American Pickers is a reality television show that has been airing on the History Channel since 2010. The show follows around two collectible and antique sellers and collectors named Frank Fritz and Mike Wolfe around the country to “pick” items for resale. On their travels, they meet some pretty unique and sometimes strange characters. Back at home base they have Danielle Colby-Cushman working for them. It is her job to take calls from people selling as well as to find leads on sellers and then follow up on them. She has been on just about every episode of the show, but she isn’t on for long. She calls the guys and gives them the information that they need on their next scouting location. Once in a while, she has a larger part in the episode.
If you want to know more about the main cast members, read on:
Frank Fritz
Frank Fritz was born on October 11, 1965, in Davenport, Iowa. He went to the local high school and after he graduated, he decided to put college off for a while. Instead, he decided to travel around looking for unique items that represented tribes or places. He went all over the world to find these pieces. He used his love of searching for items and turned it into his very popular television show. When Frank isn’t traveling the country with his partner going through people’s basements, he is riding his Harley, one of his most prized possessions. Business for Frank has been good, however, he has run into a few problems. In 2010, a man named Jerry Bruce was watching an episode of American Pickers and he saw Frank buy a polarimeter.
He contacted Frank and asked him if he could buy it. Frank text Jerry back and said he would sell it for $300 plus shipping. Jerry sent the check but he never received the merchandise. He tried to get a hold of Frank with no luck. Eventually, he filed a lawsuit. Although Frank didn’t cash the check, he also didn’t respond and the court ordered him to pay $1,000 plus $80 in court costs. When it comes to his personal life, Frank is very private. Some people speculate that he is gay. Some thought that he and his co-star Mike Wolfe were a couple. This was proven wrong since Mike is married. Since Frank has his right to privacy, the subject of his personal life has never been pushed.
Mike Wolfe
Mike’s passion for collecting junk started when he was very young. He found an abandoned bike one day and he decided to sell it for $5. After that first sale, he found his passion for picking. He started going around asking local farmers if he could go through their barns to see if they had anything to sell. He found a bike on an old farm and offered the farmer $50 for it. It took it home, cleaned it up, and sold it for $5,000. He continued his life of picking ever since. On September 8, 2012, Mike married his wife, Jodi Faeth. They had an “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” themed wedding. On January 30, 2012, their daughter, Charlie was born.
When Mike started making money, he gave up his apartment in LeClaire, Iowa and bought his dream house. It is located on 32 acres of woodland and the home is 5,100 square feet. He has enough room in his home for his collection of over 40 motorcycles. The home also has a castle-like turret and a working telephone booth inside. Mike has used his fame and his knowledge of picking to help reach out to younger pickers. Over the last few years, he has written a book to teach young pickers and he was working on a television show for kids that has yet to be picked up.
Danielle Colby-Cushman
If you have ever watched the show, you know Danielle as the woman who calls the guys while they are on the road to give the addresses of the leads that she managed to dig up. Danielle met Mike over 13 years ago when he was running his store, Antique Archeology. She was designing clothes back then, and Mike would bring him t-shirts with his company name and logo and she would do fun things with them. She says that she hasn’t known Frank as long. She says that she heard Mike mention his name over the years that they had known each other, however, she only met Frank about six years ago.
Although she is working with Mike and Frank now, she still sells her own clothes on etsy.com. When it comes to her work hours when they show is not filming, she has it pretty good. She follows up on leads and does most of her morning work at home. She says that since the show started, the store has become a tourist attraction. If she tries to go into work before the store opens, would never get anything done. The actual hours that she is at the store is 11 am to 4 pm Monday through Saturday. While she loves being in the store and chasing down leads, she says that would love it if she could be out on the road with Mike and Frank. To help her when things get crazy in the store, she was able to hire an assistant.
Her assistant’s name is Abigail Reed and Danielle says that she is the best. She says there is no way she could get everything done without Abigail’s help. One thing that Danielle is really into is tattoos. She has them on her chest, collar, and her back. She also has smaller tattoos on her left arm and on her knuckles. According to Danielle, she plans to continue working on her body art.
You should watch it
American Pickers has been one of the History Channels most popular shows for years. Most people know a lot about what the people on the show do, however, most people don’t know much about the people on the show. If you want to learn more about these three interesting and funny people, you should start watching the show. Watching them travel the United States looking for what they consider to be hidden treasures is very interesting to say the least.
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