By now, Rick and Marty Lagina have been pursuing treasure in “The Curse of Oak Island” for nine seasons and counting. Combing over a mysterious, 144-acre island off of the coast of Canada, the Lagina brothers are convinced there is a hidden bounty of booty hidden before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas. As noted in the introduction of the show, there is a supposed curse that says seven people need to die in the pursuit of the treasure, and by their count, they are currently at six: the show’s focus on this alleged death curse has, in fact, recently drawn criticism from fans, who see it as exploiting the real-life deaths that have occurred.
That’s not the only critique many viewers have of the series, however. The crew of “The Curse of Oak Island” has managed to find a few archaeological items and small trinkets thus far, but it is a far cry from any sort of significant haul of valuables that would upend what the current conventional wisdom says about the flow of people from Europe to the Americas. However, this has not acted as a deterrence to the Lagina Brothers, and if anything, they have doubled down on their search. This can sometimes grate a little on some fans, and in a recent interview, the brothers spoke about some of the biggest complaints viewers have about the nature of the show, and they clarified where they stand on these matters.
The Laginas know the edits can be silly
In an interview from Reality Blurred, the Lagina Brothers commented on the overall reception of the show and some of the criticisms that have been leveled against it, with Marty Lagina saying, “Everything about that show is real. There are no scripts. We said early on we would not do a scripted show.” They did, however, comment that some creative editing does take place, but it is only for the sake of keeping the show moving and filling the hit series with enough content to make it interesting. The show has been on for over nine years, so there can be a bit of fluff here and there for the sake of entertainment, according to the Laginas.
Marty then brought up the famous narration of the show, and stated, “Could it be? That’s the biggest line that everybody gets a grin out. Could it be?! If we were critical of the show, we would say, ‘Geeze, guys, do you have to push that, that much?’ But at its heart, Prometheus [the production company], they do a great job. I think the thing that appeals to people is that at its core, it’s real. It’s absolutely real. It’s two guys from northern Michigan who are really, really trying to unravel an ancient mystery. Yeah, they put the Hollywood stuff on that we don’t have anything to do with, and maybe sometimes it’s silly — I’d say for sure sometimes it’s silly.”
Going by these words, it seems that even the Laginas are aware of some of the logic jumps made in the post-production process, but they have little influence over those types of edits. If anything, it seems that they may be in on the joke, just the same as the fans.