He looks unrecognisable now, so what really happened to Rick’s face on Gold Rush?

Rick’s face looks very different on Gold Rush, but what exactly happened to it?

Rick decided to leave Gold Rush after season 12 following the death of his mother in 2018.

He told People in 2023: “I was having some mental health issues. There was a lot of things going on,” he admits. “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.

“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.”

Rick’s previously been very open about his struggled with drug addiction during Gold Rush, with some speculation his face looks different due to his excessive usage following the passing of his mother.

Some have claimed that drug usage can change the shape of someone’s nose, however Rick has never personally confirmed this so it is all speculation.

Others believe that Rick needed to have facial reconstruction surgery and jaw surgery following a mining accident, however again this has never been confirmed. It’s also understandable that following the death of his mother would have also had an impact on Rick, and this could have manifested itself physically and altered his appearance.

So far Rick’s never addressed why his face looks so different in Gold Rush following his return to the show, so all we have at the moment is speculation.

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