Life for former “American Pickers” co-host Frank Fritz hasn’t been too sweet lately. It definitely wasn’t back in 2014 when he was sued.
Fritz, who had been one of the co-hosts on “American Pickers” on the History Channel since 2009, isn’t with the show anymore. Back in 2014, though, Fritz was part of a deal he worked on with Jerry Bruce, an antique collector, and auctioneer, according to an article on Looper.
So Bruce, who is from Greenville, S.C., saw a polarimeter on an “American Pickers” episode back in 2010. Bruce felt like he needed to have this polarimeter, which is a device used to measure sugar content in alcohol. He reached out to Fritz about the price.
Former ‘American Pickers’ Co-Host Didn’t Keep His End of Deal With Auctioneer
According to the story, Fritz told Bruce it would cost him $300 plus shipping. Bruce received confirmation from Fritz after agreeing to the deal.
Now Bruce felt like this was a done deal on his end with the then-“American Pickers” co-host. He sent Fritz a $300 check, understanding that once he did Fritz would send over the polarimeter. Well, that never happened. Fritz never cashed the check and it led to Bruce taking legal action.
Bruce claimed Fritz didn’t stand up to their verbal agreement. When it came time to respond to Bruce’s plea, Fritz didn’t even bother. Therefore, the court awarded Bruce $1,000 plus $80 in court costs.
Bruce later told the Greenville News that it wasn’t about the money. It was about “the principle of the fact that they go around the country promoting themselves as honest people and a deal is a deal, and a handshake’s a handshake,” he said. Fritz has not spoken publicly about the case.
Show’s Viewership Has Risen Without Former Co-Host On It
Now “American Pickers” has been rolling along with Mike Wolfe still on the show but no Fritz. What’s happened? Viewership has actually risen without Fritz around.
New episodes have been getting more than 1.3 million viewers watching the History Channel show. Fritz’s last episode drew 1.28 million watching. What is going on around the viewership rise?
“American Pickers” fans were not happy it was announced that Fritz wouldn’t be returning. His absence started temporarily around back surgery before COVID-19 took hold. Eventually, fans started to get curious about what was going on here.
Well, Fritz and co-host Mike Wolfe hadn’t spoken to each other in years. It soon became clear Fritz was out.
“He knew my back was messed up, but he didn’t call me up and ask how I was doing,” Fritz told The Sun recently. “That’s just how it is. The show is tilted towards him 1,000 percent. I can’t even bend that far down to show you how much. That’s fine.”
