When the show first started, the Anchorage Daily News reported on controversies: "A new Discovery Channel reality show set in McCarthy is drawing fire for heavy-handed treatment of the reviving old mining town's dark past and alleged outlaw reputation.

[5]Neil Darish is a McCarthy resident who was involved in creation of, and appeared as a main character in, Edge of Alaska.

He did interviews, about McCarthy and about the making of the show, with Hollywood Soapbox,[6] and the YouTube channel The Loud Spot.

[7] In the YouTube interview, Darish said about the show: [7:20] They're drama, based on an exaggeration of people's lives, but they're true to the ethos of what it's like to be in remote Alaska.

[8:02] The hard part is finding people who have a big personality and are willing to give it, you know, everything, to the producers, so that they can make it work.