Gold Rush Fans Are Heated Over The Fred And Clayton Debacle In Season 13 Episode 18
Although all of the cast members currently starring in Discovery's prolific reality series "Gold Rush" receive their fair share of criticism from fans online, the sheer level of hatred that miner Fred Lewis receives is shocking. Fans online don't hold anything back in their abject hatred of Lewis – belittling his intelligence, and sending him plenty of scathing messages due to his frequent failures as a gold miner.
The constant vitriol directed towards Lewis extends to his crew as well, which fans have criticized for being incompetent and poorly managed throughout the entirety of his time on the show. Most recently, fans were outraged by an incident in the Season 13 episode "Gremlins," in which Lewis' crew snapped one of the belts on their washplant, replaced it without checking for the cause of the error, and lost a second belt as a result.
Now, fans are criticizing Lewis' incompetence yet again after another blunder in Season 13 Episode 18, in which he and his crew appeared to screw up a deal with greenhorn miners Brandon and Brady Clayton.
Fans think Fred's crew gave the Claytons broken machinery
Season 13, Episode 18, titled "Buzzified," saw Fred Lewis' crew performing some shady business dealings with the Clayton brothers Brandon and Brady, shamelessly giving the brothers a dozer that was only a few hours from breaking down. As summarized by one user on Reddit, this entire debacle stems back to an agreement earlier in Season 13 in which the Claytons let Lewis borrow their dozer in return for a favor down the line. Lewis' "favor" was giving this old dozer to the Claytons, which worked for just three hours before dying — something which Lewis and crew somehow blamed the Claytons for.
"I was shocked by Fred and his crew not wanting to honor their word/obligation to the Clayton's," wrote u/FredFrank78. "And to blame Clayton's for breaking their dozer. It is obvious this was broken before, and just any moment it would completely fail." Another user named u/Impressive_Eagle_390 wrote, "Lol good cop bad cop... **** off Fred. The dozer would have broke on your claim. Can't stand Fred's crew." On top of the fact that lending someone a broken piece of equipment seems like shady business, users u/Technical_Ear_7040 and u/kjireland were quick to point out that Lewis had also broken a feeder he borrowed from the Claytons just three weeks earlier.
Adding the busted dozer and broken feeder on top of the washplant ordeal from two episodes prior makes it clear that Lewis' crew is on a roll with their machinery issues. Although they may still blame the dozer's failure on the Clayton brothers, it certainly seems like broken machinery is becoming a staple of Lewis' oft-criticized crew.