The Most Pause-Worthy Fred Dodge Moment On Gold Rush

"Gold Rush" is one of those shows that have swollen way larger than their original scope was. The Discovery reality show started life as "Gold Rush: Alaska," but the concept of following the triumphs and trials of various placer gold miner families turned out to be so alluring that the show has long dropped the "Alaska" part of the name. These days, the action is mostly spread between Alaska and the Klondike region of northwestern Canada, but the various companies involved with the show have tried their luck in places as remote as Guyana, South America. 

The show has become such a phenomenon that a suction dredge diving-themed spinoff, "Gold Rush: White Water," premiered in 2018, and numerous other spinoff have turned up since. One of them, "Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue," focuses on Fred Dodge, a noted professional who has been a recurring presence since the show's beginning, and who often turns up to get various miners out of the jam of the week with his unparalleled equipment expertise.  

Since this is a man whose job description is helping out the show's sturdy miners when they encounter issues they can't solve, it's only natural that he has plenty of cool moments in the show. With that in mind, let's take a look at the Fred Dodge moment in "Gold rush" that may very well cause you to hit pause. 

"Gold Rush" Season 7, Episode 19 is called "Miners vs Beavers," and it fully delivers on the premise. Someone has to clean the mess after beavers manages to block Todd Hoffman's water supply with a dam, and unfortunately for Fred Dodge, events conspire in a way that makes him that someone — despite the fact that he's sick. And so, a man who should be in bed resting and whose voice is essentially gone wades in the water to fix the situation, and even goes underwater at one point. It's a dramatic sequence, and a pretty entertaining watch. However, fans on Reddit have pointed out just how absurd the scene is.

"So there are two guys. One, who is irreplaceable to the operation and is having a cold, and the other one, who just might be competent enough to crawl into a culvert pipe to unplug it. Just so happens that a bunch of beavers build a dam in that said culvert, so just guess which one goes for a swim? Yup, that's right," redditor u/Rankkikotka wrote. Others joined in to express their disbelief at the scene, since Todd is just standing there and screaming Fred's name, instead of doing the grunt work himself. 

Some Twitter users expressed similar sentiments. "Wish he had sent Todd down there. Would be like Pooh stuck in rabbits hole all over again," @BroncosSBX wrote. 

Sometimes, the realism of a situation is what glues the viewers on their seats. In this scene, fans seem to agree that Freddy is thoroughly cool and capable, but the sheer unbelievability of sending the flu-ridden man to do the job in the first place seems to be the cherry on top of the cake.