GOLD RUSH Rick Ness and Leese reunite! Are they back together?

We have some rather surprising news to report for Gold Rush fans: Rick Ness and his former fiancée, Leese Arie, have reunited! But, are they together together?

News of the couple’s reunion broke via Rick’s Facebook page. He posted a photo of Leese and their dog Rubi on Thursday. “We had our first visitor tonite at our new home,” Rick wrote in the caption, “and Rubi and I got to see our best frand who also happens to fit in Rubi’s bed lol.”

Leese shared Rick’s photo and caption on her Instagram account and added a lengthy caption of her own:

Seeing Rubi hit a spot in my heart that no other dog has before, as she was my confidant for not only the last couple years, but got me through all the downtime on my own in the Yukon. 🥺🙏🥰🩷 Seeing Rick wasn’t so bad either 😂

I can’t wait to lay and snuggle with her at night and reminisce about our old times together while you’re away closing your chapters back in Wisconsin. 🙌🙌🙌

Ps, again, I want to say how I am beyond proud of you for fighting a battle that not many will ever understand and coming back with extreme determination and kick a**!! I repeatedly told you during your lowest times that you WILL smash it and come back stronger then before and YOU DID IT!! 🙏❤️💪👊

UPDATE – Rick Ness shared the following comment on Leese’s Instagram post:

Rubi loves you @leese_m_arie and I’m glad she can be with you for now instead of traveling back and forth across the country with me, I know she’s much happier.

You were right, I have been able to get things back on the right track and it helped knowing that you believed I could do it, so thank you for the encouragement lil one, I love you!

Leese’s post was tagged in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, which is where she has been living. Combine that with Leese’s comment about Rick closing chapters in Wisconsin (where he lives) and Rick mentioning “our new home” in his caption, and it seems pretty easy to jump to the conclusion that they are living together in a new house in Lake Havasu City.

It’s important to note that them living together is purely speculation — neither of them have confirmed they are back together romantically, or that they are living together.

I checked Wisconsin property records, and Rick is still listed as the owner of his house there. There is currently no listing for the home on Zillow or Redfin. Perhaps that will change soon?

Rick Ness admits break up was his fault. Again.

Rick Ness has been very open in the past about the fact that it was his issues and actions that caused pretty much all of the relationship problems with Leese. He posted a lengthy statement on Facebook in December of 2022 defending Leese against criticism and accusations from fans. Here’s an excerpt from Rick’s post:

I screwed up just about everything you could screw up, believe me, and she continued to forgive me and stand with me. From ruining plans, holidays, and even worse stepping out on her, I’ve done the unforgivable, but she has continued to forgive me.

I see alot of people trying to blame her for my problems and that makes it sting even worse because I know the truth and the truth is that I am the problem, not her. She has only tried to help me through my problems and it suck’s to see her get blamed instead. I’m an adult, what I’ve done, I’ve done, I won’t hide it all I can do is try and do better. So why don’t you lay off the innocent one and start throwing some of your misplaced accusations at my doorstep, because that’s where they belong.

After Rick Ness came back to Gold Rush in Season 14, he returned to Facebook for another lengthy statement. Once again, he emphasized that the break up with Leese was his fault. Below is Rick’s full post from November 2, including his response to accusations that he was in a relationship with his crew member, Morgan:

“There’s a lot of questions floating around online right now (as you could imagine lol) and a couple at the top of the list are pretty simple to answer so I figured why not?

“I don’t know why it’s really newsworthy but the talk about me being in a relationship with one of my new crew members, Morgan, is just that. Talk. She came as a recommendation from a good friend with plenty of operating experience and is a solid member of the team, and that’s it.

“Another thing has to do with my reasons for being MIA last year. I talked about it in the first episode this year and although I think it paints a clear enough picture, obviously it was more complicated than just what was said and many if not all of the details were not spoken about.

“One thing that I was clear about, however was the fact that I was responsible for everything that happened, I was making the decisions, both right and wrong and I was at fault for all of the chaos in my life. That is a fact, so I’m not sure why people aren’t grasping that and are still trying to blame Leese. Is it not possible that I, as a full grown adult, am solely responsible for my actions?

“When I stopped to see her on the way home at the end of the season, I could tell that these accusations were really affecting her in a negative way and that hurt me to see because it’s just not right.

“The chain of events in my life leading up to everything was already in place before we even met and she was unfairly swept up into it all. Becoming the person everyone blamed for it is just unbearably cruel, in truth, because she was the person who was there every day, for all of the very worst of it, having to watch me make mistake after mistake while doing the only thing she could do which was try and be there for me, to at least make sure I was taken care of, always trying to help get me back on track, trying to get me to see the damage I was causing all around me and always trying to get me to realize that life is too short to be able to continue on like I was without catastrophic consequences. Trying to love a very lost person and getting nothing but abuse for her efforts.

“Everything has not always been smooth sailing between us because of all of this but the bottom line is she has always been there for me and she’s very happy with all of the improvements I’ve made. I appreciate all of the support I’ve received, it has been amazing but just remember, I hold myself accountable and I don’t need anyone or anything else but myself to blame as I continue to try and be a better person every day.”

Rick Ness and Leese relationship recap

Rick Ness and Leese Arie have broken up and gotten back together multiple times — often with some very dramatic fireworks on social media.

To attempt to recap their relationship issues in recent years here would be a bit too much. Instead, I will provide links to our previous articles below. They are very detailed and include pretty much all of the information Rick and Leese posted publicly whenever they broke up or got back together.

#GoldRush Rick Ness is engaged! Check out the photo of @GoldrushRick with his "favorite girl" and read his recent updates, including his promise to fans that "WE'LL BE BACK!" #RoadToHappyNess https://t.co/Ic2yclmhlf

— Starcasm (@starcasm) October 28, 2022

GOLD RUSH Rick Ness and fiancée Leese break up amid cheating allegations

A little more than one month after #GoldRush miner Rick Ness and his fiancée Leese Arie broke up amid allegations of Rick cheating, the couple publicly announced they are back together! 🤞 https://t.co/a4pQuFB0zP

— Starcasm (@starcasm) January 14, 2023

#GoldRush Rick Ness and former fiancée Leese Arie have split again. She claims he cheated on her more than 200 times and says "the truth will eventually allllll come out."

PLUS, Is Rick coming back for Gold Rush Season 14? 🤔 https://t.co/cY6a2SZODW

— Starcasm (@starcasm) May 16, 2023

Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com