Frank Fritz has been one of the lead hosts of the popular American reality TV show American Pickers for about 10 years now, starting from 2010 – 2020. Where he, along with his fellow host and longtime friend Mike Wolfe travel all over America trying to find and buy some of the most undervalued antiques and collectibles which they can later resale at their antique shop.
American Pickers has been a quite popular show that has received a lot of love from the audience, which allowed it to run for so long and have over 20+ seasons. But one of the main reasons why this show has been so successful is because of the chemistry between its lead duo, Frank and Mike.
Two friends who have known each other for over the past 40 years, but recently something happened between Mike and Frank that has led to a fallout between them, and eventually, Frank Fritz walked out of American Pickers. In this article, we shall be looking at the reasons why Frank Fritz was fired from American Pickers.
Who is Frank Fritz?
Before we talk about why Frank Fritz was fired from a hit reality TV show, we must first know who is Frank Fritz and his origins before becoming a hit reality TV star. Frank loved picking things since he was a kid. As a child, he developed a hobby of collecting beer cans, stamps, and coins. He enjoyed doing so, and later as he grew up, he started collecting even bigger things like vintage motorbikes.
Before turning into a reality TV star, Frank worked as a fire inspector, his job as an officer was to check whether or not buildings were following the fire safety guide, and he was really good at this job. Along with the job of a fire inspector, Fritz kept his passion for collecting alive by collecting various kinds of fire equipment. As time passed by, he became really good at collecting valuable items, and soon, he realized that maybe he could turn his childhood passion into a career.
Later on, he collaborated with his high school friend Mike Wolfe who is also a passionate picker and loves collecting valuable things like Frank. Together they formed a plan and agreed to make their passion for collecting things into a hit business.
So they started documenting their picking journey and pitched an idea for a TV show to various companies, they eventually faced lots of rejections, but finally, History TV, one of the popular American TV channels, agreed to create a show with their idea. And thus marked the beginning of a hit TV show, “American Pickers”
Why Was Frank Fritz Fired From American Pickers?
American Pickers is a TV show which has been running since 2010, with over 20+ seasons and millions of fans who regularly watch the show and love its lead hosts, Frank Fritz and Mike Wolfe. It really disappointed the show’s true fans when after March of 2020, Frank Fritz, one of its leading hosts, suddenly disappeared from the show.
Frank Fritz last episode aired somewhere around March of 2020, and since then, there hasn’t been any clarification regarding his disappearance from the show. Making the fans of Frank Fritz ask for an official statement regarding this matter, and they questioned what really was going on in the show.
Many of his fans speculated that it was mainly due to his health issues and the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic that led to the disappearance of Frank Fritz from the show.
But after an interview with a news channel on July 19th, Frank Fritz finally gave some information regarding his disappearance from the show. Frank said in the interview that he did not leave the show but actually took a break for his back surgery, and then the COVID-19 pandemic came.
But the reason which the fans of them should be more concerned about is that Frank mentioned that “he and Mike haven’t had a word with each other for over 2 years now”
He said, “Mike was my friend and we knew each other for over the past 40 years and he knew about my back surgery but never bothered to even make a call, that’s how our friendship is right now” he even further stated, “I don’t know…don’t know why is he behaving this way”. Although Frank has never said what really happened between them but with these statements, Frank clearly stated that there has been a fallout between both of the friends, and as a result, it might have been one of the reasons why Frank disappeared from the show.
After the interview, Frank several times mentioned his desire to return back to the show, although it wouldn’t be easy for him to work with Mike, it’s up to the show producers if they want him back.
But later, on July 21st, Mike Wolfe released a statement via his Instagram and confirmed that Frank would not be a part of the show anymore. In the Instagram post, he mentioned Frank as his brother and talked about their career together up until now, and wished him good luck for his future.
Later that year, another member from the American Pickers TV show came forward and stated that Frank caused lots of trouble for himself and for others and that one must hold himself accountable for his actions.
And a few months later, Frank Fritz again, in an interview, stated that whatever Mike said was crap and that the statement which he gave was made up by someone, as he further quotes, “Mike hasn’t said any good thing about me since few years and all of a sudden he comes up with this statement?”
Frank Fritz Plans For Future
Well, as for now, Frank Fritz’s journey might have come to an end at American Pickers, but it’s not an end for Frank as he aims to return back again to the limelight. He had got fans, lots of loyal fans who loved watching him on American Pickers, and even filed petitions for his return when he got fired from the show. And Frank knows it very well that with his popularity, he can return back to the limelight, if not with American Pickers then with some other TV show.
