Transcript
Rick Ness, who dreamt of being a football player, gave up on his dream career due to a head injury and took up music by learning to play bass.
He formed a band named .357 String Band with members Derek Dunn, Joseph Huber, and Jayke Orvis in 2004.
The band released three albums, Fire & Hail, Lightning From the North, Ghost Town during the seven years they jammed together.
It was during the band’s Southeast Alaska State tour that he met Parker Schnabel and uttered his interest in the show ‘Gold Rush.’
Parker invited him to the show nine months after their confrontation, and Rick joined the show during its third season.
Rick had no mining experience before joining the show; he used his heavy machinery skills he learned in his family’s construction company.
He proved himself to Parker by working as a capable excavator, rock truck, dozer, and grader operator.
He trolled his fans, when he posted a tweet about meeting up with his girlfriend “millerhighlife” on December 16, 2016.
Miller High Life is actually a brewing company located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Rick is also close with his mother as he posted a picture of him and his mother spending a Thanksgiving weekend together.
Through his career as a cast of Gold Rush and a member of a famous band, he accumulated a net worth of approximately $400,000.
He bought a 1970 1/2 Camaro Z28 RS from fellow Gold Rush cast member Freddy Dodge in 2017.
In his last post on Facebook dating in December, he disclosed information about him surviving six weeks in the Amazon jungle and heading home.