From Pawn Star's Gold and Silver Pawn Shop to American Pickers' Antique Archeology, small businesses are sometimes the stars of some of the nation's most popular TV reality shows. And beginning at the end of the month one local businessman and his Spokane based business will be one of the main characters on a new national reality show for the National Geographic Channel.
That show , which is called Meltdown will premiere on Oct 31st at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific time and will follow 3 " urban treasure hunters " as they seek out precious metals to make money off of. These urban treasure hunters will look for metals like Gold and silver in places like abandoned bank vaults, back alleys and scrap yards according to the shows description.
One of the three people being followed on the new TV Show will be Dave Varabioffis , a local business man and professional gold hunter with almost 40 years of experience. Varabioffis is from Spokane and known locally as " Gold Dave" or " The Gold Guru ".
Dave Varabioffis is also the man behind Goldbay a local precious metals business nearby Northtown Mall at 4201 N. Division St. here in Spokane . Goldbay buys and sells gold from their Spokane storefront and online via the web site - www.goldbay.com
Meltdown on National Geographic Channel will also feature two other treasure hunters , Rich Pylehas and Diego Calinawanis both of Southern California. The show will be national and in this , it's first season , will have 12 episodes. If you are unable to catch the premier of Meltdown, reruns will surely air soon after so please consult your local listings for air dates and times.
Here is a look at the episode list for Meltdown as provided via a press release from the National Geographic Channel-
Meltdown: Bite the Bullet
Premieres Thursday, October 31, at 10 p.m. ET/PT
Rich gets exclusive access to a manufacturing equipment warehouse and goes treasure hunting for precious metals in the equipment’s old components. When he finds a robotic arm from an old auto assembly line, he relies on his Detroit background to hopefully turn it into a payday. Meanwhile, Dave knows that catalytic converters use platinum, so he gets down and dirty crawling under every old car he can find — until he ends up at the wrong end of a shotgun. And Diego hits up a firearms dealer in search of guns made with precious metals, and takes an unexpected turn into hunting down a man who has a supply of silver bullets. But the man’s not going to give up his valuable ammunition that easily, and even if he does, Diego needs to figure out a way to get the silver off the bullets.
Meltdown: Break the Bank
Premieres Thursday, October 31, at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT
Dave decides to fulfill a longtime goal and get his hands on some old mining equipment in the hope that it may contain dirt and rock residue that could, in turn, contain gold. He’s hoping for a $40,000+ payday, but soon discovers it’s going to be tougher to get at it than he initially anticipated. Meanwhile, Rich gets a lead on an old building being gutted and rehabbed and has the chance to search it for anything that might contain precious metals. He quickly finds out the old building in fact used to be a bank, but the only problem is that whatever treasure might be there is hidden inside an enormous locked vault. And Diego hits up a tattoo artist to find gold in an unlikely place.
Meltdown: Standing on a Gold Mine
Premieres Thursday, November 7, at 10 p.m. ET/PT
Dave’s crew thinks he’s nuts when he decides to rip up his new property, a former jewelry store and workshop, but he’s convinced there’s gold hidden in and under the carpeting. Dave’s excited when his suspicions are confirmed, but extracting the gold dust from the carpet tiles proves to be a much more frustrating and expensive task than he ever imagined. Elsewhere, Diego gets a lead on a vintage electronics dealer and brings his buddy James along, expecting to find the mother lode in vintage motherboards. What they do find are a lot of headaches. Meanwhile, Rich’s search for precious metals leads him to an antiques dealer selling off an entire storage unit full of items from someone’s estate. But Rich may have gotten more than he bargained for when he finds an urn filled with ashes.
Meltdown: Ready to Rock-It
Premieres Thursday, November 7, at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT
Rich hunts for old rocket parts because he thinks they’re made with precious metals to withstand the intense heat. He meets up with Waldo, a dreamer trying to break the land speed record by putting a rocket engine onto a car. Meanwhile, Dave looks for treasure in the form of a photo processing filter used to recover silver found on photo paper. But will he find enough to make it worth his effort? And Diego looks for a trophy as his prize. As long as it’s made of real silver, any shaped trophy will do, because the trophy Diego really wants at the end of the day is cash.
Meltdown: Coffin Up Cash
Premieres Thursday, November 14, at 10 p.m. ET/PT
Rich wants to buy solar panels for the silver components inside, but new panels are expensive, so he has to buy broken panels. Then he learns that it’s nearly impossible to get the silver out of any solar panels by himself, so he’s forced to pay a professional $1,000 to do the job — a big gamble. Dave is playing it safe, making no initial investment in the used dental X-ray fixer solution he’s gathering up from local dentists. Used to develop X-rays, fixer removes the silver from the film and contains silver residue. But will Dave find enough fixer with silver to make it worth his time? Meanwhile, Diego’s made a reasonable investment of $450 to buy a casket for the gold letters engraved on it. But will the purity of the gold be high enough to yield a profit?
Meltdown: Platinum Payday
Premieres Thursday, November 14, at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT
Diego uncovers a giant score in platinum, but to come up with the cash to make the deal happen, he has to not only liquidate his entire bank account, but also pawn his beloved motorcycle. He’s fairly confident he’s doing the right thing until he begins to extract his platinum, which comes off in ultra-thin, hair-like strands, and wonders if he put his entire life on the line for nothing. Elsewhere, Rich’s hunt for precious metals leads him to a recording studio, where a rapper is trying to sell a bunch of bling. Rich is excited to see the treasure trove laid out for him, until he realizes it’s all fake — a fact that the rapper refuses to believe, questioning whether Rich is trying to rip him off. Meanwhile, Dave uncovers an old cell tower console that is loaded with gold. It’s an epic task to extract all the precious metals, and after Dave refines it, there are problems melting. Did he mess up all his gold and ruin his score?
Fans of the new show can even get memorabilia from the Spokane based Goldbay, as Goldbay sells a small selection of shirts and hats with the company logo. Also a 1 ounce silver coin with the Goldbay name is available after being designed locally by Coeur d' Alene based Gem State Mint.
For more info on Dave Varabioffis and his business , Goldbay visit-
www.goldbay.com
*At the time of the article National Geographic Channel's web site does not yet have a page for Meltdown. However I would expect one to be up very soon. The National Geographic Channel can be found online at-
www.natgeotv.com
