Gold Rush's Fred Lewis Is Well Aware Of His Haters, Thank You Very Much
Gold Rush is a reality television show on Discovery, which follows a number of small, family-run gold mining companies trying to make a living in Klondike and Alaska.
And among all the people who head those companies, the least competent by far is hapless Fred Lewis.
His lack of experience and competence is bad enough that not a few viewers consider him a fake, planted on the show to entertain the less discerning segments of the audience with his comedic ineptitude. There were incompetent crews on Gold Rush before, for example Todd Hoffman's crew had a really bad start, but none quite as bad as Fred's. If that was the plan, it might have worked, despite all the hate Fred Lewis gets – but Fred still gets a lot of hate.
Fred Lewis himself is well aware of the feelings many fans have towards him, and he denies their accusations. For example, he admonished the fans who did not believe that he put his house on the line to finance his mining operation on Instagram.
And in an interview with Idaho Press, Lewis addressed his reputation among Gold Rush fans directly. He's quite surprised by the extent of the backlash he faces.
"I honestly never knew I would have haters in my life," he said. "I've never been in a fight or had any problems with people."
He also told Idaho Press that one reason he's very much aware of negativity toward him is that he keeps himself open to the public on social media for the sake of developing camaraderie with fellow military veterans.
"It's hard for me because I can't weed out the stuff before it happens because I'm trying to make myself available to veterans," Lewis explained. "I want vets anywhere to contact me, to email me. And that opens the floodgates for all the haters."
But while he may be surprised by the backlash against his performance on Gold Rush, it doesn't seem to weight too heavily on him. He's not about to drop off the Internet and is willing to confront his critics. However, one still wonders if Fred Lewis would be better off applying that determination and perseverance to learning the ins and outs of gold mining, rather than to socializing on the net.