Gold Rush Star on Making God Center Stage
ANOTHER RUN FOR THE GOLD
When the Hoffmans stepped away from Gold Rush in 2018, the family needed a break. "Being on a reality show is not glamorous," Todd says of having cameras all around and the hectic schedule. After eight years on the show and living in motor homes, they needed time to repair their family and rest, he admits. When they stepped away, Todd told his wife, kids, and father, “I don’t care about fame, I care about you. The world cannot offer anything sweeter than what Jesus gives,” he says. “Family is number one.”
On March 25, 2022, they kicked off Hoffman Family Gold on Discovery Channel. The first season included some important changes in what viewers saw. It was very important to Todd and the family to let their faith shine through this time; for example, making onscreen amends when there was conflict, and showing them praying. “We love Jesus Christ and there’s something spiritual happening on this show,” he says.
Season 2 of Hoffman Family Gold premiered June 16, 2023, on Discovery Channel. New episodes air every Friday at 9 pm ET through Friday, September 1st. This season viewers can expect to see more of the Hoffman family dynamic with the tension between Todd and his oldest son, Hunter taking center stage. Weary of taking orders from his father, Hunter surprises his dad when asking to run his own mining site. With a combined goal of 1,000 ounces of gold and a payoff of $750,000, the crew faces increasing pressure which includes fires, drought, floods, and equipment failures. After long hours and days that never seem to end, emotions are at an all-time high.
FORMER 'GOLD RUSH' STAR SAYS FAMILY RELIES ON JESUS TO PERSEVERE IN CHALLENGING NEW DISCOVERY SERIES (excerpts from The Christian Post, 3/28/22)
But this time around, the popular miner will be providing audiences an intimate look into his family and how they rely on their faith to help them navigate an extremely tasking gold mine in Alaska.
Hoffman first went mining with his father when he was a teenager. It was something that his father dreamed about. The family took the chance in 2008-2009 when gold began increasing in value and skyrocketed during the recession. This led to the launch of “Gold Rush” on the Discovery Channel in 2010. They began mining undercapitalized with their friends on worldwide television. They mined for many years in Alaska, Yukon, Colorado, Oregon, and the jungle. The Hoffmans retired five years ago and thought they were done. Then COVID-19 hit.
The family began putting things back together again to go on a new mining excursion, and the Discovery Channel “missed” them, he said. “We don’t want this to be a dark reality show where people throw wrenches at each other. I said, '[Yes], If you guys can agree to allow us to pray if you guys can agree to allow us to be us, and on TV encourage everybody in the world, not just Christians, anybody.' They said, 'You know what? We're game. We want you guys back, the Hoffman's back.'"
"I became a Christian when I was young, and I took my faith seriously. My father was an elder at the church. But I feel like maybe my faith got cemented around 15-16 when some of my buddies decided they wanted to go drink and do certain things like that. So I just took a path on my own, and it was lonely. I got to be honest with you,” Hoffman shared. “The Christian path isn’t the easy path. But as we all know, it is the path that takes us to salvation. We are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Our sins are covered by His blood and His sacrifice. And I truly accepted that sacrifice,” the Oregon native testified. “Having said that, I’m no poster boy for the faith. But I’m telling you right now, my family, we love Jesus, we represent the best we can, our faith and our values.”
“At the end of the day, you can have all the money, you can have the best job in the world, you’re still going to die, and you’re still standing before God,” he continued. “He’s going to open up the book, and your name is in there, or it isn’t in there. He’s going to say, ‘Maybe you did a lot of good things, but I don’t know you.’ The most important thing in our lives, the words that we want to hear is, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.' Because all the things of this world, including gold, will pass away. And it's a single journey between you and Jesus Christ. This is where the crux of everything is and that's why I love being on television because there's no other medium that you can reach [so many]."
"Hoffman Family Gold" takes a more intimate look at the family. The leader of the Hoffman crew wants people to see the positive impact the patriarch of their family has on everyone. "I want you to know how good my father is and what a wonderful person he is and how he loves people and how many people he's encouraged in his life," Hoffman commented. "I want you to be encouraged by my father. I want you to see the relationship between me and my son, which isn't always easy. I want you to see that you can get around differences and do your best and see if you can support your kids because what they have to deal with nowadays with pornography and everything else that’s coming at them is a lot harder than what we had.”
Todd tells the story of how the Lord used his dad, Jack, to help a family who showed up at one of the mining sites when they were in the area on vacation. They specifically wanted to see Jack. In his true loving fashion, Jack spent the entire afternoon with the family. Later, Jack found out that the man told his wife that he planned on taking his life after they got home from vacation. Spending time with Jack, changed his mind and saved his life. Todd shares, “You never know who you will come across and how God will use you to make a difference in the lives of others.” Todd is also very honest when he says, "We are not perfect. The show's not going to show perfect Christians, but they are going to show our faith and that we do love Jesus Christ and we are sold out on the saving grace of Christ. We want everybody to be encouraged by that. We want everybody to know that God has already won. We have already won the battle," he ended. Hoffman has a message for families everywhere. "I know that there are times that are looking rough right now. There are scary things that are going on in the world. This was foretold," Hoffman stated. "We knew it was coming. So gather your family, pull them off the internet a little bit, and start going out and doing some activities. Get out. If you want to gold pan or do anything, rally around your family because we are coming towards what I believe is the end. We need to gather as many people to Jesus as we can."
SANDY MULE
Todd doesn’t just mine for gold, he also sings in a band called Sandy Mule (from Sandy, OR). Singing lead vocals along with Paul Nicholls with Tobe An on guitar, their songs have garnered millions of views on YouTube and other outlets like Spotify (The “Sound of Silence” cover Todd sings has gotten over 16 million views on YouTube alone).
Find out how you can watch Hoffman's Family Gold Here: Discovery.com/Hoffman Family Gold
