My Interest in Oak Island is Flagging

I was asked over the weekend how the two guys, the Lagina brothers, could afford this on-going semi-investigation into the Oak Island Treasure. I think part of the answer is History (they used to be the History Channel). I think History is footing quite a bit of the bill, paying the guys for hanging around Oak Island, renting the equipment, and bringing in the distractions to keep the Laginas from getting to the bottom of either the Money Pit or the Bore Hole.

Let me explain.

Over the years I have heard about the astronomical payments made to some of the people participating on these alleged reality shows. The people on Jersey Shore seemed to have become millionaires because of their association with that show. I’ve heard that those on Storage Wars made something like thirty to sixty thousand an episode for that program. Dakota Fred from Gold Rush complained that he wasn’t paid the same rate as Todd Hoffman and some of his crew and that Discovery forked out something like twelve million to fund the bungle in the jungle. Hoffman and crew managed to rake in something like two ounces of gold and a couple of thousand in tiny diamonds during that fiasco.

I could go on in that vein, but all you have to do is take a stroll around the Internet and find some of this information. Given how some of this came out… through court documents, arrests, and lawsuits, if the numbers aren’t accurate then they’re pretty close. The people on these shows are getting paid big bucks to appear on them, and the guys on Gold Rush not only get paid for being there, there is the added bonus of all that gold they mine (and for those who think they’re wrecking the environment, well they showed just what they do to reclaim the land… which, on the show looked very impressive).

As for the diversions on The Curse of Oak Island, that is to keep the show going because if it wasn’t for all that running around the world, the show might have ended in the first season. Clearly History is responsible for the diversions which is not to say that they are planting things to be found such as the Spanish coin that was centuries old but that you could buy  on eBay for a few bucks… and they weren’t responsible for the sword that was apparently found in the water off Oak Island whatever that meant. Still, screwing around with the sword that was, what, maybe a hundred years old, took up a great deal of time as did flying to Miami to have the coin evaluated. Too bad there were no coin dealers in Canada or the Northeast who could have told them about it.

We’re again treated to a suggestion that another diving team was going to attempt to get down through the Bore Hole. It just seems to me that this avenue could have been explored long ago and it makes you wonder if they know that there is nothing down there. If there isn’t, then interest falls way off… but if there is, then some of these other activities make sense.

I don’t know about you, but they’re drawn this out to the point where I just don’t care anymore. Oh, sure, if they could up with a huge treasure that would rekindle my interest, but at this point it is flagging rapidly. There had better be some kind of a payoff soon, or I’ll be one of the many tuning out.