“Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch” is a reality TV series that follows a father-son duo, Duane and Chad Ollinger, heading up the investigation at their Blind Frog Ranch in eastern Utah, searching for buried treasure. The show endorses one of the most popular niches on TV with an exciting twist – the treasure hunt and the ever-mysterious search for undiscovered or invaluable riches, combined with paranormal activity. The show premiered in January 2021 on Discovery, and has run for two seasons, the second season premiering in January 2022, produced by Karga Seven Pictures and Red Arrow Studio Company.
What is the plot of the series?
The show’s plot is set in the way that Duane with several investors purchased the 160-acre property in Utah, which he believes is hiding sunken treasure of the Aztecs. The property reportedly cost around $22 million.
Beneath the property is a flooded underground cave system, reportedly home to the mentioned Aztecs gold, and the main theme of the show’s two seasons. With the help of an expert team, expensive machinery, and a curious attitude, the team embarked on the journey of finding the supposed treasure.
According to locals, the area has been known for paranormal activities, and is often struck by lightning that only elevates the mystery surrounding this vast land. This, and a combination of urban legends, convinced many people that precious metals must be hidden on the property.
Who are the stars of the show?
The series cast consists of Duane and Chad Ollinger, Charlie Snider, and Eric Drummond.
Who is Duane Ollinger?
Duane is a 63-year-old American businessman and TV personality, who made his fortune as a high-risk oil contractor.
After hearing the stories about the cursed property in the Uintah Mountains in Utah and its supposed riches, Duane sold his company in Amarillo, Texas, and put everything into this opportunity to search for treasure. He’s married to his high-school sweetheart Sherry, a registered nurse, and they’ve welcomed two children, Chad and Tara.
Who is Chad Ollinger?
According to the reports, Texas native Chad is a full-time traveler, and it’s believed that he’s around 37 years of age. He reportedly owned a crop-dusting business and a home, which he sold to join in his father’s operation. Chad has been married to Haley since 2008, with whom he has four children, Lillie, Hutch, Finn and Hazel. Duane has best described Chad by saying, ‘he doesn’t have an ounce of quit in him, and if someone needs to SCUBA dive into an unknown cavern system 50 feet beneath the ground, it’s going to be Chad’. Additionally, he has come across as hell-bent on finding ‘Montezuma’s gold’.
Who is Charlie Snider?
Charlie is also known as ‘Charlie Boy’, and gained popularity through starring in the Discovery series. Since day one, he’s been involved in the project with Duane, serving as head of security, and investigating any potential leads on the mysterious property. In one interview, Duane talked about occurrences of people often trespassing, looking for items. This is where Charlie plays a crucial role, watching out for the property, and making sure no one is roaming around the land.
Charlie has a very packed and impressive background career-wise; he previously served as a sheriff of Ozark, Arkansas for over 20 years, making him the perfect candidate for the head of security at such a high-profile and expensive land project. The 68-year old Chad is also an owner of The Snider Agency, operating since 1993. Charlie has been married to Carolyn Besancon Snider for over four decades; they have two daughters, Brandy Snider Cimino and Elise Snider Hull.
Who is Eric Drummond?
Hailing from Clark, New Jersey, Eric Drummond is a world-renowned geologist and prospector. He came into the limelight for the number of his amazing discoveries, such as finding diamonds around a lava lake and a mountain full of rubies in Greenland. Eric is the voice of science and reason on the show, and assists Duane and Chad by sharing his expertise concerning geology.
Regarding his experience and career, he collaborated for 30 years with Animal Planet, and starred in the reality series “Ice Cold Gold,” which ran for three seasons. In addition, he’s worked with various oil excavation companies, land development companies, small-scale gold mining operations, and TV production companies as a geologist. Eric has been married to Laura Fairley since July 1989; it’s believed that they haven’t welcomed offspring.
What are the strangest things found on “Mystery Blind Frog Ranch”?
Arguably, the show’s major breakthrough is discovering a strange box in the caves that became the focal point of the show. The crew is confident that the box dates to the time of Montezuma, the last Aztec ruler who, according to the legend, hid the gold from the Conquistadores in the area of Utah. In the second season of the show, after detailed plans and preparation, the crew attempted to remove the box from the cave, which resulted in a near-death experience for the team. While the story about the mysterious box tucked away in a highly inaccessible location underwater is a particular attention grabber, it raises some questions and plays with one’s curiosity – why would someone go to such lengths to hide a seemingly plain box?
Even though the attempt to retrieve the box proved a failure, it did have a silver lining.
Exclusive: ‘Mystery At Blind Frog Ranch’ Geologist Eric Drummond Talks Season Two’s Bizarre Twists
The show’s geologist Eric made several interesting discoveries; he determined that the large rocks inside the box are bored and hold cylinders of gallium that liquefy at room temperature, adding that it was done by a human hand.
In an interview, he talked about the element; he said: ‘Gallium is a scarce element and it has some relatively modern-day uses. There are many questions surrounding that, how did it get there? Who put it there? What uses was it for, and how did they even make it? And so there are lots of questions surrounding that.’
Eric discussed the discovery of another interesting element, disclosing ‘The strangest discovery for me was iridium in the soil, and in pretty decent concentrations. Iridium is a relatively rare element that’s more common in space than it is on earth, so there is that sort of extraterrestrial aspect to that.’
“Gold” coins
During the first season, while searching for treasure at the ranch, Chad found nine “gold” coins allegedly dating to 1849. These coins were different from Spanish coins found on the property.
Following the expert’s assessment, these were initially thought to be remnants of the Mormon gold, estimated at $1 million per piece. However, further inspection determined that they were not actually made of gold.
Is “Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch” fake?
As it happens, reality series – regardless of the type – are often placed under the microscope, and attract a lot of attention and negativity over time. As a result, the issue of a show being scripted is becoming the modern-day dilemma that has been present since the pioneers of the genre. “Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch” is no different when it comes to criticism regarding the show’s authenticity. While the first season slipped through the cracks and drew many viewers and lovers of treasure hunts, people soon began questioning whether the show was scripted.
Comments from fans and viewers began flooding social media platforms, some of those are: ‘The people that believe Mystery At Blind Frog Ranch is real are the same people that think pro wrestling is real, and ‘So, they drag a 750lb jackhammer down into this cave and cut up rocks to drag out this box, yet, it’s suddenly too dangerous and the rocks they now want to get from this box are too heavy?’
Depending on views and opinions, most social media users, especially of Reddit, are inclined to believe that the show is fake and scripted. The criticism aims at the cast’s ‘acting’ performances, the finding of the iridium to boost the show’s popularity, and humoring many extraterrestrial fanatics with new ‘conspiracy theories. Discovery and the show’s crew haven’t disclosed any information in regards to its inauthenticity.
What do local experts think about Aztec buried treasure?
Others are also questioning whether Utah is historically the location where a lot of gold was left or hidden, and whether the myths hold any water at all.
Associate professor of anthropology at Utah University, Richard Paine shared his outlook; he confirmed that there were large quantities of gold in the area, saying: ‘The Aztecs, when the Spanish arrived, had a lot of gold. One of the main, big motivators for the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs was that they were just enthralled by the amount of gold.’
He then explained that these stories of abundant quantities of gold and other precious metals paved the way for many tales of hidden treasures, and motivated many people to search for them. Richard revealed: ‘My personal suspicion is that most of these stories were local people trying to get the Spanish to go someplace else. But the idea that there was gold to be captured and hidden away is certainly possible.”
According to Gregory Smoak, the University of Utah’s American West Center director, the Spanish also contributed significantly to these fictional legends and myths – one of the most popular is the Seven Cities of Cibola, which captivated Spanish Conquistadores in the 16th century.
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Gregory said:’ [The Seven Cities of Cibola] is sort of a foundational story of the American Southwest,” adding, “I think it shows this kind of thirst, this idea of wealth out there that drives people to the American Southwest.”
On the other hand, Duane seems confident that these are not just myths. Talking to Soapbox in January 2021, he said: ‘I believe the legends of buried treasure that I have heard from the locals. It’s either gold from the Aztecs or Spaniards. The data I have seen from the satellite scans just confirms that gold is radiating from the caverns.’
Paranormal Aspect of the Show
The ranch is also believed to be the location of various paranormal and extraterrestrial activities, such as UFO sightings. According to Duane, Chad, and many other supporters of these theories, UFOs are not an unusual occurrence on the ranch, he said: ‘I’m a pilot, so I know what different airplanes are. I know the sound of jets and the color. You see every single night, something zipping across the sky, coming in close, blinking, super bright lights, doing it a few times, and then leaving or making these little jagged lines,”
The area has also attracted many other YouTubers and extraterrestrial enthusiasts. One of those is HeavyDSparks, who visited the ranch and chatted with Chad about the gold and the UFOs.
While this paranormal element certainly adds value to the show and a unique aura of mystery, many tend to believe that the story about extraterrestrial beings is a way to attract new viewers by humoring these already highly controversial topics.
Why haven’t Duane and Chad drained the water from the caves?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions about the show, and the crew’s struggles navigating through the underground caves. Chad cleared the air n an interview, saying: ‘There are three main reasons; if we drain the water from the pond into a creek that is actually illegal, we can’t mix the water. The second reason is if we take all the water out of this cave it might collapse. The last reason is the spring, there’s constant water filling up that.’
How did Eric Drummond become a part of the “Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch”?
Speaking when interviewed, Eric said: ‘I believe it was Chad [Ollinger] who found me, and I think it was through social media. And he contacted me, and I eventually went out and visited with them at the site. Duane told me all about his project that he’d been working on for years.’
Will there be a third season?
According to the latest information, the show hasn’t been canceled, nor renewed for another season. The show’s fans are confident that there will be another season, as it’s too early to discuss the potential cancelation, considering the second season premiered recently. Regardless of the criticism, it has pretty good ratings: 6.0 on IMDB, and the average audience score on Rottentomatoes is 80%. Judging from the series’ reviews and viewer’s comments, there is a broad audience of fans who enjoy the show, and the enigma it brings to the table.
