'Gold Rush: Alaska' Season 2 to Feature 'New Blood'

'Gold Rush: Alaska' will be back for season 2 after the new series made reality TV gold for the Discovery Channel.

After averaging 3 million viewers a week, 'Gold Rush: Alaska' ended last week with the Hoffman crew closing up its mining camp due to the oncoming Alaskan winter. The six unemployed, inexperienced gold miners from Oregon had not yet dug up the more than $250,000 they invested in the expedition

Though Todd Hoffman didn't succeed this mining season, Hoffman is humbled by the millions of viewers who got behind him and his crew, he told PopEater.

"Even though we're not professionals and even though we're not the best at anything," he said, "I think they just want to see us make it."

Hoffman said that American spirit of "just going for it" is still very much alive with his crew, and that's why the show's message is so captivating. The crew of unemployed greenhorn miners left their families behind in Oregon, on the chance that they would find enough gold to turn a profit.

"They're just excited that some guys are going out doing something different after all of us have been stuck at home, bottled up, staring at the news watching things go bad," he said.

Unfortunately, the Hoffman crew didn't make it this past mining season, but the Discovery Channel announced Friday that the show has been renewed for a second season, answering the what-happens-next question viewers may have been asking when the show ended in disappointment.



Hoffman said he believes they can achieve success next mining season, which will start in the spring. He said he'll be bringing some "new blood" along with him as well as fixing the mistakes he made.

"We started off like little kids in a lot of ways, and I want to make sure that we take what we learned to bring it to the next level."

'Full Disclosure,' a special follow-up episode, will air Feb. 25 at 10PM ET, featuring un-aired footage and reflections from the miners on their experience.