His comeback to television doesn’t seem likely anytime soon.

The 24th season of American Pickers is presently airing on History Channel. Even though it’s been around three years since former co-host Frank Fritz’s last appearance before being abruptly fired, people are still quick to demand his return whenever the show is mentioned. Even if there was no substance to the conflict between Fritz and Mike Wolfe, that sequence of events is unlikely to occur soon.

The most recent information on the former reality star shows that despite his ongoing conservatorship, his recovery from his stroke in 2022 remains a full-time issue. Nevertheless, he does look to be back home at last.

Frank Fritz was admitted to the hospital for the first time in July 2022 after a friend discovered that he had suffered a stroke at home that had left him unable to stand. Due to the incapacitating incident, Fritz was placed under a temporary conservatorship in August. A friend had requested an emergency appointment. According to court documents, Fritz was too impaired to make sound decisions and could not take care of himself in the majority of ways, both physically and financially, without assistance.

The American Pickers veteran was discharged from the hospital a month later and will spend several months getting better at a rehabilitation facility.

Fritz needed to make some significant changes to his Iowa house before he could leave the rehab facility and return there for the rest of his recovery experience.

For him to enter and exit his home, a wheelchair ramp had to be constructed on the exterior of the building. Similar modifications also had to be made inside the house, especially in the restrooms, where safety rails and bars were needed. The ramp has been constructed, the US Sun reports, adding that it was done “after he returned home from rehab.”

The ramp was built around the collector’s farmhouse in Le Claire, Iowa, where he has lived since purchasing it in 2010. A few years later, as the popularity of American Pickers soared, he increased the size of the land and constructed an enormous warehouse for storage. Although it’s uncertain how much time he’ll spend moving around the warehouse or elsewhere, the ramp will simplify that sort of task for Fritz and his guardian.

As required by the conservatorship arrangement, Fritz’s lifelong friend acts as his guardian to aid his domestic recovery while MidWestOne Bank is in charge of all financial matters. The guardian will assist Fritz with cooking, grocery shopping, Crohn’s disease treatments, physical therapy, and other tasks.

Although he still has a long way to go before feeling like himself again, returning home should only make things go more smoothly.

Fritz’s financial status has suffered due to this unexpectedly protracted medical issue; it was already apparently deteriorating following his termination due to unpaid back taxes. Even though he was providing court-appointed legal counsel, the man’s conservatorship attorney submitted documentation asking for money from his client.

According to a report from November, his monthly expenses were over $28,000, with about $23,000 of those going just for medical treatment, which, when averaged out, come to about $273K per year. Fritz is only making roughly $60K a year now that he was fired from American Pickers, which happened after Fritz’s back surgery produced additional issues that required a new type of rehab stay.

Mike Wolfe revealed on social media that he had recently finished filming his final pick of the season and uploaded a video showcasing the several crew members that made Season 24 possible only a week or two before this update. In a rare instance, he addressed Frank Fritz directly in the comments and expressed how much he was missed:

Frank cannot be replaced, ever. Like you, we miss him very much.

Therefore, viewers of American Pickers should prepare for any unexpected appearances by Frank Fritz in subsequent episodes. Still, we can all agree that the most crucial thing here is for him to recover fully.

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