Good old Hobo Jack is a fan favorite on the show and has appeared countless times over the seasons. However, Jack Sophir, as he was born, is definitely not a homeless person. The persona that everyone sees on the show was invented for entertainment purposes. Well, that’s certainly good news for Jack.
In real life, Sophir actually owns quite a bit of property, on which he’s got a nice and comfortable home, and he is seen regularly bidding on big-ticket items in auctions. He has also dabbled in music, and written quite a few accomplished books, including a “philosophic fantasy” novel dubbed Amazing Adventures of the Tramp Prince, which is rated 5 stars on Amazon. He continues to use the name Hobo Jack on all of his work and is reportedly writing yet another one of his novels.
Danielle’s Steamy Side Gig
Fans of the show know just how important Danielle is to the entire operation. Thousands of viewers tune in for every episode just to see her. But even though she’s great at helping the boys find buried treasures, it still doesn’t pay all of her bills. So, to make ends meet (and just to have a good time,) she took on an additional gig as a burlesque dancer. So, when she isn’t on TV, she tours the country to give sultry dance shows in different clubs and other venues.
Danielle recently took her burlesque show on a cross country extravaganza with her very own band, The Gin Rummy Show. When she performs with them, she goes by her stage name, Dannie Diesel, and there are a lot of tassels and shimmying and such going on. She entertains crowds at such places as Radio Radio in Indianapolis, Indiana. Okay, so maybe she isn’t performing at the classiest of venues, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good show…
A Lot of Stuff is Staged
Like with any popular television show, almost everything is staged to have the most effective impact on the audience. How many people would tune in to the show if they never found anything interesting or expensive will picking? Probably not too many, so it’s understandable why the do this.
People who have worked with the show before revealed that producers plant some of the items that end up with the most screen time. If you think about it, it makes a lot more sense that they would go to those locations specifically for the pricey items they’ve planted, and not just get lucky digging through some random person’s garage. Of course, they actually have found some cool stuff by chance, but a lot of it was put in just for the show. We know, we know. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Danielle Defaults on Taxes
Between Danielle’s day job working on American Pickers, and her night gig moonlighting as a sultry burlesque dancer, she’s got a pretty comfortable salary. Not to mention the little shop she owns called, 4 Miles 2 Memphis. Unfortunately, she didn’t exactly pay any out to the IRS, which got her in a little bit of trouble.
After a few years of unpaid taxes stacking up, the IRS finally caught on and started sending her notices. But apparently, she let those stack up for a while, too. So much so, in fact, that she acquired even more debt in excess of about $5,000. Tsk-tsk, Danielle. Hopefully she got all that taken care of by now!
Mole Man Strikes Again
March 24, 2010 is a day that would go down in American Pickers history, and maybe just history in general. Why? Because it was the day that the world was introduced to Mole Man, AKA Ron, an interesting character who has a serious thing for digging underground tunnels. Yeah, it’s totally creepy. He may have only appeared on 1 episode, but that was enough for Ron to amass an almost cult-like following among some viewers.
He’s reported unwanted people stopping by his house after the taping, and someone even tried to use his name on some items they were selling, when it didn’t have anything to do with him. Apparently, he is still very active in picking, himself.