American Pickers star Mike Wolfe claps back at trolls and defends show after it’s accused of being ‘staged’

MIKE Wolfe from American Pickers has resorted to directly addressing complaints that the show is “staged.”

The drama began when Mike posted a clip of the upcoming American Pickers episode where they visit the Packard Plant in Detroit.

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In the caption of the video, the antique expert said he wanted to visit the plant for a while, and he finally got to visit the site and make a buy.

The video highlights the history of the rundown building and its significance to the country.

The first person viewers are introduced to is a man named Greg who is involved in real estate development.

Greg explained the significance of the building they were in: “This entire building used to be the machine shop and a part was the foundry for the original Packard Plant. So, a ton of history here.”

According to Historic Detroit, the Packard Plant “was a trailblazer that changed the way auto plants were built and produced more than 1.6 million cars.”

The building Mike and Greg explored in the clip dates back to about 1917.

Greg said: “I think there’s a certain beauty to these old buildings that were built at a time when America was solving the world’s problems.”

BACK AND FORTH

A few internet trolls decided to slam the show in the comment section of Mike’s TikTok, and he didn’t shy away from the battle.

The commenters were all focused on the possibility that the trip to the Packard Plant was staged, and the Picker had some surprising news for them.

One critic said: “This was 100 percent set up.”

Mike responded: “Of course it was, we’re making a television show.”

Another hater said: “Show is always staged!”

Mike had a similar response for this user: “Haha yes, they knew I was coming. We’re making a TV show.”

BAD TIMES AHEAD

As ratings for American Pickers plummet following Frank Fritz’s firing, fans also slammed the show as “boring” after seeing this clip.

While the Packard Plant seemed to intrigue the reality star, fans of the show’s were not as impressed, and they weren’t afraid of sharing their opinions on Twitter.

One fan wrote: “Most boring trailer of all time.”

The show returned on Wednesday, January 4, with stars Mike, his brother Robbie, and Danielle Colby.

The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed the show’s ratings have hit a season low, as 711,000 viewers tuned in for the Wednesday, March 1, episode. 

For comparison, the season 24 premiere kicked off strong with 943,000 fans watching, but after that the numbers dwindled.

The January 11 episode had just 797,000 viewers tune in. Ratings were back up on January 18, as 934,000 watched. 

The ratings remained in the 900,000s until February 1. By the February 22 episode, viewership dropped to the 700,000s for the first time, with 713,000 viewers tuning in. 

Ratings seemed to drag to a new low after Mike admitted his fired co-star Frank Fritz could “never be replaced.” 

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