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How Much Money Have The Lagina’s Spent On Oak Island To Date?

How much money have The Lagina’s spent on Oak Island? Fans want to know:

Reality TV is a hard thing to get right.

The amount of effort required to put together a high-quality reality TV experience is considerable.

The level of investment required to get the right results is not easy, not by a long shot.

That is why it is a surprise when reality TV shows last for more than a few seasons – the budget usually runs out.

One show that fits this example is The Curse of Oak Island. The show started in January 2014 and has been running ever since – it is currently in its eleventh season.

The show itself is based around the concept of treasure hunting, following Rick and Marty Lagina.

The Lagina’s are treasure hunters by trade, and in The Curse of Oak Island, they spend much of their time looking for legendary treasures that are found there.

Oak Island is a small, allegedly treasure-laden island that is off the coast of Nova Scotia.

The show itself is based around the mysteries of the island and the supposedly hidden treasures waiting to be found.

The Lagina brothers have invested a lot of money into their search, but how much money have the Lagina’s spent on Oak Island to date?

Let’s try and find out.

The information out there is pretty sketchy, but we have collated all of the details that you need in one easy place.

So, how much money has the Lagina family invested in their Oak Island reality series?

How Much Are The Lagina Brothers Worth?

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When we look around online, we can find massively varying net worth ratings for the two treasure hunters. However, it is believed that the brothers are worth more than $100m between them. Some estimates place them at around $80m, give or take.

The brothers hold massively varying wealth, though.

For example, Marty has been involved in the world of reality TV for a little longer and also held a career as an engineer and a business entrepreneur.

He is believed to be worth the lion’s share of their fortune, with an estimated net worth of around $75m for Marty Lagina.

Rick Lagina, meanwhile, is worth around $8m – this is more or less all from his work on The Curse of Oak Island, though, as he was a US postal worker beforehand.

How did the two of them become so wealthy if they had only held ‘real’ jobs beforehand?

The two brothers have led very different lives.

Marty, a Science and Mechanical Engineering graduate in the 1970s, moved into the work of oil production when he joined Amoco Production Company, a large-scale company. He also took on a law degree, before founding his own company called Terra Energy Ltd.

Terra Energy focused on natural gas extraction, and it became one of the largest shale gas companies in Michigan.

In 1995, he sold his own company to a company called CMS Energy for a sum of around $60m.

The funds were then used to invest in a renewable energy firm, also investing his money in other fields like wine production.

His company, Heritage Sustainable, is one of the largest renewable energy firms in Michigan today.

Marty Lagina Net Worth

Photo by Bill Tompkins/Getty Images

How Did The Lagina Brothers Get Into Oak Island Treasure Hunting?

Their story and interest go back to their childhood, when Rick, aged 11, read into the concept of Oak Island in a Reader’s Digest issue.

He learned about the treasures that were supposed to be housed there, and the two brothers – primarily Rick – retained an interest in the island ever since. However, life got in the way, and it would be some time later in their lives before they could relive that childhood dream.

While Marty was more skeptical of the concept of treasure buried away, he was interested in the idea.

So, when his brother came to him with the idea of investing in Oak Island, he was willing to back his brother. His own success had meant that he could find the funds that his brother could not.

Well, in 2006, the two brothers invested to buy a 50% stake in a tour company called Oak Island Tours Inc.

The company itself owns the island, and they shared the split 50/50 with themselves and then a resident of the island, Dan Blankenship.

The investment into Oak Island inspired the brothers to start investing their time into treasure hunting, buying into the rumors and myths that live around the place – as well as the promise of potentially lucrative treasure to be found.

What does Marty Lagina do for a living

Photo by Bill Tompkins/Getty Images

So, How Much Money Have The Lagina’s Spent On Oak Island To Date?

One thing that we do not know is how much that 50% stake cost the brothers.

We do know that they bought the 50% stake, and it has clearly done well for them as they have created a wildly successful reality TV show around the concept.

By 2010, the brothers received their treasure trove license, which meant that they could begin digging and looking for treasure legally. Summertime is when most of the work is done, due to the harsh and unwelcoming winters of Nova Scotia.

The two boys have invested heavily in cutting-edge technology, which is definitely an expense that would add up over time. However, as the show has become more popular, it would be logical to assume that the producers of the show will have invested some kind of backing into the project.

However, in the past, the brothers have noted that they finance the projects themselves.

After all, the two brothers have found some unique treasures over the years, including things like a 17th century Spanish copper coin, garnet brooches that are centuries old, and even human bone fragments that hail from the Middle East originally.

Since they tend to invest a lot of money into bringing in experts to help them with their treasure hunting, we would estimate that they have spent hundreds of thousands to millions on the expeditions that they take out.

The technology gets more extravagant as they look to find the true hidden treasures of Oak Island, though, for most fans of the series, it is the camaraderie of the brothers mixed with the mystery that is so fun.

How much have the Lagina brothers spent on The Curse of Oak Island? Nobody knows for sure. What we do know is that these two brothers have used their success in other walks of life to help fund a childhood dream that, while never unveiling anything truly amazing, has given them a life experience that was 50+ years in the making. What can be worth more money than that?

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