The One Thing American Pickers Fans Never Get To See On Camera

The allure of precious and overlooked antiques calls to 'pickers' as they travel the back roads of the United States of America. The popular reality television show "American Pickers" follows Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz as they embark on journeys across America in search of valuable antiques like old signs, containers, bicycles, cars, toys, and whatever else they may come across that may hold significant value to the right buyer.

"American Pickers" started its run in 2010 and has an impressive 23 seasons and over 300 episodes (via IMDb). Wolfe and Fritz are kept in business and directed by the likes of Danielle Colby, who tends to run the operations behind the scenes. Wolfe and Fritz come across forgotten or ignored repositories of items in old businesses, barns, or houses, and from there, the pair will feverishly search the premises for anything they know of that holds value. Considering the reality television show format of the show, however, fans may wonder if there are moments that take place when the cameras aren't rolling, and there is indeed an aspect of the show that viewers never get a chance to see.

During an interview with Famous Interviews, Danielle Colby was asked if people are told that Fritz and Wolfe will be showing up to their house because the owners never seem all that surprised. Colby answered the question by saying, "What they do with that is they're meeting Mike and Frank for the first time when Mike and Frank go up to the door. The camera crew, the director will go to the door and ask if it is ok. They'll get written consent and then mic up the people and then go to the door. We try to keep it as genuine as possible so the first meeting you get to see along with the householder. However, you do need to get permission to be on the property definitely because especially the places these boys go down South, You don't want to pull up on somebody's property without permission. You'll find yourself run-off pretty quick."

It seems that when the stars of "American Pickers" are shown casually strolling up to a location and greeting the owners, there was an entire to-do before they even got there. Of course, appearing on television requires a fair amount of legal paperwork, and fans never see the production crew of "American Pickers" arrive on location and get everything set up before Wolfe and Fritz get there. Not only does the production crew require signatures and the owners to be properly outfitted with microphones, but the camera crew could also be getting a lay of the land in order to maximize shots or help direct Wolfe and Fritz to objects of interest.