American Pickers has managed to carve its own niche in The History Channel's line-up,
thanks in large part to the chemistry between stars Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz.
Every week, millions tune in to watch Wolfe and Fritz travel the country in search of
hidden gems.
It's a wholesome, All-American program with more than 250 episodes and counting in the
can … so it's high time someone explored its shady side!
Here are some of the shadier things about American Pickers…
"I came to Earth approximately 333 years ago.
From the planet Zambodia."
...and its hosts.
Broken promise
The stars of American Pickers seem like honest guys who follow through on handshake deals
and always offer a good price.
"If you're at $175, I'm at $300."
"Yeah, I'm no mathematician, but that sounds like that's a good direction to go."
"Yeah, bust the abacus out!
Alright, let's do it."
But tell that to auctioneer Jerry Bruce, who sued the show after it allegedly failed to
hold up its end of a contract.
Bruce saw a polarimeter, a device used in the 1800s to measure the sugar content in
alcohol, in a 2010 episode of American Pickers.
He contacted Fritz to buy the device and claims the famous Picker agreed to sell it to him
for $300 plus shipping.
Fritz reportedly sent a confirmation via text message but never followed through with the
sale.
Bruce sued Fritz for breach of contract — and was awarded $1,000, plus $80 in court costs,
because Fritz failed to show up to court, or even respond to the lawsuit, according
to The Greenville News.
Picked up by the law
Gentle jokester Frank Fritz probably wasn't laughing when he was arrested in July 2017,
after Iowa State Police responded to numerous 911 calls about a silver pickup truck driven
by Fritz that was headed the wrong way down Interstate 80.
According to WQAD the police report indicated that
"[Fritz] had slurred speech and admitted to drinking a beer and taking a dosage of Xanax."
Fritz failed a field sobriety test.
The picker reportedly reached a plea deal that required one year of unsupervised probation,
a $625 fine, and a mandatory substance abuse evaluation program.
Concealed crowd
American Pickers does a really good job of presenting Fritz and Wolfe as a couple of
regular joes just doing their jobs — nothing glamorous.
Their low-key attitude makes it easy to forget that the show has millions of fans.
How could these reality TV celebrities roll through the country with no fuss?
Well, the truth is that they often don't.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa's The Gazette reports that crowds of 300 to 400 people showing up to
catch a glimpse of them filming and picking is a common occurrence.
But there's no trace of all those adoring fans in the final televised product all the
better to keep their downhome image intact.
Van switcheroo
The producers of American Pickers go out of their way to depict Fritz and Wolfe as buddies
who happily spend hours together on the open road, filling their custom van with antiques.
In 2010, Fritz explained,
"We have our cellphones and our gas.
That's our only overhead out on the road."
But there's actually a lot more going on that you don't see on TV,
During an appearance at the FRY Fest in Coralville, Iowa, Fritz reportedly explained that the
show's huge crew travels with a fleet of vehicles, including a large U-Haul truck, multiple vans,
and a motorhome.
Fritz noted that after you see the guys load an antique into that branded white van, they
often take it right back out and put it into a larger U-Haul truck once the cameras have
stopped rolling.
It's a subtle bit of stagecraft to help keep up the appearance of a small-scale operation.
Practice makes perfect
Like most reality TV, some shots in American Pickers are staged and rehearsed to achieve
a clean, easy-to-follow half-hour of antiques-based entertainment.
According to Rob Dinkins, a South Carolina-based auctioneer, scenes in his episode were re-created
in order for camera crews to get perfect, TV-worthy shots.
Dinkins discussed these "filming tricks" with the South Carolina Radio Network.
"You go from one room to the next, you have to do that, like three times.
They've got to film you leaving the room, then they've got to film you coming into the
room."
All-in-all, filming the Pickers' visit to his old ice manufacturing plant took about
14 hours, but you'd never know it watching the final product.
The real pickers
Wolfe and Fritz don't always find their treasures through traditional means, like flea markets,
thrift shops and antique stores.
Instead, they often uncover hidden gems in more unconventional locales, like abandoned
warehouses or closed-down Cracker Barrels.
You may wonder how Wolfe and Fritz manage to find these low-key goldmines, but it turns
out they have a lot of help.
The real American Pickers are the show's production staff.
According to Ken Young, whose shop Ken's Toys was featured on the show, locations are scouted
by producers in advance of filming.
If they find a place that looks promising, they don't send out Wolfe and Fritz.
Instead, they send a representative who looks around and decides if there's anything worth
buying.
Young told the San Angelo Standard-Times there was a "three-week lead" before the stars of
the show actually arrived, and filming took about 10 hours.
Sounds like being a pro picker isn't nearly as easy as they make it look.
"I just got knocked in the head!"
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