Who Is Parker Schnabel Dating Now? Why Did He and Ashley Youle Break Up?

Parker Schnabel, who holds an enormous net worth of $8 million, is a difficult man to deal with, and he himself knows of his shortcomings. After all those years in front of the camera, he still hasn't got used to the cameramen following him around all the time. And when spending months in the middle of nowhere definitely creates a lot of friction between him and the crew.

And his habit of not letting things just go by has really hindered his romantic life as well. He may have lost the biggest gold nugget in his ex-girlfriend Ashley Youle when he was so busy searching for more gold. His grandfather actually warned him of it.

It Was Perfect Between Parker Schnabel & Ashley Youle Before the Breakup

It was all a good setup. Parker Schnabel had visited Australia only a couple of times before Victoria-born Ashley Youle became his girlfriend. And it was in one of those two trips in 2016 that he met Youle, who was studying to be a vet one day.

When Schnabel asked her to come to Klondike to spend the summer literally digging for gold, she readily agreed and even was excellent for the team. In those first days, he knew she was cool and valuable to him.

Watch: Ashley is First Introduced on 'Gold Rush'

"Yes, Ashley was a huge help. I don’t think she gets quite enough credit for how well the summer went," he told Maxim when his spinoff show 'Gold Rush: Parker's Trail' was very new. "She is great to be around, she is great for me and she is just a really cool chick."

Living isolated for months can really do something else to people's social life, and Youle was a gem at keeping things lifelike. For the two seasons, they were together, it was all peachy. And she was not in it for the money; she was one of the only people Parker trusted alone with his glass jars of gold he keeps during his hunt.

Youle was amazing at helping around, even with equipment.
Photo Credit: Instagram

Towards the end of 'Gold Rush' Season 8, every gold-digging fan in the world knew Ashley was not coming back the next season. She and Parker had broken up.

Parker Was Just Not Making Ashley a Priority Anymore — The Breakup Reasons

There was the thing Yukon people raised as an issue. Ashley was in Yukon with a visit visa and therefore was not allowed to work. But that was not it.

 Ashley and Parker broke up.
Photo Credit: Instagram

At another time, there was sort of a competition as to who would be able to film the two of them kissing. They'd never seen them do it. Cameras were bugging them when they were in their off time and eating lunch and something or other. Of course, he didn't like it and shrugged off.

There was a fine bottle of whiskey waiting for the first one to film them sharing a kiss, which went untouched for a long time. Ashley even tried to help put it all to rest and just plant one on Parker's lips, but he sternly refused. It might've been the reason for the breakup, but not completely. He just didn't want anyone to get that bottle of whiskey.

Watch: Trying to Do the Impossible — Film Parker and Schnabel Kissing

Parker took over his grandfather's gold-mining business when he was 16, and it was in his honor that he started the 'Parker's Trail' spinoff after grandpa John passed away in March 2016. And his last words to him were a wish of more than just billions of dollars for Parker.

John wanted him to never lose sight of someone important to him. It might've been the crew members or just Ashley. "Parker, I wish you the best of everything, I don’t particularly wish billions of dollars…but I do want you to have a wonderful feeling for someone who becomes a part of your life. That’s all that’s important. Good Luck."

There were some wise words of wisdom from Grandpa John.
Photo Credit: Instagram

It got worse after John passed away. When Parker's right-hand man Gene left, there was more work and less time for Ashley. But he'd later strengthen his bond with Rick Ness. Still, with his mindset on nothing but gold-digging, he was really losing sight of Ashley's presence.

It was ultimately his obsession with gold and the camera crew's persistence in their off-time as well that drove a big wedge between them. Ashley wasn't taking any of her devaluations anymore, and Parker blames himself for not giving her more priority as she deserved.

In a season 8 retrospective episode, he announced, "Ashley and I broke up." During an episode of 'Win Big or Die Trying', he explained why he lost her.

He does admit when he's wrong.
Photo Source: Parker Schnabel, Instagram

"I just never really made the relationship a priority, didn't make her a priority, and she deserves a lot better than that. At the end of the day, I do think she is doing what's best for her and that's the hardest part of it... it's a real shame," he stated, also saying she could do better than him because of her sweet personality and that it was personally a pretty big failure for him.

After the Breakup? Social Media Was Reflective of Their Single Life

Since the eighth season, neither of them has publicly said anything about each other. But immediately after the breakup, Ashley had unfollowed Parker on Instagram, while he still was on her follower list. She also removed all photos of the two together from her page, "almost" all. There were still solo photos of her from the digging site, which presumably Parker took of her.

Parker too removed photos of them from his site.

A return post on Instagram from Ashley.
Photo Source: Ashley Youle, Instagram

For almost six months, Ashley had gone silent on Instagram. But just before Christmas 2017, she came back with a 'Sup?' post which Parker clicked the like button on. Then in early February 2018, she posted a photo of her legs in bikini overlooking the ocean from the beach, captioning, "If anyone’s been looking for me, I’ve been here since December."

By that time, it appeared she was following Parker on Instagram again. And he still remains on her follower list, along with Rick and others from the show. Perhaps a little comeback possible, considering his current location of filming? Yes. More later.

Sheena Cowell, The Woman in Photo with Him, Was Not a Prospect

It was one photo. While he was just as skinny as ever, some were still body-shaming the woman in the picture.

In August 2018, Parker posted a photo of himself with Sheena Cowell on a bench with his arm across her. Her Instagram bio suggests she is a world traveler of sorts as the Brit was seen in Canada, Serbia and Alaska, and the page is private for now.

And no. They were not an item.
Photo Source: Parker Schnabel, Instagram

Sheena is actually a workmate of Parker and his crew as she works in television production, which means working with them for three series. She is the assistant producer for 'Gold Rush' Season 9, the researcher for 'Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail' in Guyana, and 'Gold Rush' Season 8.

Schnabel did particularly well for throwing people off with the photo, with a few comments saying he's still with Ashley and is just keeping the media off their relationship.

Besides, Cowell appeared to already have had someone else as she was seen with a date during a summer wedding in Serbia in July 2018.

For Now, Parker Is Single

That leads to the ultimate conclusion. Parker is "not" currently dating anyone, not that any relationship thenceforth was public anymore. But you'd be forgiven to think he's going to pursue Ashley again after knowing his current campaign is undergoing in Australia, the place where it all began for the couple.

As single as he could ever be. Here's to Australia.
Photo Source: Parker Schnabel, Instagram

Considering that Down Under is known for having the largest untapped gold reserves in the world, it's no wonder they are moving south in search of the precious metal. Especially after seeing the baseball mitts-size nugget, they were bound to be pulled there.

There are new faces in the team to be equipped with the environment as the terrain for the search of gold isn't that forgiving still. Tyler Mahoney is one such expert. She's a model, clothing designer and a 24-year-old fourth-generation Australian gold miner with excellent navigational expertise.

Watch: How This Season's 'Gold Rush' Will Go Down

By the looks of it, the snow is no longer the problem. The Outback is just a harsh place to be. The first episode aired on March 13, 2020, while 'Gold Rush: Parker's Trail' Season 4 is set for every Friday on Discovery Channel.

Stay tuned and connected to IdolPersona for more Entertainment content from your favorite celebrities.