Just off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada lies Oak Island: a plot of land that’s said to house a stash of treasures and ancient artifacts. In the past several decades especially, its legend has grown exponentially, with folks traveling from all corners of the world to hopefully uncover riches beyond imagination and potentially secrets of humanity’s past. Arguably the most famous among these explorers are the sibling explorers Rick and Marty Lagina, whose exploits on the reality series “The Curse of Oak Island” have launched the titular location into the mainstream.
For eight — likely soon to be nine — seasons, the Lagina brothers have gone all-out to try and unearth any evidence they can that the legends behind Oak Island are true. They’ve done everything from search for hidden treasure caches to embark on full-blown excavation campaigns, meeting mixed results along the way. At the same time, they haven’t gone on this journey alone, enlisting an interdisciplinary team of individuals to lend them a helping hand, necessary equipment, or even just a second opinion on whatever they’ve recently dug up.
A name that “Curse of Oak Island” fans likely recognize is Gary Drayton, who has worked with the Laginas for some time now. Despite his prolific nature, there’s one question about him that fans have yet to receive an answer to.
What’s Gary’s problem with digging?
Gary Drayton arrived on “The Curse of Oak Island” during Season 2 — becoming an official member of the Oak Island Fellowship during Season 5 — and has done everything in his power to help the Laginas out. Armed with his trusty metal detector, he’s always ready to survey the area and hopefully locate the long-buried treasure of their dreams. The thing is, whenever his equipment picks up on something, he’s never the one to dig, instead opting to leave the grunt work for someone else to handle.
User 240zman questioned this on Reddit, prompting the “Curse of Oak Island” community to open up the floor for discussion about Gary’s disinterest in picking up the shovel. “I’ve always assumed it because the metal detector is attached to his arm and it would be a hassle for him to keep taking it on and off every time he had something to dig,” wrote Redditor clarrotinette, with others soon tossing in their two cents as well.
“I think it has to do with his bad back where he can not use shovel?” theorized xSha3nx, with HummingbirdsBeak, being a land surveyor themself, adding, “I think it’s more simply that it’s annoying in certain environments to have to put the detector down and then get the shovel out.” So posited that maybe Gary’s lack of interest in digging stems from the narrative format of the show or that he simply wants to give his companions the chance to make thrilling discoveries.
Will we ever know why Gary Drayton doesn’t physically go after his “top pocket finds”? It’s impossible to know for certain, so we’ll just have to keep an eye on his future “Curse of Oak Island” appearances and cross our fingers that we’ll learn the reason.