So, what did you not expect about working and living in up there in all these extreme conditions? Now that you've done it for quite a few years.

I know that it's a rainforest. It's not a tropical rainforest, but it's a rainforest we work in, and I truly felt in the first couple of years that I was there, when I bought the claims, it wasn't this much rain. And it's that we have broken records every year now. How much rain we did get, I did not expect that to happen. The amount of water is just an immense and I did not see that coming this much.

So the environmental challenges, as it's evolved, has probably become one of your biggest obstacles to overcome each year right that you're out there.

Everything out there's basically trying to take us down. It feels almost like a small war. I have a crew and Mother Nature has its crew, and we just battle. It just never ends, the daily battle trying to fight this thing. We try to fight, and we respect it, but it's such a hard task to try to actually get things done out there at all. You'd have to be there to understand it. I'm not sure what the TV show shows. Everyone is in danger. It is scary.

Well that definitely comes through on the show. There's a vibe. In Season 5, who's on your mining crew this time around? Veterans? New blood?

I can't really give you all that. I could tell you that Fred's starting to get — he's almost 80 years old, and I don't think he's gonna be as full time as he usually is. Getting up there in age just like anybody would.

It seems that you're gonna be kind of running two crews at once.

Yeah, Fred didn't want to run a crew this year. And it was a good benefit for me to have two groups out there. I think I made the right choice on that. We had some good people, and I don't know how much I can tell you about that. But we did get some good people. And I think it worked out just fine. The way the way we made it happen.

How does being the boss of two crews influence your leadership style?

I just have my own style. It doesn't change, the number of people. I just have my own style and mostly It's sink or swim. Literally. Just get out there and do it, or else. I don't know what to tell you. You try to mitigate all the dangers; I try not to let them kill themselves.

Ah, that's a good way to do it. You told a guy a few seasons back, there was a clip of you saying to a guy, "Saying 'I can't do this' will get you put out of this.'" There's no vagueness in that.

Something that I've always told them is it's okay to be afraid. Some of this stuff, you still have to do it. That's what it is. And I'm afraid, too, half the time and I still have to do it. So do you. And it's that simple. Being afraid is not an excuse to not doing it. That's the problem.