TV NEWS
American Pickers: The Deal That Led To Rick Nielsen’s Surrender To Frank Fritz
By TIM LAMMERS
The reality series “American Pickers” has featured some famous faces, but Frank Fritz, the show’s co-host, got to hang with and pick up a few items from rock legend Rick Nielsen.
In episode 9 of Season 8, Fritz and co-host Mike Wolfe visited Rick’s Picks, Nielsen’s exhibit of items from Cheap Trick and other memorabilia, and they met the guitarist.
Fritz couldn’t resist offering Nielsen some money, so he started by offering $200 for a set of four KISS solo albums gifted to Nielsen from Gene Simmons, the band’s bassist.
Next, Fritz held up a poster of the guitarist and his Cheap Trick bandmates and told Nielsen he’d pay $100 if he would sign it. The rocker obliged and exclaimed, “Hell, yeah!”
Fritz was thrilled with his items, but Nielsen also gave “American Pickers” one of his iconic checkerboard design guitars for free to display in the shop.