‘American Pickers’ Frank Fritz ‘Desperate’ To Return After Firing
Exactly one year after American Pickers alum Frank Fritz gave his last interview, he experienced another major health crisis. The Bearded Charmer has had a stroke and is now in hospital.
This is a major setback, as that last interview revealed that he was “desperate” to return to the History Chanel show. What did Frank have to say in that interview, and why was he fired from the reality series?
American Pickers Star Tried To Get Back To History Series
Back in July 2021, Frank Fritz spoke to The Sun about his American Pickers series firing. He had starred in the History Channel series since 2010 with his childhood friend, and fellow picker, Mike Wolfe. The two traveled around the country finding unique artifacts and antiques to sell. However, he was officially fired from the series, and according to the publication, he was “desperate” to get back on the show.
First, he reported that he fully recovered from back surgery that required two rods and 185 stitches. “I would like to come back to the show. I was doing it for 11 years. I’m 100 percent recovered now and I’m ready to roll and go back on the show.”
The History Channel Promised To Call Frank Fritz Back
Next, Frank Fritz explained that even after he was healthy and ready to return to the series, he instead got the runaround from the American Pickers showrunner.
“They talk out of both sides of their mouth. It would be like me telling you I want to go back on the show and then tomorrow going, ‘I never said that, I never said anything about that.’ The showrunner called me on my birthday on October 11 of last year and he said ‘I’ll call you back tomorrow,’ but I haven’t heard from those people at all. They don’t contact me. This was a classic Hollywood lie of “don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
Moreover, Frank even suggested that perhaps keeping him off the series was due to cost-cutting measures. “I don’t know if they can do it cheaper without having me on there or what the situation is.”
He concluded, “I want to go back on the show, but it depends on the network. It ain’t gonna affect me one bit, but I would like to be back for my fans.”
What has happened since then is that the show viewership has gone below a million people per episode. It was not that long ago that up to three million people watched new episodes, back when Frank was on the show. Therefore, it does not make sense that Frank is still off of the show. To lose two-thirds of their viewers just doesn’t make financial sense.
‘American Pickers’ Star Frank Fritz Suffers Stroke, Mike Wolfe Begs, ‘Time to pray’https://t.co/7h3M3rLWyU pic.twitter.com/n2Vpjf2vQm
— Off The Press (@OffThePress1) July 22, 2022
American Pickers Co-Star Mike Wolfe Announced Frank Fritz Suffered Stroke
On Thursday, American Pickers star Mike Wolfe went to Instagram to share the news that Frank Fritz suffered a stroke. First, he asked fans to pray for his friend. He did not want to discuss any sort of problems that occurred between the two of them as he just wanted Frank to be okay.
“I have been very private in the past year in regards to Frank’s life and the journey he’s been on. There has been lots of opinions in regards to mine and Frank’s friendship and the show but now is not the time to set the record straight. Now is the time to pray for my friend.”
Frank Fritz Is Recovering From Stroke
this reminds me on what the tv series did to Ed china out of wheeler dealers,they wanted to cut cost and wanted to cut the mechanics part out of the show,Ed told them this is what the viewers enjoyed and we the viewer just put up with the fat bloke buying crap and expecting Ed to get him out of the poop,they had a massive fall out which if your friendship goes back for years mike should have pulled out of the show instead of losing a best mate,like they say money talks and bullshitters walk in this case mike and to get another sucker to make him look good.