Hard Choices

In Nome, Alaska, the gold rush is on. Meet the dredgers, driven by gold fever and sometimes desperate need, who pilot their ragtag dredges and dive with hoses to suck up gold from the bottom of the frigid, unpredictable Bering Sea.

A bar brawl threatens not only Shawn's health but the Christine Rose's future. The Wild Ranger's luck is getting worse as they're down a man and have sprung a leak. The Sluicey's Ian calls in a friend who offers both experience and criticism.

The weather may be perfect, but storms are brewing onboard the dredges as egos clash and tempers flare. Emily's first dive is almost her last when she learns the dangers of dredging first-hand.

The season is halfway over, and tensions are running high as the dredgers search for new sweet spots. An accident with the 15 ton excavator threatens to end one deckhand's season.

A season of simmering grievances comes to a boil. Vern fires one of his crew. Emily falling overboard & a blocked sluice box test Zeke's patience. Rocks falling out of a faulty sluice box rain down on solo-diving Scott Foster's head.

Bad luck & bad vibes. The crews have a car accident on the way home from some hot springs R&R. A hastily welded winch roller gives way, releasing a cable that lashes Cody's leg, sending him overboard. Scott dives with an injured leg.

The dredging season is quickly coming to an end, & so are once trusted relationships between Zeke and Emily as well as Scott F and Ian. Shawn sends crewmember Robbi packing while Scott M swallows his pride and invites Steve back. But will he accept?

Winter sets in. The now short-staffed crews try to go out once more before the ice blocks them in. Each on their own, Emily salvages & Scott M finds salvation. The crews take their earnings and face off at an auction for next year's dredging grounds.

The BERING SEA GOLD crews gather & sound off about life in Nome during and after the show. Wild Ranger Scott & Vern’s reunion is explosive. Emily and Zeke answer about the exact nature of their relationship. Meet the mysterious white-bearded dredger.

In this second and final episode, the crews respond to the first episode’s altercation between Wild Ranger’s Scott and Vern, and Scott responds to Vern’s accusations. Geographer Doug Fischer and the dredgers answer how and where to find the gold.

Meet the Kilcher family, who live on a 600-acre homestead in Alaska. With another brutal winter approaching, and bears having killed two of the family's cattle, they are forced to pin all of their hopes of surviving the winter on one hunting trip.

The first storm of the winter is fast approaching so the entire Kilcher homestead must race to finish preparing for the next eight months. Atz Sr. races ahead of the storm to lead a herd of cattle on a dangerous trek across flooded glacial rivers.

The early winter storms have left the entire homestead unprepared. A desperate search for a newborn calf and its mother forces Otto's wife and their youngest son into a night snowstorm while Otto is away building shelter for his herd.

The extended Kilcher family struggle to get through a record-breaking harsh winter. Desperate for food, Atz Lee and Jane venture onto the ice to try fishing. Patriarchs Otto and Atz embark on a dangerous mission to bring aid to a fellow homesteader.

Spring finally arrives on the homestead. Eivin mills lumber, builds a large chicken house from scratch and helps wife Eve take out a rogue cannibal hen. Desperate for food, Jane goes fishing for king salmon solo.

Otto and family battle the elements and predators to drive their cattle to the summer pasture. A missing calf causes Otto and Eivin to head off for a dangerous late night rescue mission. Atz Lee and Jane build a makeshift greenhouse.