“Gold Rush” fans got to see Rick Ness return for Season 14 and root for his comeback. Unfortunately, there was a lot more to his disappearance. In a clip shared by Gold Rush News, Ness admitted to Brian Zaremeba, “I was f***ing doing a little, you know, cocaine.” Ness also revealed that he had to sell his mother’s house to fund the current mining season.
After taking Season 13 off to take care of his mental health, Ness admitted to People, “There was a lot of things going on. I’m a gold miner with the stigma there. I don’t really ask for help, you know what I mean? I’ve always been that way.” He continued, “And it’s just some things were going on in my head, and I didn’t know what it was, because I didn’t know anything about depression and things of that nature. And so I just thought I’d deal with it myself and try and figure it out, which is tough when you don’t know what you’re dealing with.” Ness shared his gratefulness at having another go as a gold miner and appeared ready to turn his life around in Season 14. According to the “Gold Rush” star’s ex-fiancée, he went back to his old ways.