Net Worth in 2021. Of course theyre concerned for us, of course they worry about our safety. 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. Scott Lomu and George Wright, hapless heroes of Discoverys Jungle Gold, finally had to flee the country by plane to escape arrest and the armed militia who seemed to be pursuing them. So, gold fever its addictive. Under Ghanaian law, Wright and Lomu could not physically mine. Our first thought was always: Didnt you guys see the show? Content Rating. We never used arsenic. He later learned Macias had become dependent on pain medication due to injuries he suffered in a roadside bomb attack. 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. When I visited Aboagye in his cluttered office the following year, he told me hed requested a synopsis of the program the crew planned to make. management team. George Wright and Scott Lomu of Discoverys Jungle Gold (Sundays at 10:00 p.m. Yet, at the same time, Ghanas small-scale mining sector had grown increasingly chaotic. 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. 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. Before the men could start legally mining, however, the large-scale license had to come through. There were reports of armed robberies in Chinese mining camps as locals and foreign rivals fought for land. Was he born into wealth or was it his own accomplishment? Under Review. 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. Watching the videos, I got the sense that Wright and Lomu, regretful over Jungle Gold, were trying to redeem themselves by portraying Guyana in a flattering light. To ensure the most secure and best overall experience on our website we recommend the latest versions of, Internet Explorer is no longer supported. 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. Lomu had heard that Americans could expect to buy gold in Ghana and resell it in the U.S. for a profit approaching 20%. A task force created by President John Mahama had flushed dozens of Chinese miners from the area, leaving many of the villages men unemployed. He also began investing in real estate, which was how he met Scott Lomu. But, you will find Ghana a fantastic country. Consumed with other business, hed all but forgotten about Raw. Two guys lose their shirts when the real estate bubble bursts and decide to do the logical thing hunt for gold in Ghana! . Couldnt agree with Dru Kelly more. Discovery had ordered 12 episodes, Wright said, but their abbreviated stay produced only enough material for six. Scott Lomu and George Wright join our company. Last year we were forced to use mercury which was really hard for a lot of people. Website: www.ensurgegold.com, Ensurge, Inc.Clint Mishleau, 702-728-5187ensurgeinfo@gmail.com, Internet Explorer presents a security risk. 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. Theres more chance if drippy wife getting off her ass and getting a part time job, Dru kelly why so bitter? Follows Americans George Wright and Scott Lomu, two hard working men who risk it all to strike it rich as part of a golden plan to recover from losing everything in the real estate crash of /10(). We asked! Genre Man vs. But regardless of their portrayal onscreen, Wright and Lomu believed they had done more good than harm in Ghana. Filming at home. 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. George: Theres something to be said about gold fever about realizing that I dig a hole, I find gold. I can hardly wait to see what drama they come up with next. The next morning, Wright searched his iPhone for news of the incident. Why is mining for gold better (in your opinion) than taking your initial capital and investing it wisely? 43 min. 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. We just wanted to show what its like in Guyana from our perspective, Wright said. Additionally, Mr. Lomu has been appointed as Chairman of the Company . Proof: https://twitter.com/JungleGeorgeVI/status/365907125215576064 https://twitter.com/JungleGoldScott/status/365907460332068864, Edit: We are going to keep this open. If you cannot answer that for Spoiler reasons, how many months were you in Ghana for, this year? Tall, handsome, and half-Polynesian, he studied business at Arizona State University and did his Mormon mission in Indianapolis. Upon arrival, the cast and crew had paid the landowner $50,000 and set up camp on the villages perimeter. Broke and demoralized, the three men abandoned their nascent mining operation in October 2010. 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. 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 shows first season had been a hit, airing on Friday nights behind Gold Rush, Discovery Channels highest-rated show. Take a good look, Scottie, he said. They stop mining, protecting the environment and local communities. Thats the last were going to see of Ghana.. He was crushed to learn I was not. They were convinced theyd be arrested at the airport and imprisoned. 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. But as Ghanaian mining activist Daniel Owusu-Koranteng told me, illiterate cocoa farmers are not accustomed to receiving giant sums of cash at once. You were a bad realtor, a dreamer, no clue about mining, engineering, equipment operation, management, or investment. The crew had received press accreditation from the Information Services Department, he said. 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. Those guys on the dredge they were having a really good time. He paused. 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 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. He watched in puzzlement as Wright ordered an excavator driver to tear it all down. The program, he soon discovered, was set in Ghana. I personaly found it entertaining and interesting. But he dropped out after a year to serve a Mormon mission in Buenos Aires. Other scenes needed no stage-managing. The company owned a large mining operation in Guyana, a former British colony on the Caribbean coast of South America. 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. Element United is the first to market in bringing blockchain technology to gold + precious elements. 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. As Richard Bushman, a professor emeritus of history at Columbia University, put it: Mormons think things will work out for the best.. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. What is behind the allure of gold mining? There were things we didnt expect, things that normally wouldnt happen to us happened because the cameras were there, said Lomu. They cast Wright and Lomu as hardworking family men engaged in a heroic struggle against hostile and uncooperative natives. As chronicled in their I Am A, where the mundane becomes fascinating and the outrageous suddenly seems normal. In early August 2012, records show, several Raw crew members sat down with Joseph Aboagye, the Minerals Commissions stern director of policy, planning, monitoring, and evaluation. Meanwhile, the pressure is on the boys to secure a wood-burning stove so the family can stay warm over winter. I made a killing, he said. It was clearly time to go. Watch the Run For the Border episode. Unfortunately, most locals can't afford to mine the gold, they need outside investment. As Wrights four children bounced on a giant trampoline in the backyard, the men explained that they had returned to Ghana several times since the evacuation, mainly to recover the thousands of dollars in equipment theyd left behind. But once again, the cost of equipment and labor exceeded the meager amount of gold they found. Last modified on Sat 2 Jul 2022 00.15 EDT. A fight breaks out and martial arts-trained angry George, as he was nicknamed, strangles the man until he passes out. It sure could. Jungle Gold. You were slightly mislead. Lomu signaled for the check. (The news site had failed to provide attribution for the murder accusation.). His first radio story, which cast doubt on the Americans legal status, aired the first week of May. 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. Is it worth all the effort and danger youre going through? The most recent episode where Scottie had to fly home immediately because his boy was diagnosed with autism was just another laughable fake emergency. God-fearing pair are now back in the game, trying their hand at mining in Guyana, on South America's Caribbean coast, posting hair-raising videos on Instagram . 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. 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). George Wright. The cast and crew hid at a nearby compound, where they discovered Wright was suspected of murder and the authorities wanted them arrested. Press J to jump to the feed. This is a tale of our times the new American Dream set in the jungles of Africa, the introduction read. Salary in 2020. In the show Dave Thomas is portrayed as a major landowner/prospector in Ghana. 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. Wright and Lomu step out to investigate. Reeling from the news, Lomu flew to Utah the next day. Season 2. Gold prices were high, getting equipment was cheap. Lomu peeked out the compounds window, half expecting a military convoy to break down the gate and haul them away. 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. Scott Lomu is VP:Investor Relations at Ensurge Inc. See Scott Lomu's compensation, career history, education, & memberships. A month after the Jungle Gold evacuation, the Ghanaian government conducted a nationwide crackdown on illegal foreign miners, causing thousands of Chinese nationals to be deported. As the wheels lifted off, the crew exploded in cheers. (Raw refused to comment on Aboagyes claim.) This season, Scott and George have family money on the line in the form of an investment from Scotts father-in-law and a new colleague, Dave Thomas, as they had back to Ghana looking for enough gold to pay off the debts and secure their families futures. Big props to the crew if they really risked themselves like that to get the footage. Lomu took out a loan modification to save his mortgage; Wrights home went into foreclosure. Their timing was perfect. 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