Mike Wolfe And Danielle Colby's Relationship Explained
In this day and age, TV shows can come and go after just one or two seasons. That's why it's outright impressive that a show like History's "American Pickers" has been on air since 2010, and is going strong on its 22nd season. After all, "Pickers" is no soap opera with an ever-evolving cast of characters. It's a reality TV show that has managed to cling on to the majority of its original starts throughout its duration, with just one major shakeup when Mike Wolfe's longtime picking partner Frank Fritz departed from the show in 2020.
With Fritz gone, the main players of "American Pickers" are Antique Archaeology boss Mike Wolfe, and the head of the company's office, Danielle Colby. Visually, the heavily tattooed Danielle and everyman Mike couldn't be any more different, and their differing job descriptions mean that their roles are quite separate for the majority of the series, as well. Nevertheless, the two have known each other for a long time, and the bond they share is much deeper than you might expect. Let's take a look at Mike Wolfe and Danielle Colby's relationship.
Mike Wolfe and Danielle Colby started on a wrong foot
As anyone who has watched "American Pickers" can easily tell, Danielle Colby and Mike Wolfe are on excellent terms. However, as Colby revealed in an interview with Freshly Inked (via Outsider), their first meeting was quite a bit less amiable than what you see in the show. According to her, she was rummaging through a yard sale in Wolfe's home town, when the ever-vigilant picker turned up and bought a cool lamp from under her nose. When the understandably irate Colby confronted Wolfe about his actions, he merely stated: "Sorry girl, the time to buy it is when you see it."
It's easy to imagine this moment turning sour pretty quickly, but fortunately for "American Pickers," Colby was impressed by Wolfe's unapologetic attitude. "I liked his sass," she said. "We were pretty much inseparable after that." To be fair to Wolfe, he did have something to be sassy about. Colby has told Yuppie Punk that Wolfe has been a picker since at least 1990. As the man himself told USA Today Life in 2012, he considers picking a way of life instead of just a cool hobby. "Like for me, it wasn't a choice that I became a picker," he said. "It was just something I was born with ... I wanted to give the item a voice, and I wanted to give the person a voice and that's exactly what [the show] does and that's why it connects with people."
Danielle Colby and Mike Wolfe go much further back than you might think
Longtime viewers of the show may have gathered that Mike Wolfe and Danielle Colby have known each other for a while. How much of this comes from prolonged association over the show's lengthy tenure, and how much of their chemistry existed beforehand?
Turns out, the pair goes much further back than the casual observer might assume. In a 2010 interview with Yuppie Punk, Colby revealed that they actually knew each other a good decade before the show even started, and that Wolfe's commitment to the show was instrumental in her own decision to step in front of the camera. For reference, Wolfe has told USA Today Life that he founded Antique Archaeology in 2001, so their friendship predates both the show and the company itself.
"Mike has been a really dear friend of mine for almost ten years — and he has helped me on all of my projects for about ten years — so I knew without a doubt, if he was a part of ["American Pickers"], not only would it be successful, but it would be kickass too," Colby spoke of their relationship. "He's just a really f****** cool guy. I didn't really have any trepidation at all. I just figured if Mike's on board I'm on board."
Danielle Colby and Mike Wolfe are not a couple
When you witness the familial chemistry between Mike Wolfe and Danielle Colby on "American Pickers," it's easy to start thinking that they're far more than "just" friends and colleagues. However, Colby was aware of this misconception pretty early on, and shot down the rumors of the duo's romantic involvement in a 2010 interview with Yuppie Punk.
'Well Mike's taken," she laughed. "And not by me! There's a lot of misconceptions about that. People think that Mike and I are dating, which isn't true at all. I get a lot of emails from people asking if me and Mike are married."
Over a decade later, the question is evidently still on people's lips, as The Sun ran an article exploring the nature of the pair's relationship in early 2021. The answer, it turns out, is still that Wolfe and Colby aren't an item, nor have they ever been. Colby has been married twice, and is currently in a relationship. Meanwhile, Wolfe has been with Jodi Faeth (pictured on the left) since 1994, and they married in 2012. However, TMZ reported in the summer of 2021 that Faeth has filed for a divorce.
Danielle Colby, Mike Wolfe, and the Frank Fritz controversy
"American Pickers" has been in the spotlight recently, thanks to what's arguably the biggest controversy of the show's history. The big news, of course, is longtime star Frank Fritz's exit from the show midway through 2020's Season 21, and the reported feud between him and Mike Wolfe. In July 2021, Fritz fired some serious shots toward his longtime friend and partner in an interview with The Sun, stating that the two have drifted apart, and suspecting that Wolfe has been eyeing his brother, Robbie, as Fritz's replacement. Meanwhile, Wolfe and the network confirmed that Fritz isn't going to return to the show (via Entertainment Weekly). "I will miss Frank, just like all of you, and I pray for the very best and all good things for him on the next part of his journey," Wolfe wrote.
As for Danielle Colby, a post on her Instagram account showed her and Wolfe smiling happily. The accompanying text further underlined that while she's sad to see Fritz go and hopes that things will go well for him, she remains 100 percent pro-Wolfe. "Out on the road again with my best friend and my big brother whose I support fully and stand behind," she wrote. "Thank you for the last decade of advocacy towards myself and others on set. @mikewolfeamericanpicker I'm proud of how you have handled the last 12 years and look forward to many more years of rolling around this big blue marble together. I'm truly saddened for the loss of Frank on the show. I'm incredibly sad for his struggles. I have personally watched everything over the last decade. I have many thoughts but won't speak them as they are only my thoughts, not gospel."
Danielle Colby and Mike Wolfe teamed up for a fan-favorite episode
Since Frank Fritz left "American Pickers," Mike Wolfe and Danielle Colby have been carrying the show on their shoulders with the help of a supporting cast of pickers. This has been a pretty successful endeavor, seeing as "Pickers" has been doing better than you might think without Fritz, to the point of actually scoring more viewers than the last episodes of the Fritz era.
Though the loss of Fritz and Wolfe's easy road trip chemistry must have been potentially daunting for the show, there was actually some precedent about Wolfe and Colby's ability to deliver without their co-host. In fact, the highest-rated episode of "American Pickers" — according to IMDb — is the Season 16 episode "Sgt. Picker's Lonely Hearts Club." It featured Fritz on a "B-plot" solo venture, while Colby and Wolfe teamed up to rummage through some cool locations in Missouri and Illinois.