What Gold Rush's Parker Schnabel Does In His Free Time From The Show
Parker Schnabel was never supposed to be the star of "Gold Rush." When Schnabel started out on the show, it was focused on his grandfather, John Schnabel, while Parker was just one of the miners at the elder Schnabel's Big Nugget Mine. After John Schnabel stepped down in Season 2, the show shifted its focus to his grandson, who John gave his mine to. That put the new leader on the path to millions of dollars in wealth, with Parker Schnabel's net worth estimated at $10 million in 2020 (per Distractify).
In a discussion in the r/goldrush subreddit, u/0g0ggilby suggested that Parker Schnabel would never have amassed the fortune he has if he had never been on the show, and Parker himself responded rather wistfully about what could have been. "I know your [sic] being s***ty, but I often wonder what I would have done if the show didn't land in Haines. It's been awesome, but I didn't go to college or learn a lot of things the more natural way [like good communication skills]. I wanted to go to college and was going to go for mining engineering at UAF in Fairbanks. Maybe I'll still get a degree."
It seems like the show and his gold mining operation take up a lot of Schnabel's life, to the point where, on the show, he even admitted that his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Ashley Youle ended because he was too busy with his mining. Still, he does have some down time, and he told some fans how he likes to spend it.
Parker Schnabel likes to hang with the film crew in the offseason
In 2018, Parker Schnabel participated in an AMA in the r/goldrush subreddit, and u/almondbuttertoast asked the mining mogul what he likes to do in his free time. "I like to spend some time in London where the show is edited and see that process and hang out with my film crew buddies," Schnabel replied. "I travel, hang with the pup, play in the snow, prepare for another summer war." Whenever the crew are filming Schnabel, everyone is busy working, so it stands to reason that they don't get a lot of social time together when they're filming the show. It's nice to know that he spends some time with them outside of filming.
Elsewhere in the same AMA thread, u/tr1gger asked Schnabel what he does with all of the money he earns from gold mining, as he's never seen on the show with a lavish house or expensive car. Schnabel proceeded to brag about the two new bulldozers he had purchased in the winter, saying "But really, no home or anything yet. I don't know where I want to live!" It would seem that, for all of his success and fame that he's gained since the first season of "Gold Rush," it hasn't changed Schnabel much from the young miner he was at the show's beginning, and that's part of what makes Schnabel such an interesting character to watch on the show.