‘Hoffman Family Gold’ Aims To Mine More Gems For Discovery

Like many father-son teams keeping the family business rolling, Todd Hoffman, Hunter Hoffman, and Jack Hoffman have faced challenging obstacles and family friction. But their interactions have turned to gold, documented on camera and making the Gold Rush alumni television reality stars who can’t give up the dream.

Hoffman Family Gold, premiering March 25 on Discovery and available for streaming via discovery+, takes the Hoffmans back into the Alaskan wilderness with father Todd, son Hunter, and grandfather Jack showcasing three generations of gold mining grit as they try to secure enough gold to pay the bills and win a mining lease. But according to Todd Hoffman, it’s family time and Jack’s dream that has fueled the family’s decision to sign up for another high profile and high-risk adventure.

The Gold Rush franchise has proved golden for Discovery. It’s highest-rated series for the past 10 years for adults 25-54 and currently Friday’s #1 cable series among adults 25-54 and men 25-54, Gold Rush fever hasn’t seemed to cool. The final season of Gold Rush (2017-2018) featuring Todd Hoffman was the No. 1 series on Friday nights during Primetime among all broadcast networks for that demographic (Nielsen).

“My father wants to mine gold more than he wants to do anything else in the world. He’s 77 years old. He has been such a great father. He has been such a great husband. He loves his family. And it’s like for me and Hunter, it’s like—I want to make my father’s dream come true,” said Todd Hoffman in a recent interview with his son for Forbes.com.

Jack’s dream was also part of the reason 22-year-old Hunter signed up for more gold mining with Hoffman Family Gold and the process wasn’t disappointing for him. “I think I’ve gotten gold fever again, for the first time in a long time,” says Hunter.

“Going up there and kind of kind of getting back into it after we had a break and were able to kind of get rejuvenated as a family—you know, I’m older now, I’ve matured. Me and my dad have a different relationship now. So we were able to actually go up there and really enjoy each other’s company and be more of a team….I kind of felt this is like the first time in a long time I think we really, really enjoyed the whole time we were up there.”

Watch the ‘Hoffman Family Gold’ trailer.

Says Todd, “You know, we’ve done television, we’ve done mining, but what happens in this season…you’ve never seen it in any of these gold shows. But the main thing I think for me was that we were all together— my father, my son, and myself. And let me tell you something, that hasn’t been easy over the years. Hunter and I have had to work on our relationship. And it’s not perfect, but it takes time and work to kind of get along because you all have different ideas, especially up in the North, you don’t know what you’re [facing]…you get into situations, you just don’t know how to fix it, you know?”

If you’ve ever clashed with your kids or parents over fixing a smart phone glitch, imagine being in the Alaskan wilderness with them as you try to repair a non-functioning front-end loader without replacement parts. That’s the Hoffman situation in a nutshell.

Explains Todd, “We’re only 200 miles from Russian border up there. We’re in the middle of nowhere. We’re by Siberia. There’s nowhere to turn and run. If your stuff isn’t working, you gotta improvise. You really have to figure some way out, you know, to make this work. And luckily, I got Randy [Hubler] there. Randy is one of the best bush mechanics…I’m telling you, we couldn’t have done the show without Randy because the kind of equipment that we are starting with, we are at ground zero. That means almost zero equipment. This is the worst equipment I’ve ever had to work with.”

With family and dreams on the line, was this series scarier for Todd Hoffman?

“It’s harder. It’s scarier. I’m under capitalized. I have my son there, and I need youth. I gotta have the young guys to step up,” explained Todd adding a little humor.

“I don’t know, if you notice, I have a little bit of a weight problem. So like, there’s a lot of things that we need these young guys to step up. And…you’re going to see them start to really come into their own.”

Did they hit the jackpot with the goldmine? Father and son are keeping it close to the vest when it comes to revealing any series spoilers. But they admit their findings are unique and exciting.

“What is discovered up there has never been seen before. That’s all I can probably say about that part of it, but pretty crazy,” says Todd.

Now that filming has wrapped for the season, Hoffman has time to focus on his music career, dropping a new album with his band Sandy Mule. Hunter has been working on his clothing brand Seven Cowboys. And no one is revealing whether Jack’s dream has been realized.

Watch Todd Hoffman’s online trailer and music video for “I Can Only Imagine.”

Spinning off the history of Discovery’s #1-rated show Gold Rush, Hoffman Family Gold doesn’t seem to be much of a gamble for the network that builds history and geology lessons into reality TV. Of course, the Hoffmans aren’t exactly the guys next door which is usually a plus in the world of reality programming.

Todd believes some of the public fascination with his family’s journey stems from the role that gold plays in the American dream and viewers desire to be part of an adventure. “I want you to go on this adventure with me,” says Todd about the new series.”

“You know, a lot of people dream of having a vacation house in Maui. But then there’s other people that dream about dirt— dirt that you can pan and see 100 colors in the pan when normally you see two.” Todd Hoffman is that other kind of person. But if there’s a gold mine in Maui, you just might find him there.