Finding the Newfoundland Bonus Prize — Transcript

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1. 0:04To the spotlight now on the great
2. 0:06Canadian treasure hunt. The latest
3. 0:07$37,000
4. 0:09gold bonus prize was discovered in New
5. 0:12Finland. Stephanie St. Dennis and her
6. 0:14sister Jen who were escape room
7. 0:16enthusiasts from Ontario and longtime
8. 0:19Northern Miner subscribers cracked the
9. 0:21Aentia clues and claimed the prize.
10. 0:24Well, I tell you what, they joining me
11. 0:26uh this morning to talk about their
12. 0:28find. Jen and Steph, thanks very much
13. 0:30indeed for talking to us.
14. 0:31>> Thank you. So excited to talk about it.
15. 0:34>> Well, let's get straight into it. Uh
16. 0:36Vin, Steph, I'll start with you. What
17. 0:37does it feel like, you know, to actually
18. 0:40having found the gold in New Funland out
19. 0:43of all these places?
20. 0:45>> Quite surreal. Obviously, it was a it
21. 0:47was a bit of a trek, but um we were
22. 0:50pretty confident and yeah, it feels
23. 0:52exciting and uh definitely um instills a
24. 0:57little bit of confidence in us moving
25. 0:58forward in the hunt.
26. 1:00>> I can imagine so because you guys have
27. 1:03some sort of a background when it comes
28. 1:05to puzzles and things, right, Jen? I
29. 1:07mean, escape room enthusiasts, you've
30. 1:09got, you know, you guys are puzzle
31. 1:11people as I say. How did that skill set
32. 1:13translate into treasure hunting? Well, I
33. 1:16mean, we are very much into escape
34. 1:18rooms. We've done hundreds of them
35. 1:20together. We've kind of traveled around
36. 1:22and done some of the best in the world,
37. 1:23which are really just in Montreal. So,
38. 1:27um, we've done some amazing puzzles and
39. 1:29we we're pretty good at it naturally.
40. 1:31So, the challenge of solving a treasure
41. 1:34hunt puzzle was right up our alley. So,
42. 1:36we both kind of dove in right from the
43. 1:38beginning um just for the fun of the
44. 1:41solve of it.
45. 1:43>> Yeah. Mhm. So, walk us through, you
46. 1:45know, that decision to just go. I was
47. 1:48reading up and I heard from our
48. 1:49producers about, you know, how you guys
49. 1:51set off to go ahead and get this because
50. 1:53you hadn't booked a thing, right? You
51. 1:55just suddenly were on a plane to Aentia.
52. 1:57What what happened there?
53. 1:58>> Definitely spontaneity is the name of
54. 2:00the game, I think. Um, we woke up in the
55. 2:02morning and we did not know that day we
56. 2:05were going to Newfoundland. So, that's
57. 2:07kind of the excitement of it. Um, we had
58. 2:11the idea for the solve um, right around
59. 2:15Christmas time and uh, we sat with it
60. 2:18for a while. We didn't really think um,
61. 2:20we were going to act on it. But one day
62. 2:22we just kind of ran out of reasons um,
63. 2:26not to go and we decided to just book a
64. 2:29flight and by the end of the day we were
65. 2:30in Newfoundland.
66. 2:32>> But Jen, of course, I mean this was
67. 2:34prompted by something. It it seems
68. 2:36spontaneous, but I mean something had to
69. 2:38tell you, well, look, we we're going to
70. 2:40hit the spot. What was it
71. 2:41>> really? We just followed the clues that
72. 2:44were presented to us and a lot of it was
73. 2:46just our instinct. Like we just kind of
74. 2:48had a feeling we were on to something,
75. 2:50but like Steph said, we we sat with it
76. 2:52with for quite a while until we
77. 2:54realized, you know, all of the roads
78. 2:56we've gone down have have told us to go
79. 2:58check. And so, in the end, we just
80. 3:00really had to know for ourselves if we
81. 3:02were right or not. Now, Steph, I I don't
82. 3:05want you to give up any sort of
83. 3:06locations or trade secrets if you don't
84. 3:08want to, but what was it about Gentia
85. 3:12that clicked for you?
86. 3:14>> Um, it's hard to say. Like, we we feel
87. 3:16like when Gina and Simon did their
88. 3:20interviews, you're kind of hanging on as
89. 3:22a viewer, hoping to get all the
90. 3:24intricacies and the details of their
91. 3:26solve. And um we thought about um kind
92. 3:30of laying it all out there and we felt
93. 3:33like in the end it's more the the thrill
94. 3:37of the solve is why you get involved in
95. 3:39something like this and giving it all
96. 3:42away would sort of take that fun away.
97. 3:45So we don't want to give out the
98. 3:46details. We basically just had an idea
99. 3:50and we followed um sort of the signals
100. 3:52that we got from the article and the
101. 3:55clues and the video and it just led to a
102. 3:59place that we felt pretty strongly
103. 4:01about.
104. 4:02>> Hey, there's a lot of people that will
105. 4:03be watching this thinking, you know, is
106. 4:06is this a tough task? I mean, how much
107. 4:08deciphering do you have to do? What
108. 4:10skill set do you have to have for this
109. 4:12sort of thing? Is it as difficult as it
110. 4:15seems? I mean, I guess that depends on
111. 4:17how you think about it. So, I would say
112. 4:20if you're somebody who likes puzzles and
113. 4:22likes looking for clues and and solving
114. 4:25things and kind of like trusting your
115. 4:27gut a little bit and and going with with
116. 4:30your feelings, it it's doable for
117. 4:33anybody. Um, but I would say we both put
118. 4:35in a lot of time before we got to a
119. 4:37place where we felt confident enough to
120. 4:39go to Newfoundland from Ontario to look
121. 4:41at it. So, it's not something you're
122. 4:42going to come across by luck. You
123. 4:44definitely have to put in some time and
124. 4:46effort.
125. 4:46>> And listen, having said that, I mean,
126. 4:48this whole thing is not just about
127. 4:50finding the gold. Obviously, that helps.
128. 4:52But I mean, what stands out from your
129. 4:55time on the ground? Any memorable
130. 4:57encounters, reactions, surprises. This
131. 4:59is all part of the package, isn't it?
132. 5:01>> Yeah. I mean, for us, it's a bonding
133. 5:04thing. Like, we just have so much fun
134. 5:07together, and we're sisters, best
135. 5:10friends. Like we we love everything that
136. 5:13we do together with her. It's escape
137. 5:15rooms or solving treasure hunts. Like a
138. 5:18lot of it is the memories we get from
139. 5:19all the crazy stuff that happens when we
140. 5:21do these things.
141. 5:22>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. It's the
142. 5:24story is one that we'll tell for a
143. 5:26lifetime. Definitely.
144. 5:27>> So listen, you look at at mining across
145. 5:29the world, particularly in Canada at the
146. 5:31moment. I mean the price of metals, you
147. 5:34know, shooting through the roof. There's
148. 5:36a lot of exciting things happening. Were
149. 5:38you guys familiar with the fraternity of
150. 5:41mining or know anything about it? Cuz
151. 5:43it's it's certainly something that's
152. 5:44standing out of late, isn't it?
153. 5:46>> Absolutely standing out. And you don't
154. 5:48really realize how much so until you
155. 5:50start digging in. And um we certainly
156. 5:54went into this with much less
157. 5:57information about Canadian history in
158. 5:59general and about mining um before we
159. 6:01started. So we feel very um
160. 6:05knowledgeable or at least a lot more so
161. 6:07than we did when this uh whole
162. 6:09initiative launched. For sure.
163. 6:11>> Yeah. It's very interesting to see now
164. 6:13that we're kind of immersed oursel into
165. 6:15it that it shows up everywhere. Like
166. 6:17every commercial, everything you look
167. 6:19at, everything people talk about, it all
168. 6:20just comes back to mining in Canada.
169. 6:23It's it's pretty incredible.
170. 6:25>> So listen, you've brought home that
171. 6:28gold. I mean, what do you tell hunters
172. 6:30still chasing that big $1 million prize?
173. 6:33And if the gold price is anything to go
174. 6:35by, it's it's larger than $1 million.
175. 6:37What do you tell would be hunters now?
176. 6:40>> Go with your gut.
177. 6:41>> Yeah, trust your instincts for sure. Um,
178. 6:44I think there's a lot of trust involved
179. 6:47in yourself and your thought process.
180. 6:50Um, I don't think it's going to be laid
181. 6:53out sort of crystal clear for you. You
182. 6:55kind of have to trust that the path that
183. 6:57you're going down is the right one and
184. 6:59act on it.
185. 7:00>> Yeah, Northern Miner says it right in
186. 7:01their thing. If you feel like you're
187. 7:02getting close, you probably are. So,
188. 7:05that's true. I feel like if if you feel
189. 7:07like you're on to something, go down
190. 7:09that road right to the end. Take the
191. 7:10risk.
192. 7:11>> Yeah. Try it.
193. 7:12>> I I would imagine that in your words,
194. 7:14you don't stop here with the bonus
195. 7:16prizes, right? You go for the big one,
196. 7:18the big national prize. Um, what do you
197. 7:21do when you're not looking for gold,
198. 7:23both of you? And does that change your
199. 7:25life in any way? Are you still sort of
200. 7:26into this this treasure thing for the
201. 7:28big prize?
202. 7:29>> Definitely.
203. 7:29>> Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We both
204. 7:31have jobs. Like we both run businesses.
205. 7:33We're in art and design. Um but in our
206. 7:36free time, we're pretty we're pretty
207. 7:38into it. Like we it's something we like
208. 7:40to do together. It's something we do in
209. 7:42our free time. You know, it's kind of
210. 7:43like instead of reading a book, you you
211. 7:45do a little research on mining history
212. 7:47in Canada. So, it's certainly a big part
213. 7:49of our life now.
214. 7:50>> Yeah. We don't know what we're going to
215. 7:51do after it's over. It's true.
216. 7:54>> Quite well. Listen, all the luck for the
217. 7:55big national prize. I know you've got
218. 7:57your your mind set on that. This is uh
219. 7:59your background that you come from.
220. 8:01Stephanie, Jen, it's been a pleasure.
221. 8:03Good luck and and and hope you uh you
222. 8:05pursue more of these treasure hunts.
223. 8:07>> Thank you so much.
224. 8:12Great.