Emily Riedel is a future American opera singer and a gold digger born on July 4, 1988 in Homer, Alaska, USA. She is known as a “Bering Sea Gold” star and the only female captain on the show.
Early life
Emily Riedel grew up in a middle-class family in Homer. Her father Steven Riedel is a fisherman, and although he was able to provide his family with a job, they were not surrounded by wealth.
Emily’s mother’s name is unknown, also if Emily has any siblings. Details about her childhood and early education are also unknown, but she developed a keen interest in music during childhood, with a particular enthusiasm for opera.
In 2014, she revealed to Millennial magazine her favorite opera singers: ‘Marilyn Horne is a goddess. Ana Moffo is perfection. Of course, Pavarotti is regularly an absolute necessity.’ While her love of ancient opera is unparalleled, she also enjoys modern singers of the genre: “There are some incredible performers in the world right now and I hope opera is supported and sustained because it has such a wonderfully rich and expressive art form’
After graduating from high school, she began her studies at the University of South Carolina. She paid her way through college using small jobs she got in Alaska during school holidays, eventually graduating with a bachelor’s degree in music.
Career
Start in gold mining
After graduating, Emily felt the need to continue her education, but financial problems made it difficult to realize her dream of studying at an opera conservatory in Vienna.
In an interview with Geek Mom in 2015, she confessed that these complications were the reason she started gold mining: “I just got out of college and was broke, and I had a friend there who was mining for gold. It wasn’t so much the gold that attracted me. He said it was easy to make a lot of money in a short period of time – a kind of risk-free adventure.’
Thinking it was an easy way to fund her opera studies, she accepted the offer of Zeke Tenhoff, childhood friend and owner of The Edge, to work as a sailor aboard his boat: My Name, and lived in a beach hut five miles out of town and just sort of crouched there in a sleeping bag.”
Working in Nome, one of the most remote and isolated villages in Alaska, proved to be a real challenge for her, and while gold mining in the Bering Sea proved to be no problem, she faced the conditions as best she could: “I waltzed more or less in this crazy situation and ever since then I’ve been waltzing, sometimes with two left feet.’
In 2014, she spoke of the difficulties of gold mining: “You are fighting against so many opportunities.
The fact that you’re diving 6 feet under ice in 80 degree water, while trying to maintain and use your equipment in extreme temperatures – it’s a logistical nightmare. And we lived it every day’.
Gold mining isn’t as profitable as it seems, so Emily’s dream of studying in Vienna still seems a long way off: “It’s much more spending money than making money somehow.”
Reality TV Star – Bering Sea Gold
A few years after working aboard The Edge, Emily and other boatmates were approached by TV producers: ‘Discovery Channel thought they wanted to do a show here and they found us. We were a quirky bunch of people and they said, ‘We can’t miss this opportunity.’
Chat with @EmilyRiedel23 this Friday in a LIVE Facebook Q&A! #BeringSeaGold pic.twitter.com/le86ZognCo
— Bering Sea Gold (@BeringSeaGold) September 1, 2015
While Emily could be wary of the situation, she thought it would be beneficial to them since “Deadliest Catch” – another network reality show filmed in Alaska – was very popular.
“Bearing Sea Gold”, which premiered in January 2012, had the highest network ratings for a debuting series, with 3.66 million viewers. It remained a public success, which is why it has been constantly renewed and is currently in its 11the season.
Not only is Emily a fan favorite, she’s appreciated as the star of the show by critics and fans alike, a remarkable achievement for a woman in a show created primarily for a male audience. However, Emily doesn’t want her gender to be an important issue in her work: ‘I’m a person trying to do a job, and I’m a woman.
And there are some challenges that come with that, but I definitely think it takes women a few steps back if we’re just rewarded for showing up, rather than being rewarded for showing good merit.’
The Erica
Emily left the boat The Edge after buying her own ship called The Eroica, which was introduced in the third season of “Bering Sea Gold”. The boat’s name originates from Emily’s love of music, as it was inspired by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 titled “Sinfonia Eroica”, translated as Heroic Symphony in English.
As captain of the Eroica, Emily has faced many challenges: “I’m piloting this dredger alone. No one helps and supports me. I try to lead a team and keep a team stable.
And no one is going to do that but me.’ In an interview with GeekMom, she continued, “I struggle with my own demons related to diving and owning a dredge, and I’m still learning so much about being a boat captain. Every day is a huge learning curve: how you control the crew, how you control the boat.’
In an interview with Hollywood soapboxshe also commented on her experience as the first and still only female captain on the show: “I realize I have a lot to learn about being a leader, and that makes me hesitant to call myself a leader, I guess , especially in terms of being called a pioneer and a symbol for women who want to break through in a man’s world’.
Private life
Shortly after boarding The Edge, Emily began dating her childhood friend and colleague Zeke Tenhoff.
Although the relationship lasted for a few years, it ended in the first season of “Bering Sea Gold” when the couple faced many problems between them.
Despite their failed romantic relationship, Emily remains friends with Zeke, though she has reservations about the time they spent as a couple. “Many things have gone wrong in Nome over the past four years that have ended a lifelong friendship, and it’s disturbing.” She said to Hollywood soap box in 2014.
Currently, Emily is apparently single and has no children.
Net value
Emily Riedel has an estimated net worth of $250,000, as a result of her work, now as captain of the gold dredger The Eroica.
Appearance
Emily is a beautiful woman with green eyes and natural blond hair, although she has dyed it a dark brown red in the past. She is 1.52 m tall and weighs about 67 kg. She has a visibly slim figure.
Interesting facts
Her father Stevel Riedel also appears in “Bering Sea Gold”, although he is the captain of the Minnow boat.
For the fourth season premiere, Emily made many changes to The Eroica: “I had to buy a new pump and pump motor, a lot of maintenance on the outboard motor. I had to do a lot of re-welding on the pontoons, had to hire people to help me build a new deck for it, and a new cabin.’ Because of this, she has said that her boat is a money-guzzling black hole.
Let me tell you what, you guys are happy about a great coaching with Maestro Grant where you discuss the practicalities of oars in a contemporary arrangement from Stabat Mater. #karljenkins
Posted by Bering Sea gold Emily Riedel On Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Emily’s mining philosophy is “more power and less finesse.”
While Emily has no regrets about her work in gold mining, she looks back on her early years with fondness: ‘I often find myself looking back and wishing I had done things differently. But you know, this happened the way it happened. Of course I wish I had been braver and more decisive… But when you’re young and stupid, you’re young and stupid.’
Emily has appeared on several talk shows during her time on “Bearing Sea Gold” and has been interviewed by Larry King, Jeff Probst, and Steve Harvey.
She sang one opera version of Kanye West’s famous VMA speech on a talk show.
