Subpar Gold Rush Season 13 Has Fans Seeing Red: Time to Pull the Plug?

So, the longevity of Discovery's Gold Rush, with its 13 seasons at the moment, is honestly impressive. But in terms of quality, haven't Discovery exhausted its gold deposits already? A number of fans think so.

Quite a few of them believe that the show is becoming less and less interesting, with Season 13 being the least interesting so far. Bumbling antics of Fred Lewis' crew

(see) may keep some people glued to their screens – while making others tune out (see) – but overall it increasingly appears that Gold Rush might just finally be out of gold. Even a numbers of fans on the show sub-Reddit call Season 13 "the most boring season ever".

While a reality show's formula is restrictive and repetitive by nature, it is possible to change it.

In this particular example by shifting attention to underexplored aspects of gold mining, such as land reclamation, crew safety, or more of the business side of mining operations.

Trouble is, Discovery is in no hurry to make any changes to the formula whatsoever.

But while there is some fan backlash to the show getting stale, it is far from unanimous. Some fans even note that things cannot be expected to remain super-exciting all the time on a reality show.

Realistically, gold miners do not struggle with critical problems all the time, year after year. So, some relatively quiet seasons, when things go smoothly, more or less, can add to authenticity of the show.

And as long as the other aspects of the show remain adequate, it still remains watchable. Perhaps the overall sentiment of the fans is best captured by this highly upvoted comment on Reddit:

"Boring? Yeah, pretty much. Am I still tuning in each week? Absolutely."

So far, ratings appear to vindicate this opinion. Time will tell if the fans are going to perceive a sufficient, lasting deterioration in Gold Rush's quality to start abandoning the show in droves.