PHOTOS BIOS Bering Sea Gold: The Clark’s all-female crew Jen, Shelby & Kendall

Discovery’s super-popular Bering Sea Gold is looking to put a different spin on how fans of reality shows perceive gold digging women as The Clark’s Emily Riedel attempts to balance the cast gender scales by bringing on an all-female crew!

“I decided to bring three female divers up this season because women are equally tenacious,” Emily says in the preview clip below. “Society has to grow out of this notion that Nome belongs to men.”

Before we get to know the Three Glamigos, let’s tackle the big question: What the heck are Emily and Zeke doing trying to work together again?! Discovery explained in the press release for the new season:

With Emily in need of Zeke’s dredging permit and Zeke in need of a crew, the two are looking to set up a “strictly business” partnership. But can they set aside their differences long enough to strike gold, or will the operation sink under the weight of all that history?

Another paragraph from the release seems to ask all the great questions — and all the great reasons to tune in this season:

For the only female dredge owner in the fleet, 27-year-old Emily Riedel makes a bold choice by taking on the first-ever all female gold dredging team. But will this experiment pay off? Or will Emily once again face mutiny on the Bering Sea? But that’s not the only bold choice that Emily makes. This season, she pairs up once again with her former boyfriend turned fierce rival Zeke Tenhoff. Will this explosive pair finally be able to put the past behind? Or will it simply turn into another case of history repeating itself?

OK, enough of the drama, let’s meet the miners!

First up is Shelby Johnson. “Shelby has, probably, more experience collectively than almost the entire history of gold diving miners up here,” Emily says in the intro clip. “She’s actually, like, a certified rescue diver. I don’t think that Zeke is even dive certified at this point.”

From Discovery:

A certified scuba instructor who spends most her time in the warm waters of San Diego, Shelby is ready for a new challenge: diving in the frigid waters of Nome Harbor.

Though she’s proven as a diver, she may soon find that mining is a whole different ball game, especially under five feet of ice.

According to what I could find out online, Shelby is a Divemaster at the House of Scuba in San Diego. Originally from Missouri, Shelby got her Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Elementary Education and Teaching from MCCKC Missouri Western University. She taught English and did freelance writing for a number of years before heading out to the west coast to become a scuba instructor.

Next up we have Kendall Winslow, who you didn’t get to see much of in the clip thanks to her mirrored sunglasses and massive amount of cold-repellant head attire. “Kendall and I grew up in Homer together,” Emily says. “She was a fisherman’s daughter and a fisherman herself, so i kind of figured it would work out, you know, translate easily from fisherwoman to gold miner.”

In addition to being a fisherwoman, Kendall is also a bartender at Alice’s Champagne Palace in Homer. Judging from her Facebook timeline, Kendall spent some time as a student at Florida State University, but I couldn’t find any information on what she was studying (other than having a great time). Something tells me she’s gonna be a lot of fun this season. 🙂

I couldn’t resist adding this Christmas-themed snap of Kendall:

“One of Emily’s friends from childhood, Kendall was invited up to Nome to round out the all-girl crew,” reads her Discovery bio. “A true Alaskan, Kendall isn’t worried about the Nome winter. But learning how to mine is another story.”

Last up is Jen Newby. “Jen has the least amount of experience,” Emily admits, “but I fundamentally believe that it’s the character that makes the diver, and I think that Jen has that character.”

Jen, like Shelby, is originally a Missourian. I’m not quite clear why Emily would say that Jen is the least qualified of the three crew members because according to her LinkedIn profile she has been an open water certified diver since last year. Annnyways…

Jen has a Masters Degree in Marine Biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. She currently works in the oceanography field with her most recent job being listed as ADF&G Shellfish Observer for Saltwater, Inc. in Anchorage, Alaska. Here is her job description:

Collect scientific data onboard crab vessels in the Bering Sea to contribute to management decisions, catch quotas, long-term population monitoring and size frequency data for open fisheries. Collection of biological data at sea involves sampling duties comprised of handling live crab and fish, measuring, sexing and assessing specimen, recording and transferring data, using a vernier scale to get more precise measurements, and reviewing large datasets for errors.

I’m guessing the non-scientific methodology of The Clark is going to come as quite a shock to Jen. 🙂

To see how the estrogenitization of the Bering Sea gold mining industry turns out, be sure to tune in to new episodes of Bering Sea Gold airing Friday nights at 9/8c on Discovery! All I know is that I have my #WCW slots filled for the next three weeks!