Gold Rush Season 4 photos Todd Hoffman, Parker Schnabel, Fred Hurt, Tony Beets and more

America’s favorite professional and semi-professional reality show gold miners return tonight as Gold Rush kicks off its fourth season on Discovery channel with a two-hour premiere event starting at 9/8c.

Promotions for the new season encourage viewers to pick sides between Team Hoffman and Team Schnabel as Todd Hoffman, his dad Jack Hoffman, and the rest of the Hoffman crew take their chances south of the Equator in the tropical jungles of Guyana, South America.

Meanwhile, Parker Schnabel (above) enlists the help of gold mining guru (and soon to be spin-off star of Gold Dynasty), Tony Beets, to mine a piece of virgin ground.

Dakota Fred Hurt (above) and his band continue their pursuit of the legendary Porcupine Creek Gl0ry hole.

In addition to the two-hour premiere, Discovery Channel will also be airing the hour-long pre-show The Dirt, hosted by series executive producer Christo Doyle, at 8/7c.

Here’s the full press release about the new season from Discovery Channel with TONS of official photos from Gold Rush Season 4! (Just click the images to zoom in.)

DISCOVERY CHANNEL’S Gold Rush RETURNS FOR SEASON FOUR FRIDAY OCTOBER 25 WITH A TWO HOUR SEASON PREMIERE AT 9PM

Gold Rush Pre-show, The Dirt, Also Returns on Friday at 8PM

Discovery Channel’s highest rated series, Gold Rush, returns for a fourth season with a two hour season premiere on Friday, Oct. 25 at 9PM ET/PT. The Gold Rush pre-show, The Dirt, hosted by series executive producer Christo Doyle, also returns this season on Friday, Oct. 25 at 8PM ET/PT.

For three seasons a golden pay day had evaded the GOLD RUSH gold mining teams led by Todd Hoffman, Parker Schnabel and “Dakota” Fred Hurt. These men and their crews battled against equipment breakdowns, infighting and rough weather and it was revealed during last season’s Gold Rush Live season finale that the gold mining crews had finally made a mark for themselves, bringing in a combined grand total of 1,158 ounces across all claims. Todd Hoffman aimed high and fell short, but still mined 803 ounces, worth more than 1.2 million dollars at the time, while Parker Schnabel just managed to cover his costs for the season after mining 192 ounces and “Dakota” Fred hit his mark with 163 ounces of gold for the season.

In season four of GOLD RUSH, Todd Hoffman puts his life on the line, and asks his crew to do the same, braving malaria, poisonous snakes and quicksand to set up a mining operation in a patch of hostile jungle deep in Guyana, South America. Last year their Klondike operation delivered a million dollar season, but the jungle ground promises five times as much gold – if his crew can survive. Jack Hoffman, Dave Turin, Jim Thurber and a handful of greenhorns risk everything to search for the ultimate payday, but they’re forced to fight the jungle every step of the way.

Parker Schnabel takes the biggest decision of his life. At just 18, and having made only a 2 ounce profit last year, he’s putting his $160,000 college fund on the line for a shot at the big time. He leases virgin ground from Klondike legend Tony ‘the Viking’ Beets and goes deep into debt to buy a wash plant and a dozer, in an all-out bid to beat Todd Hoffman’s season three total of 800 ounces of gold, worth over a million dollars. As his 92 year old grandfather John Schnabel says, “Parker is like an eagle leaving the nest. He will either soar this season or crash to the ground.”

The Dakota Boys and Melody return to Alaska ready to hit the big time. Dustin risks his life heading high into the mountains to mine the legendary source of all the gold in Porcupine Creek. Down at the claim, their quest for a million dollar payday pushes them to dig 120 feet down, beneath collapsing rock walls. After an epic three year search, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, they finally uncover the mystery pile of nuggets at the bottom of the gl0ry hole.

Season three of GOLD RUSH, premiering in October 2012, was watched by an average of 4.57 million total viewers P2+ each week and was the #1 program in ALL of television, no exclusions, for seven straight weeks among Men 18-49 delivery. It was also the #1 Friday program among Men 25-54 on cable television* for 16 straight weeks. The Feb. 22, 2013 two hour live season finale, Gold Rush Live, earned a 3.08 / 3,066 among HH, 2.53 / 2,610 among P25-54, 3.31 / 1,665 among Men 25-54 delivering an average of 4.5 million total viewers P2+. In total, GOLD RUSH was watched by 78.9 million people (P2+) during the third season across all airings.

*excluding sports

GOLD RUSH is produced for Discovery Channel by Raw Television, where Dimitri Doganis and James Bates are executive producers and Tom Fulford is series producer. For Discovery Channel, Christo Doyle is executive producer and Meagan Davis is producer.

Photos: Discovery Channel