‘Gold Rush’: Fred Lewis on His Shock Return to Show & Decision to Quit Mining

In a surprising turn, fans saw a familiar face return during the November 3 episode of Gold Rush. It was Fred Lewis. The military veteran was primarily featured during seasons 11 to 13, but things didn’t work out for him going into season 14. Lewis was introduced to the popular Discovery series world when he put his background as a Special Forces medic to use in a similar role for Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail in 2019.

It’s where he first began to work with Parker Schnabel. After viewers wondered if they’d ever see Lewis again, he re-emerged in hopes of securing ground to keep his operation going. After a missteps and string of bad luck, the Misfits Mining crew leader sought Schnabel for help and offered his services. The tough conversation ends with Schnabel turning him down as he didn’t see bringing him on board at the moment making sense. Lewis then concludes it might be a good idea to take time off from mining, pack up camp, and leave.

Here the polarizing figure opens up about making his tough decision and tells us what’s next.

Catch us up a little bit leading up to your meeting with Parker. I know there was a lot of wonder from fans about if we’d see you this season or not. 

Fred Lewis: That conversation with Parker was the tail end of my wife and I’s decision to mine or to take a pause and step back and look at what we’re doing to find what we need, which is better ground. I think we made it clear in the past few seasons that the ground wasn’t quite good enough for California Creek, but it was our only option. We got to the point after the gold bonuses were given back last season. We decided that wasn’t how we wanted to roll. We gave the gold bonuses back to the crew and took the brunt of it on our own. That meant we had to find better ground. That’s what we struggled with and still struggling with to this day.

You have this conversation with Parker where you’re offering your services to him. How hard was it for you to reach out to him like you did? 

I was always taught early in life to make the best out of every situation whenever possible. I’m up the Yukon looking to see if I can find a place to mine, and it’s not working out. At that point, it’s sink or swim. I don’t like abandoning ships, so any job opportunity or a way to continue developing in gold mining is a good one. It’s one of those things you have to eat your humble pie and see how you’re going to build and grow. Going home with nothing is the worst way to do it.

Were you surprised by his response and reaction? 

No. I threw out the question half as a joke, but it is what it is. It’s a lot harder to get a job than you think. I had other options and ways things could have gone that were a little more risky. That’s life. That’s how it goes. It is what it is.

This season Rick Ness battled his demons and is looking to make a comeback story of his own. What do you make of his story? Does it inspire you? 

Rick’s story is something that hits close to me, having my past and almost everyone on my team has dealt with similar things that he is going through. It’s a touchy subject for me as it’s something I’ve dealt with in my past quite a bit. Darker times. I feel for him. I’ve reached out several times to lend my support. I’ll continue to do so and hope he finds the light.

What has life outside Gold Rush been like?  

Honestly, my life hasn’t changed a bit. I’ve been very sporadic since I was a little kid. I’ve never lived in the same place longer than three years. I went to college for nine straight years and got a degree in agriculture. Kept going and going. Gold mining was the thing that made sense to me at the time. It still makes sense, but at the same time, it doesn’t slow me down from doing other things. I’ve got options, contracting jobs, ways to help veterans on the nonprofit side and adaptive sports. I’m looking to get back involved in that. At the same time, looking for mining options next season. I’m not slowing down. If anything I’m speeding up, focusing on finding that better ground to make it. I want to succeed. I don’t want to keep struggling. If I go up there, I want it to be something worth it.

So you haven’t totally given up on mining. 

That’s actually it. It’s a pause to see what I have outside of gold mining while I continue to look for the ground I need to continue mining. I’m always the type of person who throws their anchors out and whatever catches I’ll investigate it.

The show has a lot of dedicated viewers. Many have strong opinions about you as a polarizing figure. How do you take it all in? 

I get it. I have a lot of fans who reach out to me and thank me for what I’m doing and for being a positive role model for veterans, so that’s all that really matters. I look at my resume and I’m pretty confident, knowing what I’ve done in my life and will continue to do. People that hate on me, it’s interesting. At the same time, it also draws attention. I just roll with it.

What do you say you’ve learned about yourself from your time on the show so far? 

Win, lose, or draw, I’ve learned a lot from gold mining just from the hard work and dedication required. What it did for our team, we came together for several years with different guys here and there. It was still a solid crew where we all maintained contact with everybody. We all came out of it with something from it. We all learned how to operate equipment, weld, and move s***. We learned a lot.  We’re still going to continue to learn.

What do you think the state of gold mining is now? 

I think politically gold mining can be up for grabs at any time. That’s the crazy part about it and what makes it so interesting. We watched the price of gold daily because you never know what will spike it. As far as the industry goes, it’s getting harder because governments are trying to make it harder. There are people out there who don’t mine responsibility, which makes it harder for everyone. While the ground is harder to grab, I think it’s the best time in history to mine because we could be looking at $3,000 an ounce of gold at one point. You never know. It’s hard to get, but can be a reward if you can find that ground. Parker’s move to grab that ground was pretty freakin’ smart. Put it that way.

Any big regret you have from your time on the show thus far? 

No, I took advantage of a lot of last-minute opportunities. I had to take risks to do that. A lot of the mistakes I made were due to a lack of timing. Do it or get off the pot scenario. I don’t regret that. I do wish I had more time to learn some of the do’s and don’ts about starting your own business before I jumped into it. At the same time, it forced me to learn. Like drinking from a fire hose. It’s how we were raised in the military. You know what? I don’t regret anything. Just wish I had more time.

What do you want to say to people wondering what is next for you? 

There is a lot that goes into this show and gold mining as a whole. There is a lot the camera doesn’t catch. We’re mining 24 hours a day most of the time up there, and they are only filming a small portion of that. Don’t try to read between the lines. It’s a tough business. And there reaches a point where you lose big time or take a break trying to figure out a way to do this without losing it all. That’s where we are at. Just enjoy the show.

And stay tuned because we haven’t seen the last of you, right? 

No. I’m not going away. There is no quit in me. Failure is just a thing in life you learn from. I’m not done. I’ll be back.

Gold Rush, Fridays, 8/7c, Discovery