American reality television has produced several notable moments, some of which have been thrilling, as well as baffling and emotional. Bob Harte was at the heart of some of these engaging moments as a lead on The Animal Planet/Discovery Channel reality show, The Last Alaskans, which aired between 2015 and 2017.
The show revolved around the lives of four families who chose to live in isolation in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. One of the families there was Bob Harte’s. Throughout his time in the refuge, Bob survived different crazily dangerous situations, ranging from attacks by wild beasts to accidentally shooting himself once and even getting run over by his own motorbike among other incidents. No doubt, this added a great deal to his fame and the reputation he still enjoys today even after passing away in 2017. There’s a lot to learn about the man who brought emotion to life even in the very worst-case scenarios.
Bob Harte’s Early Life Influences and How They Shaped His Career Path
Bob Harte was born into a simple family and surely never imagined that he would one day become one of the stars of a hit reality TV show. His birth was recorded on the 23rd of January 1951 by his parents, Vernon Harte and Eleanor Harte in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he was raised alongside three brothers.
Before he was overtaken by his desire to live in the wilderness, Bob Harte lived a normal life in the city. Before he made fireplaces out of twigs, he played baseball as most sons of middle-class Americans do. He graduated from high school and enrolled in college. Through studying about living in the Alaskan wilderness, he fell in love and sought out the experience, aided by the skills taught him by his grandfather.
Sources report that because he was full of energy as a boy, Bob was very much inclined to physical and outdoor activities. Apart from baseball, he loved such exercises as fishing and carpentry. After hearing a lot about the wilderness of Alaska, he thought it would provide the kind of adventure he dreamed of having in his life. So, around his 21st birthday, he finally chose to relocate to The Last Frontier State.
As we have come to know about him, he ended up spending over 40 plus years in Alaska’s harsh weather conditions without ever desiring to change his mind about his youthful decision to relocate. Instead, after becoming a trapper of repute, he has gone ahead to achieve a big name in Hollywood all the way from those extremities of the world.
Residents of Alaska always have a story to tell about why they chose the harsh terrain. For Bob Harte, it was due to the influence of his grandfather that he chose to live in Alaska. Having looked up to his grandfather who taught him the basics of hunting and trapping as a child, he chose to make it a lifestyle. In addition to trapping, his grandfather taught him DIY construction work and building which all informed his final decision to relocate to the Alaskan wilderness.
The Highs And Lows Of His Time In The Alaskan Trapline
At the early stages of his life in the Alaskan trapline, his family infrequently visited him. After many years of continuously honing his trapping skills, he felt confident enough to sign up for the Russia/American Trapper Exchange Program. For Bob Harte, it had nothing to do with ambition. Instead, he considered it his own little way of serving his country.
He was taken to be a part of the program and this further kept him out in the wilderness for years that eventually amassed into four decades. This experience was eventually how he got endeared to producers at The Animal Planet channel who sought to make a reality show about him and a few other families who had chosen to live a similar life as he and his family out there in the Alaskan hinterlands. Those families were those of Heimo Korth, Edna Korth, Bob Selden, and Ashley Selden.
The show, The Last Alaskans premiered in 2015 and due to its popularity, spawned two additional shows – The Last Alaskans: Remote Access and The Last Alaskans: No Man’s Land. For fans of the show, Bob Harte was way one of the favourite personalities. As earlier mentioned, while on the show, he survived several dangers that may sound absolutely surreal – from yawning bullet wounds to attacks from bears and other wild animals, as well as crash landings and fires.
It wasn’t all danger though for Bob Harte while he lived in isolation as he also brewed and enjoyed his own beer and lived in a cabin with his wife, children, and several pet dogs over the decades.
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How Much Money Did Bob End Up Garnering From These Endeavors?
But for Animal Planet choosing to star Bob Harte in a reality show, there is no doubt that his finances would have remained a modest one – and he surely wouldn’t have cared a hoot. In any case, as a result of the reality shows, he was able to accrue a significant net worth of $600,000. Having lived for 40 years in the Alaskan wilderness, with little economic options, you can be sure that this was quite a significant fortune to pull off.
Here’s How Bob Harte Died
Bob Harte is no more and many of his fans have expressed various emotions showing how much they missed him. Despite surviving several dangerous incidents over the course of his life at the hands of both nature and man, he was unable to survive the deadly claws of cancer at last.
When the grip of the illness became too much to handle in the wild, he left his bush home to seek treatment on the mainlands. Unfortunately, not much could be done to save the life of the popular trapper. He died on the 21st of July, 2017.
Meet The Children Who Survived The Reality TV Star
Bob Harte was married for a while to Nancy Harte, with whom he had a child, a daughter named Talicia Harte. Although his marriage to his wife eventually ended, he remained close to his daughter and was able to meet his granddaughter, following her marriage. His granddaughter is named Carmela. We gathered that Bob Harte’s daughter Talicia resides in Fairbanks with her kid but we are unable to get any detail as to whether she is married and who her husband might be.
Bob was also recorded to have adopted two children, Robert Harte, and Jennifer Kinney Young. White Page sources suggest that Jennifer lives or has lived in Anchorage Alaska. But that’s about the only clue we have about her whereabouts. As for Roberts, after appearing with his father on several episodes of The Last Alaskans, we have not been able to trace his whereabouts following his father’s death.
