Also around the time of the "Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue" Season 2 premiere, Monsters and Critics interviewed Juan Ibarra about his role on the "Gold Rush" spinoff, at one point asking how his working relationship with Freddy Dodge first started. Ibarra revealed that he met Dodge when he began working for the Hoffman family, teaming up with Dodge to help rebuild a wash plant for the Hoffmans
"We'd spend days in days out working with each other, putting this plant together, and we hit it off," Ibarra said. "Freddy loves to joke, and I'm the same way. I make up stupid jokes throughout the day to keep ourselves entertained. And we just hit it off really from the get-go."
While reality shows may sometimes pair personalities together purely for dramatic purposes, this does not appear to be the case with Dodge and Ibarra. Rather, the two "Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue" hosts describe one another as legitimate friends who bonded as soon as they began working together, and it's this real friendship that seems to fuel the ongoing success of their "Gold Rush" spinoff.
