American Pickers is a well-known reality television series on the History Channel, following two antique pickers across the United States of America. The show has been on since January 2010 created by the host Mike Wolfe. Between the years of 2010 to 2021, fan-favorite Frank Fritz was Mike’s co-host on the series before being replaced by Mike’s brother Robbie Wolfe.
Since becoming a host of American Pickers with his brother Mike because of Frank being fired, Robbie’s career has boosted. With the ratings of the show dropping since Robbie replaced Frank, fans on the series want to know how Robbie’s career changed.
What Happened To Frank Fritz?
When Frank Fritz took a leave of absence from American Pickers, it took many by surprise because he was going through some problems fans were not aware of. The last time, Frank appeared on American Pickers was in March 2020 before he took much-needed time off to recover from a grueling back injury. Frank needed to get back surgery done due to lifting on the show. In an interview with The U.S. Sun, Frank stated, “If you watch the show, you can see who the guy is that’s lifting all the time, it’s always me. It had been hurting for a long, long time. I’m talking months and months and months”. Eventually, Frank Fritz has enough of letting his back pain go without notice and decided to get it to check out where he found out he would need 185 stitches done and two rods in his spine.
Although acknowledging his desire to return to the show when able despite it causing him to need back surgery, it was announced that July that Frank has been fired. That is when the new Season 23 of American Pickers cast photos, as well as a clip of what is to come in Episode 1, was released proving that Frank has been replaced by Mike Wolfe’s younger brother, Robbie Wolfe.
Fans originally did not react well to the news of Frank Fritz being fired and replaced by Mike’s brother Robbie. Fans also did not understand why Frank was fired, because who would fire someone over needing to take some time to recover from a back injury? It is also possible that Frank Fritz was fired because he ‘complained’ in the interview with The U.S. Sun that he always does the lifting instead of Mike which caused him to need to get the back surgery. However, that also may not have been necessarily the only reason.
Mike Wolfe Vs. Frank Fritz
When it was announced that Frank Fritz was going to be replaced by Mike Wolfe’s younger brother Robbie Wolfe. Mike went onto Instagram to share his feelings regarding Frank’s exit from the show saying, “I have known Frank for as long as I can remember, he’s been like a brother to me.” He also went on to say how he will cherish the memories along with all the “highs and lows, blessings and challenges, but it has also been the most rewarding.”
Frank Fritz, on the other hand, has other words to say regarding his exit from American Pickers, and how he very much felt second to Mike Wolfe. Frank mentioned in an interview that the show is “tilted towards him [Mike Wolfe] 1,000 percent. I can’t even bend that far down to show you how much.” He went on to compare his experience working with Mike Wolfe to the rock band Aerosmith, saying “t’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.”
While Mike Wolfe may be acting innocent and a seemingly ‘good friend’ to Frank Fritz, the reality is quite the opposite. According to Frank, Mike knew that his back was hurting and was going to need to get checked out and knew he was going into back surgery. Yet, Mike never reached out to his so-called ‘brother’ Frank and see how he was doing post-surgery. Frank is pretty sure that Mike wants “to get his brother Robbie in there to replace me. I don’t know why he’s behaving like that towards me.” Mike Wolfe could have saved Frank Fritz’s job on the show if he really wanted to but did not and let the network replace him with his brother Robbie Wolfe.
How Robbie Wolfe’s Career Got Boosted By Frank Fritz Leaving
Considering fans refusing to watch the series since Robbie Wolfe came onto the show replacing Frank Fritz, Robbie's career has boosted tremendously. Robbie has made guest appearances on American Pickers throughout the series running while Frank was still the co-host on the show. This helped boost Robbie's social media following and introduced his own interest in picking antiques much like his older brother Mike. With Frank Fritz getting fired, it provided the perfect opportunity for Robbie Wolfe to explore more antiques traveling across the country with his brother Mike Wolfe. Mike Wolfe also wanted to give his brother this opportunity as well by allowing Frank's exit to happen in order to let Robbie onto the show.
Before American Pickers, Robbie Wolfe was a musician until he found a passion for landscaping and antiques and according to Biography Tribune, is worth around $300.000. He is the owner of his own landscaping business called R.J. Wolfe & Sons, a company he developed for himself and his two sons, Jeremy and Brandon and has been in business for over 20 years. Robbie plans on finding the time to continue with his landscaping business with his sons while being a co-cost on American Pickers with his older brother Mike Wolfe, sharing his other passion of antique picking.
Robbie Wolfe also has recently dropped approximately $700,000 on real estate since he has replaced Frank Fritz on American Pickers. Between August 2017 to October 2021, he has bought dropped a lot of money he earned from the series onto properties. In his hometown of Davenport, Iowa he bought a commercial property with nearly 8,576 square-feet (for $200,000), bought over six acres of land (for $80,000), and an addition to the property (for $45,000). In August 2017, Robbie spent $335,000 on a marital home for his wife Melanie and himself. The marital house is a 3,722 square-foot house with an open floor plan, high ceilings, maple floors, has four bedrooms and four bathrooms, and much more.
It sure does seem that American Pickers and Frank Fritz being fired has really helped Robbie with his career. Otherwise, without showing the profit he has been making from it, he would not able to drop so much money onto the real estate home of his and his wife’s dream.