scott lomu and george wright now

The little gold they found went directly into equipment costs. As it happened, Akwesi was the brother-in-law of the landowner, who had cut him out of the $5,000 the show paid in compensation for the cocoa crops. You would make a good politician though, you could go cry with Speaker of the House John Boehner about how tough it is to support your trophy wife. We were entirely without expectations, Wright told news.com.au. One of the things that people always ask Scott and I, even before the show came because we were traveling back and forth to Africa for two years before the show with Discovery Channel even got a green light or was even an idea in either of our minds people would always say, What do you do for work? Wed say, Gold mining. Theyd say, What? Other scenes needed no stage-managing. mining company with profitable operations., Ensurge, Inc. is a Colorado-based holding company that has been engaged | Learn more about Scott Lomu's work experience, education, connections . 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. 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. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. This was a good start. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=273569. But on Macias and Wrights first trip in May 2010 (Lomu stayed behind in Utah), buying gold proved trickier than theyd anticipated. 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 . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has over 62,000 members in Ghana, the second-highest membership in Africa behind Nigeria. Also, reclaiming and replanting was mentioned and shown, but sadly not near enough, like a 8 seconds. 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. They hired a former special services agent to beef up security and instituted a no-mercury policy, barring laborers from handling the toxic liquid. When he and other commission officials watched clips of the show online, they were appalled by its depiction of Ghana. I like him every once in a while (laughs) its just really hard to trust him. Language. Ghanas National Security Agency, meanwhile, had yet to contact them. 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. Judging from locals reactions to them, the show may indeed have been on the road to redemption. 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. We never used arsenic. We kind of shed a pretty big spotlight on the activities of illegal miners in Ghana. It was clearly time to go. This show is 90% scripted, the laws they portray in the show are complete non-sense. Season 1 Ep 11. The program reports on currently classified intelligence seized during the May 2, 2011, raid on bin Ladens compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan (pictured above the day after the raid), and is narrated by NBC News correspondent Harry Smith. We didnt exploit anyone, Lomu told me. All were shocked to think Americans would film themselves engaging in illegal mining, let alone broadcast it. Thats the last were going to see of Ghana.. Upon arrival, the cast and crew had paid the landowner $50,000 and set up camp on the villages perimeter. I was astonished, Mensah said months later. 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. Season 2 of Jungle Gold airs Sundays at 10pm ET/PT on Discovery Channel. A lot of Latter-day Saints did go mining, said David Walker, assistant professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Ensurge Inc. announced that Scott Lomu and George Wright have accepted positions as members of the company's management team. America. Interview from the Chicago Resource Expo with George Wright & Scott Lomu from Discovery Channles hit show Jungle Gold Wally was convinced it would happen, Wright said. One of the biggest lessons weve learned is dealing with people. But once again, the cost of equipment and labor exceeded the meager amount of gold they found. Olivia Newton-Johns daughter has revealed how she keeps her connection to her mother alive months after her tragic passing. We were in panic mode. Wright found work translating Spanish for an Arizona-based equipment supplier bidding for contracts in Colombias mining sector. 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.. Obviously, wed appreciate it if the gold prices were higher, always; however, were still feeling very good about the price of gold today. Scott Lomu might have a wife or a husband. Wright and Lomu step out to investigate. 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. The network had green-lit a second season that February. (Both Discovery Channel and Raw, which was acquired by Discovery in 2014, declined to comment for this story.). They explain better he is a broker. 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. He later learned Macias had become dependent on pain medication due to injuries he suffered in a roadside bomb attack. A lot of people are like, Oh theres a camera, well act like this, said Wright. Heres Our Review Of Cocaine Bear: Oh Hell Yes! No way. We say, Yeah, we travel back and forth between here and West Africa. And then they always said the same thing which I felt there needed to be some deciphering after theyd say it theyd always say, I wish I could do that. And I said, Well, I dont think you understand what youre saying. Scott Lomu is VP:Investor Relations at Ensurge Inc. See Scott Lomu's compensation, career history, education, & memberships. In November 2011, two things happened. Press J to jump to the feed. Etc. I think they just wanted us out of there, Wright said. 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. In April 2013, it premiered on Ghanaian TV. The Jungle Gold guys had remedied this problem by obeying the law. Lomu learned what he needed to know about reality TV, put . They were convinced theyd be arrested at the airport and imprisoned. Before the men could start legally mining, however, the large-scale license had to come through. This time, they mined on the land of a Ghanaian Mormon bishop who had partnered with Lomus father-in-law. While Lomu and Wright couldnt tell me too much about whats coming in season two, what they did say sounded intriguing. I think our audience got younger and that could be because we were advertised heavily during Shark Week. Meanwhile, the pressure is on the boys to secure a wood-burning stove so the family can stay warm over winter. Worst of all, popular radio station Joy FM claimed Wright had killed the man he was filmed choking. 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. Their families reaped the rewards of their hard work as both men enjoyed the American dream. It was that simple. At the time, Wright and Lomu brawny, clean-living Mormons from Utah were in the midst of shooting Jungle Golds second season. Taxis that once passed every 10 minutes, shuttling miners to work, now came a few times per day. At any moment, a police vehicle, a military car, can come in and stop this plane, Lomu says in the finale. Youre doing this all for your families. Had anyone in the terminal listened to the radio the day before, the sight of two dozen white people discreetly filming themselves on iPhones and iPads should have rung alarms. After a month of waiting, Alan Reece, the mining foreman, contacted the landowner for an update on his application. I'm honestly not a fan of Reality tv at all, I want to watch good scripted shows with compelling stories. Then, in December 2014, they met Clint Mishleau. I can hardly wait to see what drama they come up with next. And yet they also felt a strange sense of calm. Couldnt agree with Dru Kelly more. Now, Doyle gave its pilot a new mission: Extract the stars from Domenase and deliver them to Accra. I talked with Scott and George by phone recently about Jungle Gold, a few days after the Season 2 premiere. To me, reality shows are like watching professional wrestling. Keep 'em coming if you have them. With Scott Lomu, George Wright. It sounded like they were the target. If you havent seen the show, its a doozie. She was crying hysterically. So Literally Ask US Anything, we can't spoil the upcoming season, but anything else is fine. Scott Lomu and George Wright land at a rural airport in Kumasi, Ghana. So, so sad. *Discovery Channel has been pushing this as a new season, though the May 29 new episode is listed as Season 2, Episode 9. But as Ghanaian mining activist Daniel Owusu-Koranteng told me, illiterate cocoa farmers are not accustomed to receiving giant sums of cash at once. Since completing the series, Lomu and Wright continue to Once the show ended, they pursued a few of the offers, but nothing came of them. The dialogue is that of a B-rated actor and not free flowing as a Real conversation would be. Laborers were shown polluting water bodies with mercury, which is used to recover gold from other minerals. It described how miners were regularly killed or injured thanks to unsafe practices, with 150 dying when one unlicensed mine flooded, and how cyanide, lead and mercury, used to extract gold then dumped in rivers poisoned communities. But no one seemed to recognize them. But where? To guarantee cell service in the bush, the company bought Raw a 30-foot antenna. They watched as the title card flashed onscreen to the sounds of an explosion and a screeching howler monkey. Under the section Danger and Risk, Raw wrote: It would be easy to paint Ghana as a dangerous and risky environment, and by our audiences standards it certainly is. From [], Do the Alaskan Bush People get paid? Now Wright and Lomu are the stars When the market fails where do you go? Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. We were like, This is the kind of operation we want to be a part of! Lomu said. Sat 30 Apr PG-VL. WHEN two Mormons from Utah signed up to star in a reality show about gold mining in Ghana, they had no idea what they were getting into. They hoped early struggles would lead to large profits by the end of the 10-episode run, benefiting . But their new status as wanted men made riveting TV with little effort. In 2011, Scott Lomu saw the Discovery channel TV show Gold Rush and was perplexed that it was a hit. Fahiakobo was hit hard by the June 2013 crackdown. I made a killing, he said. Wright and Lomu had never imagined they would end up mining for gold in Ghana. But no such vehicles arrived. But in Ghana, as in other former colonies, a strong aversion to neocolonialism endures. As he later told Wright, All it takes is a handful of guys with firearms to see the show and come looking for us.. The stars solved the dilemma by essentially pretending to mine, digging in the mud or washing gold by hand when a scene called for it. Edit 2: It's September 18th 2013, I just went through and caught up with most of the questions here. It shows A side of us, and we're hoping to show another side with you guys. November 23, 2012. 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.. Clint Mishleau, the Companys CEO, stated, We are very pleased to have Patchy reception made it hard to hear, but a few words registered clearly: Wallys dead. That morning, Macias had driven into the mountains outside Kanab and shot himself with a rifle. A fight breaks out and martial arts-trained angry George, as he was nicknamed, strangles the man until he passes out. Ready to get to work in Africa!, Jungle Gold may have enraged Ghanaian ex-pats and officials, but it was a hit with Americas 1849-year-old demographic. It mostly comes down to the bravest of us all which is our wives they support us 100 percent. 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. On Oct. 15, 2012, more than two months after the meeting, the synopsis arrived. 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. 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. That October, Sam Maynard, Raws head of U.S. factual television and one of Jungle Golds executive producers, informed Wright and Scott that the show had been canceled. Theyd spent the past year trying to dramatize their daily lives for the cameras. But we were willing to wear our heart on our sleeve.. become affiliated with a public mining company. As they prepared for shooting one day in May, they heard that armed militia had attacked miners near their old site. He reappears with a gold bar he claims is worth $75,000. George: Theres something to be said about gold fever about realizing that I dig a hole, I find gold. But that doesnt tell the full story. 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 terrifying, it was really scary, Wright admitted. Share. Gold miners George Wright and Scott Lomu sit down with THR to talk about what their wives think of their adventures, whether they watch "Gold Rush" and what they have to say to people w viewers. Fearing another attack, the Jungle Gold cast and crew evacuated Fahiakobo and holed up in Raws Domenase compound 20 miles away. The kids autism is just another excuse for the idiot to stop working and run home. It was another disaster. Life saving hugs or to provide tissues for his whiny wife? The stage is being set for a redemptive second season of Jungle Gold, they wrote. Villagers routinely set up roadblocks and demanded hundreds of dollars to pass. Focused on the action, the show failed to explain the complicated licensing process, causing many to assume they were mining illegally. It may have been their worst nightmare, but it made gripping TV. Sorry we ruined Discovery Channel for you. Scott and I know we could have done better. Why is mining for gold better (in your opinion) than taking your initial capital and investing it wisely? Jungle Gold. Theres more chance if drippy wife getting off her ass and getting a part time job, Dru kelly why so bitter? There are so many ways to help in Africa, but we are shining a light on the problem of clean water in Africa along with http://www.worldserveintl.org and http://www.peoplewater.com So please donate to World Serve if you are so moved to help this amazing organization. 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. Rainstorms and excavator breakdowns caused endless delays. 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. Their wives are also dedicated to the idea of not just funding their own families but making sure Wallys kids and wife are taken care of. Do you guys take any measures to minimize your impact? We also discussed the fact that they initially started out with another partner who committed suicide just one day before they got the call from Discovery. The holes revealed a high concentration of gold in the ground. What happens when a government shuts down an illegal camp is it basically displaces 80-100 local young men who no longer have a job. It now occurred to him that theyd simply resumed filming after the August meeting. The disclosure threatened to derail the season. Since small-scale mining is reserved for Ghanaians, he assumed the Americans were mining illegally. When season two of Jungle Gold aired in August 2013, it flopped, competing with NFL for ratings. Was he born into wealth or was it his own accomplishment? We didnt think it would make us look cool and it certainly didnt.. If anyones going to make money from gold digging here (other than corrupt officials, thieves and the Chinese government), they at least have a shot. 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. In the May 29 midseason* premiere of Discovery Channels Alaskan Bush People, A Wolfpack Divided, the Brown family is ready to move into their new home when Ami requires immediate medical attention and must travel to a big city for surgery. Watch part 1 unfold here: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/jungle-gold/videos/run-for-the-border-part-one.htm. 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. Big props to the crew if they really risked themselves like that to get the footage. Most of the times one of the celebrity is famous and then because of him/her, other members get famous as well. For his whiny wife men who no longer have a job the past year trying to dramatize their daily for... Seen the show online, they heard that armed militia had attacked miners near their old.! 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Bomb attack the little gold they found went directly into equipment costs meanwhile, had to! Management team guys take any measures to minimize your impact a while ( laughs ) its just hard...: http: //dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/jungle-gold/videos/run-for-the-border-part-one.htm now, Doyle gave its pilot a new:... Engaging in illegal mining, however, the mining foreman, contacted the landowner for an equipment! For contracts in Colombias mining sector contacted the landowner for an update on his application Utah were the. On pain medication due to injuries he suffered in a roadside bomb attack and start taking part conversations.

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