During a recent interview with Forbes, Todd Hoffman explained that the show is genuinely shot in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. "We're only about 200 miles from the Russian border up there," revealed Hoffman. "We're in the middle of nowhere. We're by Siberia." Hoffman went on to describe how shooting the show on location means that all the drama surrounding the team's isolation is completely authentic. "There's nowhere to turn and run. If your stuff isn't working, you gotta improvise," he said.
Considering how often "Gold Rush" and its spin-offs emphasize the harsh, unyielding conditions that gold miners have to endure on the job, it seems necessary that the show should be filmed in the Alaskan countryside. If the show was shot anywhere else, the audience would miss out on all the real-life struggles that come with working in such an isolated, unforgiving environment. In any case, the fact that the series is genuinely filmed in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness helps to lend a bit of credibility to the show — something that every reality series needs in order to keep its fans engaged.
