Gold Rush's Parker Encounters 'Spiders the Size of Dinner Plates' Searching for Gold in Guyana

Parker Schnabel is already a pro at mining for gold in his home state of Alaska, but the Discovery star is trying his luck in a whole new territory, taking his crew to Guyana with the hopes of striking it rich.

“It started off on my radar when Todd Hoffman went there,” the Gold Rush star says of his decision to head to Guyana. “He didn’t have such a good time, but since then, a lot of mining has started up there.”

Making the destination even more attractive? “There’s a lot of diamonds found with the gold, which is really interesting,” he says. ” I figured hey, if we have a chance to go down there and check it out, at the very least it would be a good leaning experience and maybe we would find gold.”

The crew, which includes Parker’s foreman and best friend Rick Ness, spent nearly two months on location where they slept in hammocks outside every night.

• Want to keep up on the latest from PEOPLE? Sign
  up for our daily newsletter to get our best stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.

“No tents, you just throw a tarp over you if you thought it was going to rain and that was really cool,” says Schnabel, who is also quick to point out the downside of living a treacherous jungle.

“The amount of spiders and snakes was a bit disconcerting,” he says. “It left you a uneasy when you’re going to bed and you have to walk around spiders the size of a dinner plate. That’s a little spooky.”

Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail returns for a second season on March 30 at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery.