The Curse of Oak Island 2026 Income Report Reveals What Rick Lagina and the Team Really Earned

For years, The Curse of Oak Island has sold viewers on mystery, persistence, and the possibility that one of history’s most elusive treasures may still be hidden beneath Nova Scotia soil. But alongside the theories about shafts, stone roads, and buried vaults, another question has quietly grown louder among fans: what are Rick Lagina and the team actually earning from all of this in 2026?

The honest answer is that there is no verified public 2026 payroll report showing the exact salaries of Rick Lagina, Marty Lagina, Craig Tester, Gary Drayton, Alex Lagina, or the wider team. History publicly identifies Rick and Marty as the central figures leading the search, with Craig Tester, Gary Drayton, and Alex Lagina among the key cast members, but it does not publish cast pay figures.

That does not mean there is no income story. It simply means the financial picture has to be understood through the structure around the show rather than through a single leaked salary chart. In 2026, the money tied to Oak Island appears to come from three overlapping sources: the television series itself, the business ownership behind the island venture, and the growing commercial value of the Oak Island brand. The fascination around the team’s income is really about how those three layers now interact.

The television side is the most obvious starting point. History says new episodes continue to air on Tuesdays, and the network still presents The Curse of Oak Island as one of its flagship factual entertainment series. The show’s official materials also continue to frame Oak Island as a more than 225-year-old mystery, with Rick and Marty leading a team of engineers, explorers, and experts in a long-running, highly produced search. That matters financially because a series with this kind of longevity and brand recognition is no longer just a documentary experiment. It is a mature franchise.

Then there is the ownership issue, which is where the story becomes more interesting. Oak Island’s official tourism and discovery site says Cerca Trova Limited is a Nova Scotia registered company owned by Marty and Rick Lagina, Craig Tester, and Alan Kostrava. It also states that the company holds a Treasure Trove License granted by the province and owns a large group of Oak Island lots, specifically lots 1-8, 13-22, and 24-32. That means Rick and Marty are not simply television personalities appearing in a treasure-hunt series. They are also tied directly to the business entity controlling much of the island venture itself.

That distinction is crucial when fans try to understand what the team really earns. A conventional reality-show salary would only tell part of the story. Rick and Marty’s long-term financial position is also linked to ownership, licensing, and the wider value generated by keeping Oak Island active as both a search project and a media property. In other words, even without a published cast income table, it is clear that the Lagina brothers sit in a different financial category from on-screen contributors who are important to the show but do not appear to share that same ownership footing.

Rick Lagina’s personal image adds another layer to that appeal. Sky History notes that Rick became obsessed with Oak Island after reading about it as a child, and that Marty put up the majority of the money to purchase the stake in Oak Island Tours. The same outlet says multiple online sources value Rick’s net worth at around $10 million and Marty’s much higher, though those figures are explicitly described as estimates based on outside sources rather than audited disclosures. That makes them useful as a sign of public perception, but not as a precise 2026 earnings statement.

What can be said with more confidence is that Oak Island does not look cheap to run. Sky History says the original sum paid for a 50 percent share of Oak Island Tours was never disclosed and notes that the brothers’ search has relied on sophisticated technology, large drilling rigs, excavators, and expanding technical operations over many seasons. The outlet adds that some of the drilling rigs used on the island are worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. That means any discussion of what the team earns must also be balanced against what the operation likely spends.

This is why the phrase real earnings matters so much here. Gross value and take-home income are not the same thing. A high-profile television franchise can create the impression that everyone on screen is collecting enormous sums, but Oak Island is also a costly venture involving land control, specialist expertise, heavy equipment, logistics, and years of continued excavation. The brand may be powerful, yet the search itself is resource-intensive. That tension is part of what keeps viewers interested: the team is chasing something potentially extraordinary while investing heavily just to keep the hunt alive.

There is also the commercial ecosystem surrounding the show. The Oak Island discovery site does not present itself only as a treasure-hunt update page. It promotes stewardship, engagement, and public-facing storytelling around the island. Combined with History’s continuing promotion of the series and its streamable back catalogue, that suggests Oak Island has evolved into something larger than a weekly dig update. It is now a franchise with tourism, media, and historical-curiosity value all feeding into one another.

So what did Rick Lagina and the team really earn in 2026? The most accurate answer is that the public still does not have a verified, official figure. But the available record strongly suggests that Rick and Marty benefit from more than just on-camera participation. They remain central stars of a still-running History franchise, and they also sit within the ownership structure tied to Oak Island’s licensed search and land control. The wider team likely earns in more conventional television and specialist-participant ways, but the Lagina brothers appear to operate at the intersection of screen presence, business ownership, and brand value.

That is the real reason this 2026 income story draws attention. Fans are not only trying to measure salaries. They are trying to understand how a decades-long obsession became a full-scale media and business enterprise. Oak Island remains a mystery in the ground, but financially, one thing is already clear: the show’s biggest figures are no longer just treasure hunters. They are the faces of one of television’s most durable mystery franchises.