At one time, American Pickers star Mike Wolfe talked about a number of possibilities around doing a spin-off of the popular show.
“We have talked about it. The History Channel is now filming Canadian Pickers, which will be shown on History Canada,” Wolfe said in a 2011 interview with Southeastern Antiquing and Collecting Magazine.
“They show American Pickers on History Canada now,” Wolfe said. “One reason why I came up with this name and format for the show was so it can be done elsewhere. History Channel owns the name and the show so it can be delivered in any country. I don’t know how far they’ll take it.”
American Pickers is still one of The History Channel’s most popular shows. Wolfe is still on the show as one of its co-hosts. Frank Fritz, who was a longtime co-host with and friend of Wolfe, is no longer on the show.
‘American Pickers’ Host Knows That His Show Might Be Compared To ‘Hoarders’
But Wolfe also knows that American Pickers is pretty close to being compared to another TV show, Hoarders.
In the same interview, Wolve is asked to explain the difference between both shows.
“Some people can get a little, shall we say, eccentric with their collections,” the interviewer said. “Have you ever visited people that you could have referred to some other show like Hoarders or the OCD Project?”
Wolfe explained there are a lot of similarities between both shows. The main difference, at least according to the American Pickers star, is that he’s proud of what he collects.
“I watched Hoarders last night,” Wolfe said. “The hoarder talked about the thrill of the hunt, that they were excited to find something on a hunt.”
Show’s Star Said He’s Fascinated By Stories Of People Met Along The Way
The American Pickers star is fascinated by the stories of the people he encounters. Wolfe loves learning about how specific items came into a person’s possession. He furthermore wants to know what motivated a person to find the items in the first place.
“A judge I met in Florida has an incredible collection of petrobilia, signs, and gas pumps,” Wolfe said. “A lot of people have beautiful collections that are clean and on display. This guy, his stuff was piled on top of each other.
“For me, I want to know why people go down this path, why they buy all high-quality stuff,” Wolfe told the antique magazine. “For this guy, it was because he worked in a gas station when he was 13. Just that one experience changed his path. That’s what interests me. I go in, and people have one hundred or one thousand of one thing, and it’s the back story that is intriguing to me.”