In
the last few weeks, I have been asked about the new season of Treasure Quest:
Once Upon a Time on Snake Island. As everyone knows, the first two
seasons dealt with the Treasure of Trinity but has been moved from Snake Island
and eastern South America to Bolivia and the Sacambaya Treasure. The Sacambaya
Treasure is said to be three times as large as the Treasure of the Trinity.
For
those who have been keeping score at home, the last season ended with those
involved believing they had found a stash of gold bars in about four feet of
water. You would think, if they had that sort of evidence and had been that
close, they would have been back the next season, ready to recover that
treasure rather than
telling the world exactly where it was. Wouldn’t that
inspire someone, somewhere to attempt to sneak in there to grab some of the
gold before Treasure Quest hunters returned. Contrary to what they
claimed at the beginning of season 3, you could actually drive to that
location. Unless there were guards in place at the site, I can’t see why someone
else wouldn’t try to get in there first. Might be dangerous but those gold bars
aren’t hidden in deep water and we do know the location… if they are actually
there as claimed.
 |
| The hotel near the site of the Sacambaya treasure. |
And
what about the Bolivian government? Wouldn’t they have a claim to any treasure
found inside the borders of their country? I haven’t even mentioned the church
which might believe the treasure was theirs because it was mined by their
priests. Or it belongs to the natives forced into slavery to mine the treasure.
Wouldn’t their descendants have a real claim on the treasure? But I digress…
Overlooking
all the historical and legal issues here, I would think that had a treasure
been found, there would have been big news about it. We’d already have the
answer, not to mention all the free advertising for the show. Who wouldn’t want
to watch these guys grab billions in gold?
Here’s
what I can find about the program…
It
is produced by MAR Pictures for the Discovery. Their website provides a
list of all the programs that they produce. The page for Treasure Quest
is no longer there and seems to have been deleted. But then, I couldn’t get any
of the other pages to load either which either means there is a problem on the
site, or MAR Pictures is having trouble with the programs they produce.
On
Discovery, there is a promo for season 3, which aired last year (2018).
There seems to be no update on that. You can, if you wish, watch episodes
there. And, it is implied that you can also watch them on Amazon Prime, but I
haven’t bothered
to look.
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| Cappy Plaskett, who was in the first two seasons but didn't make the cut for the third. |
According
to some sources, the show is popular enough for a new season, but you have to
wonder if the production costs haven’t outstripped any other financial benefit.
In other words, it costs more to produce than any revenue recovered… unless, of
course, they found the treasure and get to keep some of it.
The
new season is supposed to begin in March 2020, but I can find no corroboration
for that start date. There is even some speculation that they won’t be after
the Sacambaya treasure but on another “Quest.” If that’s true, then we have
learned all we need to know about this whole series.
Let’s
not forget what Cappy Plaskett told us about auditions and scripts and internal
strife. This reality show isn’t about reality, but sort of an adventure series
like King Solomon’s Mines, which was a good movie but not a reality TV
show. We have the same thing here. Two versions of the show about adventurers
searching for a lost treasure. It’s interesting, it’s fun, but it is also just
a show.
