American Pickers debuted on the History Channel in 2010 when it took the world of junk reselling by storm. Since then, it has run for over 20 seasons and counting. That's pretty impressive, especially when you consider that show creator Mike Wolfe spent five years unsuccessfully trying to sell his lifestyle-based reality show to any network that would buy it.
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00:00American Pickers debuted on the History Channel in 2010 when it took the world of junk reselling
00:05by storm.
00:07Since then, it has run for over 20 seasons and counting.
00:10That's pretty impressive, especially when you consider that show creator Mike Wolf spent
00:14five years unsuccessfully trying to sell his lifestyle-based reality show to any network
00:19that would buy it.
00:20Luckily for all of us, History eventually picked it up, which turned out to be a great
00:24decision.
00:25The first season of the show brought in 5.4 million viewers each week, becoming the highest
00:29rated History show in years.
00:31That success is largely due to the show's outsized on-screen personalities, including
00:36Frank Fritz, Danielle Colby, and most importantly, Mike Wolf himself.
00:40And perhaps Wolf's quirkiest quirk is his obsession with old bicycles, which is front
00:45and center in many American Pickers episodes.
00:48That interest is a lifelong love which predates the show.
00:51Wolf told Bicycling.com that he discovered at a very early age that he could ride circles
00:56around other kids, even those much older than him.
00:59And his first pick was actually an old bicycle he found in an overgrown weed patch at the
01:04age of six.
01:05I was amazed that someone would throw out a bike, and so I thought to myself, if someone
01:10would throw out a bike, what else would they throw out?
01:14Later, he'd see old bikes sitting in a dumpster, and he knew he had to have them.
01:19Pick it, flip it.
01:20In 1987, Wolf scored a job building 13 bikes a day at Bike and Hike in Davenport, Iowa.
01:27Before long, Wolf owned two bike shops of his own.
01:29He also got heavily involved in the bicycle racing scene, a career that lasted through
01:34most of the 1990s.
01:36Besides participating several times in the Cross Iowa Race called the Rag Bry, Wolf also
01:41took home an impressive win at the Iowa State Time Trial Championships in 1998, just about
01:47the time he retired from professional racing.
01:50Beyond bicycles, Wolf also has another serious interest, his family.
01:55According to AmoMama, Wolf met Jodie Faith in 1994.
01:58She was intrigued by his work as a picker, and the two soon began dating.
02:03After nearly two decades together, the couple celebrated two major milestones in 2012, their
02:08wedding and the birth of their daughter, Charlie Faith Wolf.
02:11Troubles would follow, though.
02:13Charlie was born with a cleft lip and palate, which required several surgeries, and in 2013,
02:19he was diagnosed with cancer.
02:21The demands of his family life nearly caused Wolf to quit American Pickers.
02:25In 2016, he told WQAD, quote,
02:28"'One more season, and I'm done.'"
02:30Wolf ended up staying on the show, but the challenges faced by his daughter inspired
02:34the family to get involved with the charity organization Operation Smile, whose purpose
02:39is to ensure that all children born with clefts are able to undergo the necessary corrective
02:44surgeries.
02:45Wolf linked up with Isabelle Bloom, an Iowa-based sculpting company, and had statues of Charlie
02:51produced.
02:52The statues, called Charlie's Smile, were sold as a fundraiser for Operation Smile.
02:57Additionally, Wolf has participated in fundraising activities for a number of other charities,
03:01including St. Jude's Children's Hospital and his local animal shelters.
03:06And in 2020, he turned his efforts towards helping people in Tennessee who were struggling
03:10due to the financial strain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
03:14"'That's community.'"
03:16Given the rigorous demands of running a TV show while maintaining a family and doing
03:20so much charity work, it's amazing Mike has time to do anything else.
03:24But he's somehow found the time to write two books as well.
03:27His first major publication was 2011's American Pickers Guide to Picking, which he co-wrote
03:33with Libby Calloway, Frank Fritz, and Danielle Colby.
03:36The book gives the ins and outs of making a profit off Rusty Gold.
03:40His second book, Kid Pickers, covers the same sort of thing, only this time, it's targeted
03:44toward getting children interested in the picking life.
03:47And he even has a Spotify channel, Music to Pick By, featuring a variety of artists whose
03:52music is compatible with risking tetanus by rummaging through junk in a dilapidated barn.
03:56With so many different interests, there's no telling what Mike Wolf will be up to next,
04:01and we can't wait to see what direction he picks.