‘The Curse of Oak Island’: Rick & Marty Lagina Talk Season 14 Challenges, Unexpected Findings

The treasure hunt continues for Rick and Marty Lagina during Season 14 of The Curse of Oak Island. Fans have followed their adventure through the History Channel series as the brothers have poured big dollars and resources to fulfill a life’s work. 

When the show returns on November 10, they’ve been led to believe more than ever, a major discovery could be around the corner. They’ve found numerous artifacts dating back centuries that have served as motivation to keep going. Oftentimes, though, efforts by the team within the Money Pit and other areas of lead to more questions than answers. However, could there be a proverbial or actual light at the end of the tunnel? 

Here Rick and Marty share what’s to come in the next chapter of their expansive expedition. 

You’ve been at this a long time. Coming off of some momentum you built last year, what was your mindset going into this season?  

Marty Lagina: From my standpoint, at the end of last year, we were still enthused to move forward. We had found some stuff to keep us going. We had sufficient impetus to move the ball forward. This year, it’s way, way beyond that. What I can tell you is the things we found this year absolutely invigorate us to just keep going. I’ll leave it at this. I never could have anticipated what showed up on that island this year.

Rick Lagina: Yeah, I mean he has to say it every year, because it’s true that right at the end we seem to find things that speak eloquently to the reasons why we need to keep going. But he’s right. We could not have anticipated a scenario under which last year turned out. 

Rick and Marty Lagina (History Channel)

Lot 5 is a big story going into this season as well. Talk about just some of the things that we should be looking out for. There is a lot of planning that goes on between you and your trusted lieutenants in the premiere coming up, but also a lot of activity right out of the gate. 

Marty: Yes, one of the things Rick is talking about that, you know, is an eyebrow raiser. Like wow, how do we make sense out of this? One of the big wows of this year came out of Lot 5, and it continues to be enigmatic. The archaeologists just keep scratching their heads. It shouldn’t exist. The things we find in Lot 5 are sort of unprecedented in Nova Scotia. That’s what the archaeologists tell us, and this year, it gave up some goodies.

Rick: All I can say is I concur, you know? Specifically, again, I’ve been big about the timeline. And the timeline, a very early timeline, has been reinforced by the activities, archaeological activities on Lot 5.

Any update on if we’ll see where the solution channel truly leads?

Rick: Yes and no. I hesitate to say that it is definitive. But, it continues to be a…how do you want to say it? A place of interest. We continue to try to define it because we have proven irrefutably that heavy things fall to those depths, and cannot fall any further, because you’re hitting bedrock. But again, it’s problematic because we know the bedrock in the solution channel undulates quite dramatically, and we’re using big gear to try to level out the bottom of the case. You know there are no eyeballs down there to say that, you know, we scraped it perfectly clean. We can make a guess at it. We use every tool in the toolbox to get there. But the solution channel continues to be a bit of a puzzle, because this year we defined it a little bit larger than we had understood it before. So it’s an ongoing work. We shall see as we say.

Then there are the mysteries behind the boulder, too. Will we figure out a little bit more about what’s potentially underneath? 

Marty: Isn’t that a crazy thing? I was just such a skeptic about that for the longest time, but you know there’s an old adage that if enough people tell you you’re drunk, you better not drive, right? I mean, everybody who has looked at that boulder…the scientists unanimously say it’s placed by human hands. Yes, there’s some more data that comes out of the season about that enigmatic thing.

You’ve carried on a legacy through this endeavor. What does it mean to you to have your crew, especially members of your family more bought in alongside you?  It’s one thing for you guys to invest in this operation, but having the resources, people, and the experts still invested is another. 

Marty: That’s one of the very best things. It landed on big brother Rick’s shoulders to haul all those people along. Is nephew Peter [Fornetti] enthused? Yeah. Is [my son] Alex enthused? Yes. Am I? Yes. But he had to haul us along. I give him credit for that, because I’d say all of those people were in the skeptic category and are rapidly moving out of it. It is one of the highlights of the whole venture to be able to work with family in this manner. 

Rick: I remember Alex as a little boy, and Peter and all of the nieces and nephews, they were saying, “Oh, here comes Uncle Rick with another Oak Island story. You know eyes would glaze over. It was like, sure, okay. Not only have they brought their skill sets and their intellect to it, but they were open-minded enough to actually be able to believe by proving it themselves by being eyes and boots on the ground by being well and truly participants in it. To Marty’s point, that has been very gratifying, because when they sit in the war room and they say, “You know what? That moves the dial for me.” That, to me, that’s everything to me. Plus, we have a great team, as you say, of experts and scientists and engineers and people who volunteer their services, which push the search agenda forward. So, we’re very grateful.

Craig Tester, Marty Lagina, Rick Lagina, Alex Lagina, and Jack Begley meet in the War Room. (History Channel)

And probably it’s great to have each other to lean on as well. How many points through this whole experience have you each had to kind of get with each other to keep going and motivate each other when a brother is down in the dumps?

Marty: Lots of points. There’s been lots of them…It’s like, okay, does this all still make sense? Especially this year, there have been times where I certainly considered throwing in the towel. Rick and I would sit down on a rock somewhere and talk about it, but I’m glad we persevered to this point because of this year. And the good thing. 

Rick: Marty and Alex and Peter, for sure, came from a completely different perspective than I’ve had over the years. But to their credit, they kept an open mind. Sure, it was frustrating. Sure, there were times when I’m sure the doubt almost overwhelmed them to the point where, okay, throw up your hands and be done. But to their great credit, they didn’t. You know, Marty has always said,  just because data comes that you don’t agree with doesn’t mean you can ignore that data. And so, again, to their credit, they have kept an open mind. They have analyzed the work that we do. They have turned it over and over in their minds, and we find ourselves at the end of an incredible year that none of us could have predicted.

By the longevity of the series, it also shows the audience wants to see what’s next and remains interested. You have a museum and tours that go through certain parts of the island in Nova Scotia. That what they see on TV is really happening. 

Marty: I think that’s one of the highlights of the show, that it is absolutely real. We are really and truthfully trying to do this. What you see are really and truthfully our methods, and I think people are very cognizant of that. And yes, the fans have been great. When we run into them, their enthusiasm is catchy. It helps.

What do you say are the biggest challenges you face this season? 

Rick: Truthfully, this year, in terms of the work in the swamp, it was the weather. It was very difficult, a lot of rain. It was as wet this year as it was dry last year, and we came upon some, I’ll call them structures that we weren’t able to completely exploit and understand because of the wet conditions. So that’s an active and ongoing attempt to understand what these structures may or may not represent, but they were certainly singularly unique, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to quote-unquote get to the bottom of them. That was difficult.

Related

'The Curse of Oak Island' Promo Teases Major Discovery For Rick & Marty Lagina

At the end of the season, what do you think the reaction’s going to be from audiences? 

Marty: It better be of exhilaration. That’s what I’m thinking it’s going to elicit. Exhilaration. There is some emotion caused on the island, and that’s all I’m going to say.

Rick: We all believe to varying degrees, lesser or greater degrees, that Oak Island is real, that the mystery is real. But I think at the end of this year people will have to look inward and say, “You know what? I did have some doubts, but I no longer doubt. Do we have all the answers? No. But people are going to look at the work that was done, the things that were discovered, found, and interpreted. They will really be quite amazed at the research associated with the work. Now there’s a real symbiotic relationship between the research and the search, and it continues to amaze. For the people, I’ll use a simple phrase, which Marty used. People are going to be amazed, but they’re going to have to make the determination for themselves how it moves the dial for them. It’s worth watching, I will say that.

The Curse of Oak Island Season 14 premiere, November 10, 9/8c, History Channel