Payson Schnabel is an American gold miner and reality TV personality who became famous after featuring on the popular Discovery Channel reality TV show “The Gold Rush”. Find out more about the prominent gold miner here.
Payson Schnabel’s Bio
- BIRTHPLACE: Alaska, United States
- ETHNICITY: Caucasian
- FATHER: Roger Schnabel
- MOTHER: Nancy Schnabel
- SIBLINGS: Parker Schnabel
Who Is Payson Schnabel?
The famous TV personality and gold miner was born in Haines, Alaska, in the United States of America. He was born to his white American parents Roger Schnabel and Nancy Schnabel and has just one sibling, his younger brother Parker Schnabel who grew up in Alaska as well. He also had his grandfather, who also played a big role in his life, his name was John Schnabel.
Information about his exact date of birth has remained undisclosed. But judging by the age of his younger brother, Parker Schnabel, who is 29 years old as he was born on 22nd July 1994, Payson should be older than at least 31 years old assuming he was born a year before his younger brother.
Most people have often asked whether Payson brothers Payson and Parker are twin brothers. The fact that the two brothers have rhyming names and are in the same line of profession might make this suggestion seem likely. The suggestion is, however, not true. Payson Schnabel is only Parker Schnabel’s older brother.
His Family Has Been Involved in Gold Mining for Donkey Years
The fact that Payson grew up choosing to mine gold as a profession may be attributed to his family background. His grandfather, John Schnabel is a famous and successful gold miner who moved from his hometown in Arkansas to Alaska where he built his mining company, The Big Nuggets.
In the same vein, his father, Roger Payson is a renowned businessman and gold miner. Roger previously worked in his father’s gold mining company, but now he seems to be more focused on his construction company.
Payson’s younger brother, Parker is also a gold miner who has become very successful in the field. He is also the manager in charge of the daily running of The Big Nugget. Seeing all these, it is right to think that Payson’s family and the family members to whom he grew up looking up to may have predetermined the career path he chose as a gold miner.
Payson Has Not Always Been a Gold Miner
After his basic education in Haines High School, Payson went on to further his education at the University of Northern Arizona, where he got a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management and Business Administration. Payson put his degree to good use, considering the career path he chose. Although the name Payson Schnabel is associated mainly with the mining profession, he was into another field of work before that.
Since Payson’s father Roger owns a construction company, Payson grew up watching and understanding the processes involved in the field. He developed an interest in the field and at a very young age started playing around with pieces of construction equipment. While exploring his interest in the construction world he also started his career as a gold miner.
At first, Payson did not find the construction and mining professions to be as alluring as he had imagined, but along the line, he found a way to maneuver his way around them, and now, not only is he known as a successful gold miner, he is also the property manager for the family-owned gold mining company “The Big Nugget”
He Became Famous After Featuring in “The Gold Rush”
Payson was brought into the limelight and became famous as a TV personality after he was featured on the popular Discovery Channel reality TV show, “The Gold Rush”. The Discovery Channel reality TV show focuses on the ins and outs of the mining world. The show follows the work lives of different mining crews in search of gold deposits in the Yukon Territory.
Although it featured almost all the members of the Schnabel family, like Roger, Nancy, Parker, and Payson, the show is centered on John Schnabel, Payson’s grandfather. However, after he died at the old age of 96 in 2016, a sequel for the show was introduced. It was called “The Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail” and has Payson’s brother as its star character.
Payson Schnabel Has Had a Limited Appearance on the Show
Though he is a star character in the show, Payson only appeared in two episodes of “The Gold Rush”. His first appearance was in “Road to Gold”, the 3rd episode of the show. He also appeared again, for the last time in the 4th episode called “Grandpa’s Last Wish”.
His appearance in his last episode was after the end of season 4 of the show, just after his grandfather had died. He appeared as a fulfillment of his Grandpa’s last wish. The wish is that it be proven that there is indeed a gold deposit in Smith Creek of the Big Nugget mine. To fulfill this wish, Payson had to work together with his brother Parker and some other crew members way into the winter season until they had dug up gold at the creek.
What is Payson Schnabel’s Net Worth?
With the role Payson has played in the construction, mining, and television industry, he has been able to gather some cool cash for himself. His net worth at the moment is estimated to be between $1-5 Million.
Payson Schnabel Lives a Quite Private Life
Throughout the years Payson has striven and succeeded to keep details of his private life out of the reach of public eyes. He has kept the information as little as his birth date away from the internet. In addition to this, he has not revealed the presence of a significant other in his life to the public as well, nor has he disclosed if he already has a child or not.
Be that as it may, Payson has a presence on social media. His Instagram and Twitter account @paysonschnabel have thousands of followers each, he keeps the publication of posts on his private life to the barest minimum.
