How Much Salary Does The Oak Island Team Gets Paid

The History Channel has followed two brothers, Marty and Rick Lagina, as they attempt to uncover the truth of cursed Oak Island. Oak Island is just off the coast of Nova Scotia and is a mysterious place steeped in secrets and myths that have ties to the Knights Templar, kings, and pirates. There are also rumors that over 200 years ago, a pirate by the name of Captain Kidd left a hidden treasure there.

The need to unravel the secrets of this cursed island began when the Laginas were just boys. And now they and the rest of their crew have been on an 11-season journey to find the elusive treasure. However, as they search high and low for these treasures, one has to wonder how much treasure they are already in possession of and how they have been able to afford this elaborate hunt for so long.

American brothers and treasure hunters Rick and Marty Lagina started their Fellowship of the Dig in 2006 when they started their search for the Oak Island treasure. It is speculated that they took out loans and invited investors into their venture. When they first got the funds to search Oak Island for its lost treasure, they were raised together in Northern Michigan and learned about the hidden treasure when they were just little boys. They read about it in a 1965 issue of Reader’s Digest and have clung to the dream ever since.

Both brothers are very close, even with the completely different paths life took them on during their adult lives, having pursued completely different careers.

Marty Lagina
Marty Lagina is the younger brother of Rick and a much more practical man. He is more skeptical about finding anything on the island, but he is also willing enough to dream and try anyway. He studied to become an engineer and founded his own energy company, Terra Energy, which he sold for $60 million.

Marty Lagina has a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan. He has a law degree and is a member of the state bar. He has an enduring love of science and met one of his best friends—and now co-star of the show—Craig Tester in college.

Marty is also the founder and CEO of Heritage Sustainable Energy, and his best friend Craig is the vice president of the company. According to Salary.com, the typical yearly salary of a CEO of a company that size is around $600,000. To add an extra revenue stream, he is also the founder of Mari Vineyards based in Michigan, where he also has a website from which anyone can order extremely affordable wine.

Alongside his wine club, the events held there, and the wine tasting tours, he sells apparel, drinks, and accessories. His other investments are unknown, aside from the ones made public, like funding other treasure hunters.

An unconfirmed report claims that the brothers get paid around $100,000 an episode and perhaps even more in reruns, as they are executive producers on the show. This means that with 25 episodes in a season, they are making $2.5 million per season. With this alone, we can calculate that with 166 episodes of the show, they would have made over $16 million since they started filming the show in 2014.

Alex Lagina
Alex Lagina is a very popular figure in the show because of his skill and intelligence when coming up with new strategies to find new treasures. He has been in 95 episodes of The Curse of Oak Island, 10 episodes of The Curse of Civil War Gold, and one episode of Beyond Oak Island. If we calculated that each episode paid him $100,000, he would have earned nearly $11 million.

It is likely that he has also earned money from investments like those of his father, and other sites speculate that his net worth is as high as $50 million.

Jack Begley
Following the theme of being friends and family, the next cast member of the Oak Island crew is Jack Begley, the stepson of Craig Tester. He is based in Michigan, as most of the Oak Island crew seems to be, and he never hesitates to do the dirty work on the show. Jack and Craig are often working together on any digs on the island. When he isn’t working with his stepdad, he can be found with friend and fellow crew member Gary Drayton, a metal detectorist around the island.

Jack Begley is a producer on the show and has been in 100 episodes of The Curse of Oak Island. Calculating this would give Jack a net worth of $10 million without including his revenue as a producer from the syndication of the show. Of course, as he is only a supporting character, he is unlikely to make the same amount as the Lagina brothers. So, his net worth could be as much as half of that estimate.

However, the show is not his only stream of revenue, as Jack owns his own company, Remote Energy Solutions, as well as being a drone pilot. A drone pilot is estimated to make over $100,000 a year. In addition to his co-ownership of a company that is estimated to make 7 figures a year, his total net worth is estimated to be around $3 to $10 million as of 2024.

Gary Drayton
Gary Drayton is originally from England and taught himself the art of metal detecting. He has often helped the Fellowship of the Dig unearth many of Oak Island’s incredible treasures. Gary offers invaluable insight to the show and is featured in Beyond Oak Island as well. Given his connection to the greater world of treasure hunters, he has many of his own catchphrases on the show and is behind finding coins, semi-precious gems, and most significantly a lead cross with ties to the Knights Templar.

He has appeared in 150 episodes of the show, meaning he is also a businessman. He is also the owner of Insitu Cultural Heritage Research Group, a company that provides archaeological research and historic preservation services that has been running for over 25 years. His company is internationally recognized and his research group is said to be worth $22 million.

His dedication to historical preservation efforts is well respected and acknowledged in the historical preservationist community. Like many of the crew on Oak Island, he gives a lot of interviews, seminars, and guest speaking engagements for different events and occasions. He is even slated to speak at the Chester Municipal Heritage Society’s annual meeting in May of this year.

Given the prestige, respect, and expertise of Gary Drayton alongside his many episodes on Oak Island, his net worth is estimated to be around $4 to $5 million at the lowest. Some estimates would place him at $16 million.

Rick Lagina
Rick is the older brother to Marty and he used to be a United States postal worker. While living in Michigan, he learned to see the world in a very old-fashioned way. He lived by an old code of conduct where honor and determination meant everything. This is how he has been able to keep believing in his dream of finding the Oak Island treasure. A postal worker would make around $62,000 to $122,000 a year. While this is a good living, it is unlikely to be able to fund a treasure hunt of this size.

From this point on, the passage appears to transition into newer discoveries and episodes:

The shore enhances its attractiveness. John Stemer and the Quest of Oak Island Facebook page utilized the incredible Muan drone to capture photographs. When considering the likelihood that it is a kiln, exciting possibilities emerge. Barbara Copak’s intriguing observation connects the connections, suggesting that this structure may have been a pipe-making kiln.

The possibility that it was used to produce pipes piqued people’s interest given the place. After all, currently we are still determining how the temporary superstructure was constructed. It could have been built with rocks or something entirely distinct.

However, this is not the only event that occurred at Oak Island. Astonishing the entire world, there is still more. Both the stone wall on lot 26 and the pine tar furnace on lot 15 contained fragments of charcoal that indicate the presence of fire. They also discovered a piece of pottery which provides additional insight into what the object may be.

The images depict numerous kiln structures discovered by the University of York throughout Europe. They date back to the Roman era, proving that this technology is not new.

Immediately, focus on the kiln on lot 5. Observing the proximity to the water is intriguing. Regardless, let’s dissect this and have some fun. First visualize the mystery: salt, lead, and tin were later invented to create an impregnable complex covering.

At this point, things begin to become somewhat chaotic. A pottery instructor asserts that adding saline or ocean water to clay causes its surface to bloom. The kiln firing process produces a beautiful salt patina.

The Oak Island team steps back so that the Dumas Contracting Company team can start drilling in this episode. The business is ready to start the job and has everything it needs.

Is it possible that new things will be found? How did the team get past problems to reach their goal? The most important question is: Where is the wealth that was buried?

Stay tuned as we keep looking for the treasure that has been hidden for a long time.

Early in the morning, the drilling company starts by planning how to dig the yard shaft all the way down. For about six hours, the flooded water has to be drained out of the garden shaft.