The Most Pause-Worthy Rick Moment On Gold Rush
Parker Schnabel, who is arguably the most recognizable cast member on "Gold Rush," was both metaphorically and somewhat literally grandfathered into the gold mining profession at a young age. At the series' start, Parker was a teenager occasionally showing up to the site of his family's gold mining operations. When his grandfather John Schnabel stepped down as mine boss, however, Parker inherited his business dealings, and has remained a "Gold Rush" fixture ever sense.
By contrast, Rick Ness was once a musician, until a chance meeting with Parker inspired him to enter into the gold mining profession himself. Whereas in early seasons Rick is learning on the job, he eventually becomes the boss of his own mining operation and one of the series' main personalities. Since Rick was introduced on the show some years ago, he's naturally gone through his fair share of both triumphs and defeats on-camera. In one notable instance, for example, Rick failing to communicate with Parker cost his then-boss a grand total of $50,000.
Because success is never guaranteed on "Gold Rush," viewers sometimes won't know how much one of its mine bosses has unearthed until a given season's conclusion. The Season 11 finale, however, isn't entirely clear about one aspect of Rick's final haul, requiring a number of viewers to pause the episode and calculate his crew's earnings themselves.
Viewers had to figure out how much was in Rick's water bottle
During the "Gold Rush" Season 11 finale, titled "Endgame," the entirety of Rick's gold bonus isn't officially measured on-camera, but rather remains within a plastic water bottle. One Reddit user, therefore, started a thread on the "Gold Rush" subreddit titled "Rick's Gold Bonus" attempting to calculate how much the gold within that water bottle is worth, and thus how much Rick's crew earned at the end of the season. After converting the volume of the water bottle and estimating how much such a quantity of gold should earn them, they determined that each member of Rick's crew netted $93,785 in total.
While a number of commenters pointed out flaws in the original post's calculations, user carp_boy similarly recounted pausing the episode and using a calculator to determine Rick's final earnings during that same scene. They concluded that the water bottle of gold was worth $450 thousand, which would then be divided evenly between Rick's crew of six.
Given the lack of official insight into the gold's quantity and resultant worth, as well as viewers' varying calculations as to its approximate value, these are most likely just two among numerous "Gold Rush" fans that have had to pause Rick's final Season 11 haul scene and determine his crew's bonus earnings on their own.