How White Water Star Kayla Johanson Felt About Joining The Gold Rush Family
Discovery's sprawling "Gold Rush" franchise follows gold mining operations in multiple countries as each crew hopes to strike it rich. With various teams and tactics, one of the highlights of watching the reality series is seeing the different approaches toward searching for gold.
"Gold Rush: White Water" follows father-son duo "Dakota" Fred and Dustin Hurt, who utilize an unconventional diving method to mine their way through remote Alaskan waters. The spin-off is currently in its fifth season and saw the addition of two miners: Mark Stamper and Kayla Johanson. The latter miner has nearly 15 years of experience under her belt but still ruffled some feathers being the only woman on her team.
Johanson felt that she had to prove herself to some of the men on her team and impressed everyone by being the first to find gold. As Season 5 goes on, it's clear that the miner has gotten comfortable being on camera and is making strides on their mining ventures.
With such a strong debut on "Gold Rush: White Water," it's hard to believe that Johanson wasn't immediately convinced to join the series.
Johanson was 'kind of on the fence' at first
Although Kayla Johanson says that mining is an "obsession" for her, she told Hollywood Soapbox that she was "kind of on the fence" about joining the popular reality series. She needed time to think it over before accepting the offer.
"I wasn't sure if I was going to do it yet or not, mainly because I already had my own dredging operation going here," she told the outlet. Johanson added that she often works alone and enjoys being able to make her schedule and be her own boss.
"At most, I might work with (another) person if I bring in some help, but for the most part I work by myself. So I was kind of on the fence if I wanted to change that and leave that behind to go work with a bunch of different people, which was a little bit challenging at first," she explained.
Despite her reservations about joining the "Gold Rush" family, Johanson said that the experience "ended up being really fun" and that she was "glad" to have said yes.
"Gold Rush: White Water" is streaming on Discovery+.