The Rick Moment That Went Too Far On Curse Of Oak Island

As a child, Rick Lagina found what would become his near-lifelong obsession with Oak Island within the pages of Reader's Digest. The curious eyes of Rick read the story of the mysterious Oak Island and the legendary riches it supposedly boasted. For centuries, many treasure hunters traveled to the island located off of Nova Scotia, Canada, in hopes of finding a Money Pit filled with massive riches. In 2005, Rick and his brother Marty bought a share in the island and officially joined in the lineage of hopeful treasure hunters digging on Oak Island. And in 2014, the History channel premiered the "The Curse of Oak Island," a television series centered on the Lagina brothers' efforts on unraveling where the treasures of Oak Island are located.

The series has produced nine seasons, captivating many fans intrigued about Rick's treasure hunt. The show has an exciting premise, and the constant suspense that Rick and his team are always one step closer to finding some significant ancient riches keeps fans hooked. Still, "The Curse of Oak Island" isn't without moments that can be contradictory or a little difficult to watch, especially for longtime viewers. With that in mind, there's definitely one moment in Season 8 where Rick had some of us shaking our heads in annoyance.

For multiple seasons, Rick, Marty, and their crew have used much of their planning and digging equipment on a specific area on the island that they've mapped to where the Money Pit is allegedly located. Their excavation has stuck to much of the island's eastern side, kept afloat by occasional artifact finds and clues to a possible tunnel system. However, everyone's focus seems to pivot in the Season 8 episode "Leather Bound" (via History), where Rick and his team seem to find clues of their big treasure, possibly somewhere on the western side of the island or the swamp areas. This all comes to a frustrating head when in the episode, Rick mentions that there's always been a theory within the team that what they believe as their Money Pit digging site is just a decoy, and the actual treasure rests elsewhere on the island.

To say this eight seasons in with so much money and investment into digging at the Money Pit comes off as puzzling. It seems like Rick wasted a lot of time and effort. As one fan on Reddit noted, "Imagine eight seasons of pursuit of the Money Pit for it to be abandoned as merely a decoy." What's worse is that the decoy theory has appeared on the "The Curse Of Oak Island," before Season 8, specifically back in Season 3. 

In the episode "Sword Play," Rick and Marty were told by some engineers that they believe the treasure is not directly at the Money Pit. However, after a futile search elsewhere, Rick and his team cannot figure out where else to specifically dig. Occasionally, some searching has taken place in other Oak Island areas up until that moment, but not to the degree as The Money Pit. It's too bad it still took them so many seasons before Rick and his team would decide to consider the decoy theory again seriously.