scott and I were needing, if we can come up with the money, so we had to come back home and figure out how were were going to do that. 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. On Oct. 15, 2012, more than two months after the meeting, the synopsis arrived. His own face stared back. Genre Man vs. Ghanas Minerals Commission had taken to decrying what it called the illegal mining menace., These controversies presented possible PR problems. FYI, for our show specifically, it is 200 hours of content for 43 minutes if show. Fans have praised stunning MAFS newcomer Evelyn for her mission to hold a groom accountable for his bad behaviour towards his wife. It was clearly time to go. Check out George Wright's Bio Now As the wheels lifted off, the crew exploded in cheers. Lomu couldnt believe what he was seeing. We were entirely without expectations, Wright told news.com.au. As Richard Bushman, a professor emeritus of history at Columbia University, put it: Mormons think things will work out for the best.. technology to existing mining operations to recover gold from existing (A spokesperson for Raw would not comment on whether the farmer was paid.) We lost a ton of money! Wright said. As methodical and reserved as Wright is impulsive and outspoken, Lomu, eight years Wrights senior, was raised outside Phoenix. Element United is the first to market in bringing blockchain technology to gold + precious elements. I like him every once in a while (laughs) its just really hard to trust him. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=273569. Interview from the Chicago Resource Expo with George Wright & Scott Lomu from Discovery Channles hit show Jungle Gold When Lomu proposed gold dealing in Ghana, Macias needed no convincing. We didnt want them to present Ghana as a lawless place where foreigners can come and engage in illegal mining, he explained. Its still higher than when we originally went to West Africa to find it. He watched in puzzlement as Wright ordered an excavator driver to tear it all down. The program, he soon discovered, was set in Ghana. It was a humbling experience. The chief warned that if they fought the miners, they would be killed. 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Now, it seemed, Ghana was taking its revenge. In Jungle Gold, Discovery Channel's hit reality series, George Wright and Scott Lomu try their best to climb out of a mountain of debt.Their loyal families wait at home while the two toil away in Ghana, hoping to strike gold and solidify their financial futures. A couple of years ago, Utah Valley residents Scott Lomu, 37, and George Wright, 29, decided to investigate after Lomu's father-in-law, who had explored the booming Ghanaian gold market himself . What the freak is this? Lomu shouted. 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. A heated argument ensued. The two are former American real estate investors who lost everything in the 2008 market collapse, and are now over $1,000,000 in debt. But no such vehicles arrived. In perhaps the best-known episode from Jungle Gold, an excavator is ripping up an acre of cocoa trees when an irate cocoa farmer named Akwesi emerges from the bush, machete in hand. Tay, who at 53 resembles an older version of the actor Idris Elba, grew up in Accra before embarking on a mining career in his thirties. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. Around 2.75 million viewers tuned in, making it the fourth most popular primetime cable show that Friday night. What are some of the more hair-raising encounters well see you experience in Season 2? The Lomu brothers then drew up a three-page final draft outlining the premise and sample episodes, in which three American entrepreneurs in dire financial straits would grapple with Ghanaian tribal chiefs, gold robbers, rival miners and each other. Jungle Gold. Meanwhile, the pressure is on the boys to secure a wood-burning stove so the family can stay warm over winter. It brought back a lot of stressful memories, Wright said. 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. A decade later, Mormonisms rapid growth and displays of wealth led the Ghanaian government to ban all Mormon activities, suspecting the church was a front for the CIA. They found it frustrating that Ghanaian ex-pats, many of whom were out of touch with the realities of Ghanas mining communities, criticized them for exploiting Ghanaians, when in fact, they said, theyd put unemployed Ghanaians to work. But no one seemed to recognize them. 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. But as the cast and crews Land Rovers pull out, a pile of logs impedes their path. Aboard a two-story mining dredge as it plies the brown waters of the Amazon jungle, he captures Guyanese miners laughing and telling jokes over lunch. The cast and crew hid at a nearby compound, where they discovered Wright was suspected of murder and the authorities wanted them arrested. mining company with profitable operations., Ensurge, Inc. is a Colorado-based holding company that has been engaged 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. Most assumed they were mining illegally. George Wright and Scott Lomu of Discovery's "Jungle Gold" (Sundays at 10:00 p.m. In the show Dave Thomas is portrayed as a major landowner/prospector in Ghana. But that doesnt tell the full story. The other was Wally Macias, a charismatic Mexican-American and former undercover narcotics agent in Kanab, Utah. Did Ghana ever try to arrest you two as indicated in this article on Ghana Web? As far as they knew, they said, Raw had all the required permits. They explain better he is a broker. George Wright have accepted positions as members of the Companys Not everything works out how you want it to, said Wright. What do they think of this? They needed to find money, fast. You were slightly mislead. Their families reaped the rewards of their hard work as both men enjoyed the American dream. 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!" Interview: Scott Lomu and George Wright of "Jungle Gold". I can say this, the head guy on Gold Rush hates us and we don't know why? Around the time Lomu saw himself on TV, Evans Mensah was channel-surfing in his Accra apartment when an image of bright green cocoa trees filled the screen. Net Worth in 2021. To me, reality shows are like watching professional wrestling. Laborers were shown polluting water bodies with mercury, which is used to recover gold from other minerals. Cameras or no cameras, we went out there to provide for our families and I feel we let them down with some wrong decisions We didnt properly plan.. is that truth, are they gone? And though Mormons make up less than a quarter of 1% of Ghanas 25 million people, they hold a strong symbolic presence in the country. Unfortunately, most locals can't afford to mine the gold, they need outside investment. He later learned Macias had become dependent on pain medication due to injuries he suffered in a roadside bomb attack. English. 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 . Runtime. James Weir recaps. But they had not received permission from the Minerals Commission to film mining lands. He is from . Fri 1 Jul 2022 13.18 EDT. Fearing another attack, the Jungle Gold cast and crew evacuated Fahiakobo and holed up in Raws Domenase compound 20 miles away. That drippy wife should stop whining and deal with it while her husband a finally does a days work. He earned the money being a professional American Football Player. Its a sad story, but their determination to continue in Wallys honor is one you have to hear. Back in Ghana, things were no better. Visionary entrepreneur and leader. become affiliated with a public mining company. At any moment, a police vehicle, a military car, can come in and stop this plane, Lomu says in the finale. They wanted to know how we had allowed such a disgusting program to air on TV, a spokesperson for the commission told me. Wright and Lomu considered escaping into the jungle, but Discovery made the final decision. So Literally Ask US Anything, we can't spoil the upcoming season, but anything else is fine. But they trust us enough to know that there are certain lines that we wont cross and that we have, believe it or not, enough common sense to stay alive. Read our interview with the Brown family. How Does the CBS True Lies Series Compare to James Camerons 1994 Movie. Gold, which ran two seasons on the Discovery Channel. He is from the United States. And yet they also felt a strange sense of calm. But, you will find Ghana a fantastic country. Still, they thought the furor would blow over. We were like, well show them the failures, the terrible, horrible stuff. On the morning of May 10, 2013, George Wright woke up in the small Ghanaian town of Domenase to learn that the countrys largest media outlet was accusing him of murder. The new operation went as poorly as the first. In the most cases they also have children. On Demand DVD New Releases Aug. 26-Sept. 1, The three crew leaders from Discovery Channels Gold Rush series will be featured in a limited summer series called Gold Rush South America, the network announced today. Scott Lomu is VP:Investor Relations at Ensurge Inc. See Scott Lomu's compensation, career history, education, & memberships. Judging from locals reactions to them, the show may indeed have been on the road to redemption. . Weve learned the people of Ghana and weve always known this are great, humble people.. The next day, Joy FM dispatched its Kumasi correspondent, Erastus Asare Donkor, to gather reactions to the story in the citys streets and markets. So what do you watch instead? In April 2013, it premiered on Ghanaian TV. In 2010, they and a friend, Wally Macias, invested in a small operation and took turns flying out to work there. Tweet. Do you guys take any measures to minimize your impact? Just that fast, he blocked me and Scott and never gives an ounce (no pun intended) of support. When Doyle learned the arrest warrant had been extended to the crew, he called for an immediate evacuation. Is it worth all the effort and danger youre going through? Comments: Should they find enough gold, they intended to build a Ghanaian schoolhouse in Maciass name. 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. BLOCK! In November 2011, two things happened. 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. Searching to find out more about George Wright? She was crying hysterically. We were hemorrhaging money, Wright told me. TV-PG. Bering Sea Gold, a new offshoot, was averaging 3 million viewers a night. Other scenes needed no stage-managing. According to government records, the Minerals Commissions district officer in Dunkwa had discovered Raw filming a mining site without its owners consent. The day before, he and the entire cast and crew of the Discovery Channel reality show Jungle Gold had fled a nearby village fearing an armed militia was after them. Public Relations and Scott Lomu as Vice President of Investor Relations. What is behind the allure of gold mining? 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. Ask something else I can answer. tailings, improve recoveries of existing milling operations and improve The episode catalogued a series of ugly confrontations, including an illegal roadblock, the tense argument with tribal chiefs, and a risky back alley gold deal. When I asked a 21-year-old local named Nana Jyamfi what he did for a living, he laughed: Im waiting for the Chinese to come back.. Nature Treasure Hunting Adventure & Exploration George: Theres something to be said about gold fever about realizing that I dig a hole, I find gold. 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. George: I think this all would have ended a long time ago had our wives and our children, and even extended family and close friends, not been so supportive. Could their adventures be a reality TV show? Were more committed now than we ever have been. Nevertheless, the district officer demanded Raw visit the Minerals Commissions headquarters in Accra before they continued filming. Scott Lomu: Because weve moved from Friday to Sunday it seems like our audience has gotten a lot younger. Then the Joy Midday News came on TV. Why anyone would give these clowns a penny of investment capital after all the stupid mistakes these guys have made for two years is beyond me. Edit: added second related question. In the Season 1 finale, Lomu stuffs the remains of their initial investment into his backpack and walks into the bush. I guess this is what your generation who grew up in a fancy world is all about. But where? I talked with Scott and George by phone recently about Jungle Gold, a few days after the Season 2 premiere. How does it feel to go to the poorest continent on the planet with the goal to take as much of the little wealth they have left? 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. And yes, I have heard many of them are gone. A theatrical streak led him to join his high schools cheerleading squad senior year, and he wound up with a cheerleading scholarship to the University of Utah. Proof: https://twitter.com/JungleGeorgeVI/status/365907125215576064 https://twitter.com/JungleGoldScott/status/365907460332068864, Edit: We are going to keep this open. The problem, as Tay saw it, was that most of the Chinese miners were operating illegally, meaning they paid no taxes and ignored environmental regulations. Their path exploded in cheers towards the end of our last little stint out there and danger youre going?. Of stressful memories, Wright and Lomu brawny, clean-living Mormons from were! Scott and never gives an ounce ( no pun intended ) of support outspoken, Lomu eight. He watched in puzzlement as Wright is impulsive and outspoken, Lomu stuffs the remains of their investment! Element United is the first to market in bringing blockchain technology to +. 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