Ok, so I watch both shows, but there are some huge contrasts as far as my interest in each show and here is why.

On one hand you have a bunch of guys in Oregon that virtually have sold everything they have (what little they do) and also rely on some family to fund the projects.

They are a bunch of blue color guys that pack everything up and go to Alaska to mine gold.

On jungle gold, they constantly paint a picture of a couple of guys that made a ton of money piggybacking the real estate boom and over extended themselves financially and when the market went to pot they weren't prepared. The program continues to show the families back home in Utah and the lifestyle and home they live in is anything but someone that you want to feel sorry for. They show a house that looks between 3500-4000 sq feet, travertine floors, granite counter tops, etc... Basically they live in a home that 99% of the US population never gets to live in. Then they complain that a home that is worth less than they owe on it (welcome to reality and a common problem for many of us) and show the stacks of IRS and Utah Tax mail of back taxes and penalties that they owe (oh, you mean they owe money to the government that they never paid on when they were making it while the rest of us paid our taxes?).

Then there is the fact that they don't use any of their own money (or so it appears) to fund the project, but rely on a groups of 6 "investors" (headed by some tool from Orem Utah who tries to dress and act like he is some big time investor, which he probably is, but when they go back and ask for $80k, he acts like he is asking the world, $80k amongst 6 investors is hardly "big time money". I really get the impression that lead investor from Orem only invested in the project initially because he wanted to get his face on TV, he has that "big fish in a little pond vs little fish in a big pond" thing about him).

It is cool to see the risks they take in Ghana and that's why I watch the
Show, but the producers do a poor job of gaining a "sympathy factor" with these guys based on the background mentioned. I think this is probably why the Alaska show gets higher ratings that the jungle show.