'Gold Rush: White Water' Season 3 finds Dustin a better leader than grumpy 'Dakota' Fred and results prove it
The third season of ‘Gold Rush: White Water’, Discovery Channel’s adventure documentary series about hunting for gold in the harsh terrain of Alaska, has been a wild ride so far. With eight episodes out, the show has seen more drama and emotional moments than any of the previous seasons. And there’s a reason for that.
Season 3 differs from the previous two in one very important aspect: It’s a father versus son race this time: 76-year-old ‘Dakota’ Fred Hurt competing with 42-year-old Dustin Hurt. The duo has different personalities and different temperaments. But one of them seems to be doing a lot better than the other.
Dustin, who is known to have a hot temper and a love-hate relationship with his father, has tried hard all season to not turn into his father. He even said so in episode 8 when for a while he got frustrated with crewmember James Hamm for making rookie mistakes.
Dustin, instead of chewing James’ head off, however, decided the better approach was to cool off and explain to the man where he went wrong. In fact, he went a step ahead and taught him the right way to do things, so as to avoid future mistakes.
This is not to say that Dustin hasn’t behaved in an erratic fashion this season. At the very beginning, he got into a fight with his best friend Paul Richardson. Paul, who was engaged (and is now married) to Dustin’s step-sister Kayla Sheets, brought her into the fold.
Dustin was unhappy about this because he believed this was no place to bring one’s girlfriend or wife. His sexist beliefs caused a rift between the two so bad that Dustin ultimately did not even attend Paul and Kayla’s wedding.
Other than that, however, throughout the season, Dustin has been a patient man. He has not let his disappointments and fits of anger spill over onto the team. He has only encouraged his crew. He has pushed them, but not hard enough to break their spirits.
All of this has been the opposite of what ‘Dakota’ Fred’s approach has been. The gruff former-construction man and the veteran gold miner has been curt with his crew throughout the season.
While his no-nonsense approach may have benefits in certain scenarios, it would definitely benefit him to be more compassionate with his crew, especially his step-daughter Kayla, who is a first-time miner. One can only guess if it is ‘Dakota’ Fred’s attempt to preemptively brush off any accusations of nepotism or favoritism, or if this is just how he is with everyone (crew or family), the old man has been unkind to Kayla all around the season.
On multiple occasions, he has snapped at her for things that weren’t her fault. Of course, he has also snapped at all his crewmembers, something that almost led to a sort of mutiny earlier this season.
One has to wonder why Fred doesn’t ease off. Perhaps, he is afraid of losing to his son, a lesser-experienced gold miner than he is. And, he is already far behind him this season. Or perhaps, he is afraid of his legacy ending on a low note. At 76, one can’t imagine Fred being able to do this for much longer. Whatever Fred’s reasons are, his approach has been less than satisfactory in its yields.
‘Gold Rush: White Water’ Season 3 airs on the Discovery Channel every Friday, 10 p.m. ET.
