www.history.com/shows/bamazon
Eight out-of-work Alabama construction workers are locked in the fight of their lives, risking everything they've got on a long-shot chance to find gold in the Amazon jungle. The only problem: it's one of the most inaccessible and inhospitable places on the planet, filled with aggressive jaguars, venomous snakes, malarial mosquitoes and countless miles of impenetrable mud. They'll need all the Southern grit, pride and muscle they’ve got to survive the jungle—and strike it rich.
It's a bold gambit by their leader, Alabama real estate mogul Tim Evans. When Tim's business crashed a couple years ago, he decided to use what was left of his fortune to ship tons of heavy equipment down to Guyana, South America, and lease a piece of land in the country's treacherous, poorly mapped northwest interior. All his research told him that the land held massive veins of gold. But getting at it—in a place with no roads or infrastructure—meant he’d need all the help he could get.
Tim reached out to seven of his most trusted former employees, guys who'd been with him through thick and thin. They had been broke and out of work for so long that Tim's offer to share profits of a gold mining venture seemed too good to pass up. So what if none of them knew the first thing about mining? So what if most of them had never been out of the country before? They’re Alabama boys, and that means they know how to get things done.
But they don't have much time, and the odds are stacked against them. In six weeks, the rainy season will end, and the river—their only way in or out—will become impassable.
Over the next six weeks, these men will have to find a way to work together on a mission many say is impossible. But don't underestimate a crew of determined 'Bama boys on the hunt for gold in the Amazon.
