Recently it has been rumored that the scientist, engineer and TV host Bill Nye was arrested for manufacturing and distributing drugs. These speculations were originated by the satire website Huzlers, on which an article narrating Nye’s arrest for ‘allegedly selling and manufacturing illegal drugs such as marijuana, acid, and crystal meth’ was posted. In the article he was also accused of being responsible for the majority of the drug trafficking market in Los Angeles.

Despite the fact Huzlers has always been honest about its satirical and comical nature, some people on the internet have taken Bill Nye’s article out of context and have spread it as true. However, Bill Nye hasn’t been arrested or accused of such crimes.

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Who is Bill Nye?

William Sanford ‘Bill’ Nye is an American communicator, mechanical engineer and TV personality, born on 27 November 1955 in Washington, DC USA. He’s widely known for his show “Bill Nye the Science Guy” on PBS.

Early Life

Bill Nye is the son of Jacqueline Jenkins and Edwin Darby Nye – he has a sister named Susan and a brother named Darby. William’s mother was a mathematician and psychologist who worked as a code breaker for the US government during World War II, in which his father Edwin also served as a contractor for the US armed forces.

During his childhood in Washington DC, William attended Lafayette Elementary School, and then started studying at Alice Deal Junior High, until he received a scholarship to attend Sidwell Friends, from where he matriculated in 1973.

William Nye then enrolled into Sibley School of Cornell University in New York, from where he graduated with a major in Mechanical Engineering. During his time in University, William took a class with Carl Sagan: ‘His classes were just fantastic’ said Nye in an interview – ‘If you saw the series “Cosmos”, his lectures were just like those television shows’.

Career

First Steps

Nye’s first job in the scientistic field was working for the Boeing Corporation, where he invented a suppressor tube for airplanes. He also worked for Sundstrand Data Control in Seattle, and tried to enter the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) training program, but was unsuccessful. Nye was a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and was a volunteer at the non-profit organization Pacific Science Center.

During his time in Seattle, Nye discovered his love for comedy by making impersonations of the actor Steve Martin, even winning a lookalike contest. It was then he decided to create his own stand-up comedy routine, while still working as an engineer. However, in 1986 he resolved to quit his job in Sundstrand to work full-time as a comedian.

“Almost Live!” & More

In 1986 Nye started working as a writer and actor for the show “Almost Live!”, and adopted the name Bill Nye. Although at the start he didn’t have a section in the show, he started by appearing in the program doing a science demonstration, after one of the guests cancelled their presentation. Nye’s segment turned out to be very successful, and led him to win an Emmy for it.

In 1989 he began hosting his own program, “Fabulous Wetlands” which was an educational series focused on showing Washington wetlands and ecosystems.

In addition, Bill Nye offered information about ecology and environmental preservation, explaining the topics with a sense of humor, which promptly set the show apart from other educational and scientific series of the time. Due to his success as a host, Bill Nye was invited to appear in Disney’s “All-New Mickey Mouse Club”.

Even before appearing on Disney, Bill Nye had always wanted to create a show for kids, an idea which was reinforced by an encounter he had with Carl Sagan in 1987. Sagan – who had hosted the highly successful “Cosmos” series – told him the series’ concept shouldn’t be about technology and engineering, as Nye had previously thought: ‘He said ‘Focus on pure science. Kids resonate to pure science rather than technology.’, and that turned out to be great advice’.

Bill Nye

In 1991 Bill Nye appeared in a real-life segment of “Back to the Future: The Animated Series”. The series was short-lived though, as it ended in 1993.

Bill Nye The Science Guy

Next Bill Nye along with Ross Shafer, the National Science Foundation, Rabbit Ears Productions and Disney Television, created the show “Bill Nye The Science Guy”, in which Nye presented himself wearing a lab coat, showing experiments and offering science information and insights in a simple, entertaining way for kids.

The series resulted in a huge success, breaking records by becoming one of the most watched programs in its category, and winning 19 Emmy Awards during the five years it was on air. The series not only became a reference for children, but also caught the attention of adults.

“Bill Nye The Science Guy” was utilized in schools as an educational resource, and led Nye to publish several books based on it. His appearances in Walt Disney Parks and Ellen’s Energy Adventure were notable as well.

In 1998 the show came to an end, however, it deeply impacted not only television history, but it also changed the popular perception of science. In an interview in 2013 with Seattle Met, Bill Nye said he considered the program’s success as a result of its pioneering and original concept: ‘School curricula do follow us. We pulled it off. That’s why the show has stood the test of time, if you’re asking for a theory’.

The Eyes of Nye & More

After the success “The Science Guy”, Bill Nye wanted to talk about more in-depth topics.

Despite having created the concept of “The Eyes of Nye”, KCTS delayed its production and premier for years, as the company was unsure about the likely success of it. The project was bought by the American Public Television later in 2005, when the show was finally premiered. However, the series wasn’t very successful, and lasted only one season on air.

In the following years Nye, hosted the shows “100 Greatest Discoveries” and “Greatest Inventions With Bill Nye”, and made brief appearances in “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” and “The Climate Code”. In 2008 he hosted “Stuff Happens” of Planet Green, and worked alongside his fellow science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson in an episode of “Brain Storm”.

In 2016 Netflix premiered “Bill Nye Saves the World”, a series in which he explores a variety of scientific topics and its impact in people’s everyday life. The series was renewed for three seasons until its end in 2018.

Personal Life

Romantic Life

Bill Nye married Blair Tindall in 2006, though various weeks later he annulled the marriage due to Tindall’s allegedly disrespectful and abusive behaviour towards him, as she supposedly stole items from his house, damaged his propriety, and tried to defame him through emails. He ultimately obtained a restrictive order against her. There are no public details of Bill having any other romantic associations.

Political Views and Advocacy

Bill Nye has openly shown his approval for the Democrat Party, being a close consultant of the Obama administration, and openly supporting Joe Biden during his campaign for the Presidency in 2020.

During an episode of the podcast “Getting Curious” of Jonathan Van Ness, Nye also expressed his pre-occupation regarding Donald Trump’s administration and its negative ecological impact.

Net Worth

As of late 2020, Bill Nye has an estimated net worth of $8 million, which is largely as a result of his works as a TV show host and other media appearances.

Physical Appearance

Bill Nye is a man of white ethnicity – he has brownish-red hair and amber eyes. He’s 6ft 1in (1.85m) tall, but his current weight is unknown.

Interesting Facts

Bill Nye has made two appearances in the popular long-running sitcom “The Big Bang Theory”.

In 2018 he played baseball in the All-Star Legends event, organized by the National League.

He agrees to criminally charging people who would challenge the international climate change consensus: ‘as a taxpayer and voter, the introduction of this extreme doubt about climate change is affecting my quality of life as a public citizen’.

Although he doesn’t suffer from ataxia, his two siblings have been affected by this illness of the nervous system, inherited from their father’s family. This is the reason Bill Nye never had kids, as he’s afraid they would be affected by it.

Bob Harte was an American trapper, hunter, fisherman and TV personality, born on 23 January 1951, in New Jersey USA. He was known for appearing in the reality TV show “The Last Alaskans” until his death in 2017.

Early Life

Bob was Vernon and Eleanor Harte’s only son. Growing up in Jersey City, he played baseball and was fascinated by outdoors activities such as hunting and fishing, developing a sense of independence from an early age. In his youth, Bob’s grandfather was in charge of teaching him construction skills, which he utilized later in life.

There’s not much information about Bob’s education, though it’s known he attended college for a short time, dropping out when he chose the Alaskan lifestyle instead.

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It’s known Bob was an avid motorcycle rider, experienced firearms holder and ‘plane pilot, though the exact time he learned those skills is uncertain.

Alaskan Adventures

First Years

It’s not certain when Bob became interested in the Alaskan lifestyle. However, his interest was certainly caught by books he read about it, leading him to move definitively to Southeast Alaska at 21 years of age. His first location was in a camping field near Wrangell, where he survived apparently trapping alone for a couple years.

Then he immersed himself into the north in Fort Yukon, setting his home in various places of the area. It was there that he became acquainted with various people with the same lifestyle, including one of his closest friends Heimo Kort, as he declared: ‘March of 1976 that’s when I first met Bob.

After I got into town there were seven of us trappers there, and we all loved hunting and trapping and so we had that in common’.

It’s suspected that during that time Bob met Nancy Becker, who would later become his wife.

Around 1977 and following an abandoned trap line, Bob found the place he would call home for the next 40 years in Brooks Range, an extension of the Rocky Mountains, mostly uninhabited. Harte set his own trap line in the area, exploring it and living off the land for decades.that

Mountain Cabin and Family

It’s uncertain exactly when Bob married Nancy Harte (neé Becker), though it’s known in 1984 they welcomed their first and only daughter, Talicia.

By this time Bob was settled in Brooks Range, the family lived separately and years passed until they finally moved in with him, along Nancy’s first son from a previous marriage named Steve.

Living with his family brought immense happiness to Bob, who recalled those times as his most precious memories: ‘Family is extremely important to me. I wouldn’t want to be somebody with nothing and I have something’.

In the early 1990s Bob Harte travelled to Russia, participating in a trappers exchange between US and the Eastern European countries. Especially proud of such an accomplishment, Harte trapped and hunted with Russian families with the intent to cut the cultural and political gap that had separated the two nations for decades.

Back in Alaska, Harte worked part time as a carpenter in Fairbanks. Unfortunately, his marriage with Nancy ended at a time undisclosed, but despite this his relationship with his daughter remained the same.

TV Debut – The Last Alaskans

Bob Harte’s debut in TV was in “The Last Alaskans”, a reality documentary series which premiered on 25 May 2015 on Animal Planet. The show is centered on various families living in diverse isolated areas of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the biggest natural shelter in the US. Although human occupation in this protected area was banned in 1980 by Government, to protect its delicate eco-system, seven people were granted occupation permits to remain living there.

Bob Harte

“The Last Alaskans” was well received by viewers, who were not only impressed bythe  show’s production but also by its stars’ lifestyle and its portrayal, as Neil Genzlinger from The New York Times pointed out: ‘Unlike in other shows, here the quests for sustenance are presented merely as facts of life. The compelling part of the series is the why: why live like this? The answers vary, and though sometimes the subjects address the question directly, for the most part their reasons emerge only slowly, as the patient camera lets you get to know them.’

The show was renewed in 2016 for its second season, now to air on sibling network Discovery Channel. Bob Harte’s last appearance was in show’s third season, aired in 2017.

Personal Life

Daughter

Talicia Harte suffered a car accident in 2006, leaving her disabled at 22 years old, and requiring extensive hours of physical therapy. Her father Bob, who loved her intensely, did his best to support her afterwards: ‘My daughter is a lot like me. She is a survivor. She’s tough as nails. Talicia was a very active young woman but then she had an accident. She became disabled from some guy talking on his cell phone, going broadside right into her. I’m 64 years old. I don’t know how many years I have left but I’d like to provide for my daughter’, he recalled in an episode of “The Last Alaskans”.

Although Talicia’s romantic life and marital status is unknown, in 2016 she gave birth to Bob’s only granddaughter Cornella. He promised to build a cabin for them to live comfortably.

Health

Surviving by himself in an isolated place in Alaska, Bob Harte’s life was always at risk. However, even before committing his life to live in the wilderness, he defied death in various ways. Bob not only survived being run over on his motorcycle, and crashing his ‘plane twice, he was also lucky to live after shooting himself, and accidentally inundating his boat in freezing water.

His life was at stake again when he underwent brain surgery, and was diagnosed with cancer later in life. In each situation his friends and family’s joke about him having nine lives was proven true.

Death

After spending an entire day celebrating his life with his loved ones, in Fairbanks on 21 July 2017, Bob Harte died peacefully in his sleep at 66 years of age, after battling with cancer for years.

In 2018 Bob’s daughter Talicia and her mom Nancy gave an interview to Monsters And Critics, guiding a tour through his cabin in the mountains while talking on their experience handling his death.

Nancy also offered a heartfelt reflection on his departure: ‘He established his home here and he loved it here. He and his dogs were here… he’s a part of this whole area. It’s not an ownership ‘his,’ he’s a part of it. He’s just a living entity with the land, with everything here. So it was his life. It was his joy, his delight and where he found peace and happiness was right here… it was Bob.’

Net Worth

Bob Harte’s estimated net worth was $600.000 at the time of his death, as a result of his appearances in TV series “The Last Alaskans”.

Physical Appearance

Bob Harte was a man of white ethnicity. He was slender built, had blond hair and green eyes. He was 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall, and weighted 158lbs (72kg).

Interesting Facts

Bob Harte’s favorite place was a high rock near his cabin in the mountains, which he named “the throne”. He used to spend time there to admire the landscape in solitude.

In Bob’s obituary, his family compared his life to Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way”.

Bob loved his entire family and friends hugely, and was thankful of them at the time of his death.

Jason Hawk is an American blacksmith and TV personality born in 1963 in Ozark Mountains, Arkansas USA. He’s known for appearing in reality series “Mountain Men”.

Early Life

There’s not much information about Jason’s parents or possible siblings. However, it’s known he’s a Native American descent and moved with his family to Colorado in his childhood.

Always interested on natural environments, Jason learned to survive in remote places at an early age. His strong sense of independency also led him to obtain a hunting license at 15 years old.

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Information about Jason’s education is undisclosed, though it’s known in 1978 he moved to Montana after his high school matriculation, where he enrolled in Montana State University to study wielding and metal fabrication.

Adventure in the Wilderness

Jason Hawk moved back to Montana sometime after his graduation to work in a restaurant. However, he soon discovered he wasn’t fit for life in a city and moved to the Sonora Desert in Arizona, where he built a small cabin.

In search of a more peaceful life, in 2016 Jason along his family moved back to his hometown Arkansas, setting their homestead in Ozark Mountains.

His life philosophy of living in harmony with natural environments served his purposes, allowing him to provide for his family through hunting, farming and craftsmanship.

Career

Blacksmith

In 1999 Jason Hawk definitively established himself as a blade maker when he founded Jason Hawk Knives, shop on which he promotes and sells his creations as a blacksmith.

His online store is visited by local and international customers interested on his crafted homemade creations, which combine modern techniques with traditional designs: ‘Making goods that have a aged look, that will stand up to daily life, takes a lot of elbow grease, back woods alchemy, and a dash of mountain ingenuity’.

Jason Hawk

Although Jason pays special attention to design, making sure his knives can attain their functionality purpose is his main focus while in the production process.

In his compromise to respect his natural environment and to create a sustainable business, he refuses to use oil derivate products as fuel and instead utilizes naturally harvested wood charcoal for that purpose. Marketing through his personal Instagram account has allowed him to reach international customers easily, which is also a big part of his success as a blacksmith.

No Man’s Land

Jason Hawk’s particular lifestyle attracted the attention of History Channel’s producers in 2014, who thought his way of living would be eye-catching to audiences.

The network’s initial idea was to insert Jason in the second season of reality series “Mountain Men”. However, they changed their mind and decided to create instead a new show entitled “No Man’s Land”.

Jason and his family -who at the time lived in a small farm in Arizona-, were showcased in the series along with survival experts such as Charlie Acuna, Howdy Fowler and Rick Gibson.

Unfortunately “No Man’s Land” only lasted one season due to low rating audiences, as History Channel’s Vice-President of Development and Programming Russ McCarroll stated: ‘Unfortunately, that show didn’t resonate with the audience”.

Mountain Man

After the end of “No Man’s Land” Jason was contacted again by History Channel to appear in the fourth season of the acclaimed series “Mountain Men”, reality series centered on various survivalists who live in remote places without modern commodities such as electricity and running water.

On his first appearance in the show, Jason and his family can be seen collecting their belongings to move to a homestead in Ozark Mountains: ‘Right now we’re long out for a big change. It’s time for us to get out of the desert. We need to get out of the desert and get back in Arkansas. So I just gotta move my family back to where I’m from.’

Fast forward into the series, viewers can see Hawks successfully settled in a wooden house in the forest. Despite the lack of modern appliances, Jason and his family were able to successfully establish themselves to their new life and became recurrent cast members of the show, as Jason declared: ‘that’s makes it easy’.

Personal Life

Marriage and Children

Jason is married to Mary, although it’s certainly known the couple have been together since 2008 the exact time the couple tied the knot is undisclosed. However, it’s known they have welcomed two daughters together. The older one born in 2011 is named River, and the youngest Madeline Rose was born in 2018.

Son

Jason has an older son named Kamui, though there’s little information about the identity of his mother and whether or not he lives with his father permanently. It’s known however, that Kamui “Kai” was born in 2007.

“Kai” appears along his father in “Mountain Men”, and has shown his interest on following his father’s steps to become a blacksmith: ‘I haven’t had much experience with smithing so far, but I am excited to learn and carry on the tradition’.

For Jason, spending time with his son is more about forging stronger ties between them: ‘We’re not trying to recreate a tradition; we’re trying to start one.’

Net Worth

As a result of his work as a blacksmith and his appearances in TV shows, Jason Hawk has an estimated net worth of $400,000.

Physical Appearance

Jason Hawk is a man of white ethnicity who has blond-brownish hair and brown eyes. He is 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall, and although his current weight is unknown he’s noticeably slender and strong.

What happened to Jason Hawk (Mountain Men) face?

Jason Hawk has appeared on the show sporting a black line on his face, right under his eyes. Fans of the show speculated he was tattooed following a Native American tradition, though other people have commented Jason’s mark resembled sunglasses, which were tattooed on his face while he was drunk.

Jason didn’t mention the real meaning of his marks, though in recent episodes of the series the marks have disappeared off his face.

Interesting Facts

Although information about Jason’s family is mostly undisclosed, it’s known his father died in 2016.

Jason learned martial arts Filipino style under the guidance of Christopher Petrilli.

Jason is a certified Master Smith, a rating he obtained thanks to his master and blacksmithing legend Tai Goo.

By the time his second daughter was born, Jason and his family were already part of the cast of “Mountain Men”. However, the birth of Madeline Rose was not shown on cameras.