by Thinus Ferreira
Do you want to live in a world where Frank Fritz and Mike Wolfe of American Pickers are fighting, and where even Danielle isn't there to guide them to their next backstreet barnyard to rummage through rusty, rundown, yet valuable yesteryear treasures?
There's a lot of drama behind the scenes at the hugely popular American Pickers series on History (DStv 186) that fans will want to know about - and it's not good.
The longrunning A+E Networks series has been on TV for 11 years since 2010 as comfortable to watch "wallpaper" television.
The series quietly became a sleeper hit with millions of viewers worldwide who fell in love watching the series in which the antique and collectible "pickers" Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz travel around America as they snoop into warehouses, barns, garages and all kinds of rundown buildings to pick out items and then haggle over price with the owners.
They're always dispatched by a call from the lovely Danielle Colby who runs the office at Mike Wolfe's Antique Archaeology.
Now Mike and Frank are no longer speaking to each other after Frank appeared in more than 300 episodes of the show - in fact they haven't spoken to each other in over two years and Frank might not be back on the show.
"I haven't talked to Mike in two years," Frank, who has lost a lot of weight the last few years, told The Sun in an interview. "He knew my back was messed up, but he didn't call me up and ask how I was doing. That's just how it is."
"The show is tilted towards him 1 000 percent," said Frank about Wolfe.
"I can't even bend that far down to show you how much. That's fine. It's like you've got Aerosmith and there's Steven Tyler and he's the frontman. I found my spot, I'm second and he's number one on the show. That's no problem with me, maybe he does have a problem."
"I don't know why he's behaving like that towards me."
On Instagram Mike now wrote that he will "miss Frank".
"I have known Frank for as long as I can remember, he’s been like a brother to me".
"The journey that Frank, Dani and I started back in 2009, like all of life, has come with its highs and lows, blessings and challenges, but it has also been the most rewarding. I will miss Frank, just like all of you, and I pray for the very best and all good things for him on the next part of his journey."
They cite the usual "irreconcilable differences" that most Americans list on their divorce filings, with Jodi noting that the couple is "unable to successfully live together".
And where is Danielle? Well, nobody exactly knows.
Danielle who got quietly divorced from her husband Alexandre De Meyer and who is now engaged to Jeremy Scheuch, is in Puerto Rico where, according to the History Channel, she is helping the rebuild of the island.
Dani is still listed on her IMDb as being part of the show, as well as on the series' website and will appear in already-filmed American episodes during the whole of 2021, and for much longer internationally.
She did however deactivate her "danielleamericanpicker" account on Instagram that she used to use, and according to Distractify she also changed her Facebook name from "Danielle Colby, American Pickers" to just "Danielle Colby".
