Gold Rush's Parker Schnabel talks about drawing a line between work and personal life

Gold Rush cast member Parker Schnabel recently opened up about his decision to keep his private life out of the public eye, clarifying that there was a clear distinction between the person he was on screen and the one behind the curtains. 

In an interview with PEOPLE, published on November 28, 2025, Parker stated that keeping his private matters, especially his dating life, open to viewers and fans of the Discovery show at all times was “not a very good thing.”

The miner has been part of Discovery’s Gold Rush for the past 15 years. As a result, he has devoted his time and energy to filming the series and spotting gold-rich locations.

Given his longtime association with the franchise, Parker told PEOPLE that he often struggled to separate his private life from his public one. He admitted that it took him a while to separate his two identities.

Although Parker is still single, he previously told the magazine that he wished to have a family of his own. However, given his work schedule and how engrossed he was in it, he often had difficulty exploring the dating scene. 

“It’s not who I am”: Gold Rush star Parker Schnabel shares his opinion on his on-screen persona

After being on the show for multiple years, Parker decided that he wanted to draw a line between his pubic and private lives. 

While speaking to PEOPLE, he shared more details about his choice, saying:

“I’m probably just going to keep my personal life [private]. I think that’s probably for the best. Just keep my personal life out of the media and the show, and from talking about it too much. I think that that’s not a very good thing that I’ve done in the past, so I’m trying to keep my personal life private.”

The Gold Rush cast member noted that although people saw him on their screens over the past years, it was not his entire personality. 

He admitted that when he joined the cast of the show “so young,” his identity was wrapped around his work, and since he was a television personality, his work defined who he was. 

However, Parker stated that the truth was far from it, and it bothered him “quite a bit” that the narrative turned out the way it did.

“I also come from a family where your work is your life. And so that was ingrained in me, and it’s taken me a lot to separate out that there’s me on TV and that’s a job, and I’m paid to do that job, and they follow me around on the mine site, but it’s not who I am,” he explained. 

While speaking about the popular narratives about his life that circulate on the internet, Parker said that he did “not really care too much” about those.

He said that he remained unbothered by what others thought about him because those close to him knew him for who he was, and he was satisfied with that.

Parker Schnabel’s struggles with dating

In a separate interview with PEOPLE on November 8, 2024, Parker opened up about wanting to have a family of his own. However, he admitted that he faced difficulties with the dating scene. 

Parker mentioned that his main problem was trying to make others understand what he did without sounding like “some dystopian insane world.”

“Then it makes dating incredibly difficult. They’re like, ‘What do you do?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know,’” he said. 

Although he wanted to build a family of his own, he feared the show would end before he ever became a father. 

Stay tuned for more updates.