While Shawn Pilot is generally known around the world as one of the legendary four members of the cast of “Car Masters: Rust to Riches,” he actually has an acting past with which not many fans are cognizant. He rose to prominence in the mainstream around September 2018, when the first season of “Car Masters: Rust to Riches” was launched.

The group provides makeovers for classic cars under the leadership of world-renowned Mark Towle, who founded the garage and had the idea for the series. Mark started his business out of Temecula, California, initially creating props for film studios and TV shows. By the time he reached out to Netflix to have a show made about his business, it had already graduated to proper car restoration and makeovers.

Shawn was part of the original crew when the show started, immediately becoming one of the legendary four, alongside Towle, Tony Quinones, Michael ‘Caveman’ Pyle and Constance Nunes. The premise of the series was simple – acquire classic cars that don’t fetch that much of a price on the market, and make them worth a fortune. To achieve this, the team used creative design solutions that made otherwise standard cars appear truly unique.

The show has been ongoing for another 32 episodes and over four seasons thus far. Netflix appears to be satisfied with how well the series is doing, and season five is in the making for an early 2023 release.

Curiously, not everything has been sunshine and rainbows for the crew, especially Towle himself. Since the garage started out by replicating rather sci-fi looking vehicles from popular films and TV shows, Mark eventually got into some court trouble. Namely, the Warner Bros. legal team got up his business over the recreation and sale of various Batmobiles – the original ride of Gotham’s dark knight.

He apparently lost the lawsuit as per hollywoodreporter.com, when in 2013 a California judge ruled that Mark didn’t just take his inspiration from the design of the mythical car, but rather that he created a veritable replica of an actual DC Universe character. Mark’s logic posited that a vehicle can’t be a character in and of itself, but US District Court justice Ronald Lew disagreed.

In his elaboration, the judge stated ‘The Batmobile is a character and exists in both two- and three-dimensional forms. Its existence in three-dimensional form is the consequence of the Batmobile’s portrayal in the 1989 live-motion film and the 1966 television series. Defendant did not copy the design of a mere car; he copied the Batmobile character.’

The reason that Mark thought this endeavor was safe to pursue in his garage, is because normally, inanimate objects under copyrighted content that aren’t perfectly replicated, but whose design is only a borrowed idea, are generally considered homages to those objects, and are thus called ‘useful articles.’ According to US copyright law, useful articles cannot be copyrighted. Their conceptual elements, however, can.

Justice Lew’s ruling addressed this issue furthermore: ‘The fact that the unauthorized Batmobile replicas that Defendant manufactured – which are derivative works – may be ‘useful articles’ is irrelevant. A derivative work can still infringe the underlying copyrighted work even if the derivative work is not independently entitled to copyright protection.’

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Basically, the judge’s argument was that the Batmobile itself isn’t a car, but way more than that, according to which idea Mark stole the shape of an actual Batman original gadget, and then turned that into a vehicle. As confusing as that may sound, the legal proceedings this was explained in, did not end in Mark’s favor, and Warner Bros. won the lawsuit.

Interestingly enough, there was even mention of Warner Bros.’ future plan to perhaps create their own real-life Batmobiles, since they’ve already licensed toy versions of it. Along with many of the fans wondering whether Gotham Garage had any affiliation with Warner Bros. themselves, the whole creative process that was simply meant to be fun and entertaining had ultimately almost bankrupted Mark’s business.

On top of that, there have been allegations that the show might be scripted, and that not all of the cars have been worked on as legitimately as represented by Netflix. To begin with, it doesn’t often seem that Constance Nunes knows exactly what to do, and some of the fans have speculated that she might only be a ‘fake’ mechanic on the show, placed there for her physical beauty.

There’s also the fact that not a lot of actual work is ever shown being done, that is, what actually creates the coveted vehicles. Car enthusiasts are the bulk of the audience, and many of them are trying to learn something that they themselves could perform at home in their garage. To their disappointment, the work that produces the vehicles could almost be characterized as censored.

Shawn’s beginnings and entrance in show business

Born in March 1963, in North Hills, California USA, Shawn Pilot is a 59-year-old Caucasian automotive expert and former actor. His early life is generally mysterious, although it’s known that he was born to parents Gilles and Carol Pilot, and raised alongside his sister Patricia.

He’s thought to have had a strong penchant for vehicles from a very early age, which only led him further towards the career he has today. It seems, however, that acting was also one of his passions. After matriculating from a local high school in 1981, he performed various odd jobs to make ends meet for a while.

To everyone’s surprise, he somehow ended up playing Berm Soldier in 1999’s action adventure comedy film by David O. Russell entitled “Three Kings.” This was by all means a very fortuitous turn of events for Shawn, since he ended up sharing the screen with some of the most famous actors of the time, among whom were George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Spike Jonze and Ice Cube. There was also Nora Dunn, in the presence of Cliff Curtis and Jamie Kennedy.

The film itself also performed spectacularly, sweeping eight awards over the course of two years, starting with its earliest commendations in 1999 – two Boston Society Film Critics Awards in the Best Film and Best Director categories, as well as the National Board of Review Award in the Top Ten Films category.

Aside from those, it also won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award in the Favorite Action Team category, the Florida Film Critics Circle Award in the Newcomer of the Year category, and the PEN Center USA West Literary Award in the Screenplay category, in 2000. The year after it was nominated for two other awards, but didn’t win, totaling eight wins and 19 nominations overall. The film had a budget of $75 million, grossing $16 million in its opening weekend and subsequently $108 million worldwide, with $61 million being just from the US and Canada.

Conversely, everyone thought Shawn would ride the wave of this massively successful film and carve out a career for himself in the lights of Hollywood, but that wasn’t the case. For reasons still unknown to the public, he chose to stay out of the spotlight for the next 12 years, only appearing in an episode of “Inside West Coast Customs” in 2011. One could assume that this is because his love for cars ended up taking over, and so he abandoned the camera for the wrench.

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West Coast Customs’ special guest

As a member of the cast of “Inside West Coast Customs,” Shawn had the honor of appearing on-screen alongside some of the greatest names in the automotive restoration business, including Ryan Friedlinghaus and Hunter Clancey. The show itself explores the daily routines of the employees of West Coast Customs, also known as ‘WCC.’

This automobile repair and customization shop hails from back in 1993, when it was started by the visionary Friedlinghaus and Quinton Dodson, making them some of the pioneers of the worldwide business that lucrative car restoration is today.

According to legend, and Friedlinghaus’ own testimony, the business started when Ryan’s grandfather gave him $5,000 to pursue his dreams. However, a different source claims that he made the required funds by being a clerk at his father’s liquor store. Based in Burbank, California, the West Coast Customs shop is an ultra-high-earning business, with a $10 million revenue reported even back in 2008.

It all started back when Friedlinghaus was only about 14 years old, at which point he’d already had his designs feature in multiple high-profile magazines. In spite of having been extra successful, Ryan was disappointed that he had to alternate between several specialty shops to complete his quotas, and so he eventually opened up his own to solve that issue.

Thus far, it’s produced custom vehicles with unprecedented designs for a number of celebrities, such as Sean Combs and Shaquille O’Neal. Their vehicles have also appeared in a variety of TV shows, including “Pimp My Ride” and “Street Customs.” Even world-famous companies have sought their own rides from Friedlinghaus – he’s custom-made cars for Britain’s Virgin Media, Japan’s Nintendo, and even US’ Microsoft.

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The crew owe their reputation and earnings to immaculate and diligent work that has turned plain old cars into one-of-a-kind machines that will always be worth a fortune. Their designs are frequently featured as some of the best on the planet, and thus it’s not surprising that they hold the #1 spot on most websites that rank custom shops, such as rides-mag.com, which purports West Coast Customs to be the undisputed champion.

The website claims that they excel at ‘taking car customization to the extreme and reinventing the way popular media sees car culture, West Coast Customs took “Pimp My Ride” worldwide, paving the way for custom shops the world over.’

West Coast Customs indeed went ‘the world over,’ opening up shops in Dubai, UAE, as well as Shanghai, China. They tried to penetrate the European market too, but their franchise in Berlin had to close down shortly after launching, as they were unable to avoid insolvency. Their greatest premises are still in Burbank, where the facility spreads over 60,000 square feet (5.6 square kilometers).

Shawn’s side gigs, romantic life and current endeavors

It isn’t known exactly when Shawn started playing poker professionally, but he’s made quite a bit of money doing so. He’s participated in close to 70 live tournaments, climbing to an enviable position in the standings. He ranked among the top 2,600 players throughout his time in that career, although it seems to have taken a hit as of late, since he’s focused on other endeavors.

Combined with the money he made from on-screen appearances, Shawn’s poker winnings raise his net worth to just about $700,000, with $40,000 of that having been won in a single poker event.

Near the start of the seventh decade of his life, Pilot has a daughter from his former relationship with a woman named Christine Olimpieri. They separated a few decades ago, with the details of their past union still unclear. Their daughter Shawnee Olimpieri is dating a woman called Nikole Whitney, and apparently has a child as well, possibly making Shawn a proud grandfather.

@TheGothamGarage
GREAT #business couple, they know demand and market, risk takers, amazing talent & #creativity for uniqueness and sales. #TheGothamGarage Power TEAM to look at it??#Cars #Netflix #MarkTowle #ShawnPilot #California #USA pic.twitter.com/34o5CxXd8O

— Felipe Salas Saavedra (@felipesalas70) June 6, 2020

In late 2022, he’s still hard at work with the crew of “Car Masters: Rust to Riches.” His Instagram sometimes comes alive so as to tease a brand new episode for the show, or one of their unique designs.

On 26 July 2022 he posted one of the wildest builds from Gotham Garage yet – a car in the shape of a cannon with a rocket-like booster on the back. He said ‘Rocket car on season 4 of “Car Masters: Rust to Riches.” We do not disappoint.’

According to the excited comments of his fans, the show seems to be doing pretty well even at the close of its fourth season, since the hype for the upcoming builds remains at an all-time high, meaning that Shawn’s career is still as stable as ever.

Set in a variety of remote mountain regions of the US, there’s no doubt that “Mountain Men” remains one of the most unforgettable and unique reality shows of the last decade.

Nonetheless, more than just showing stunning landscapes and survival methods, what really sets “Mountain Men” apart from most shows of the genre it’s its colorful, out-of-the-box and sometimes eccentric cast, including game changing adventurers such as the Alaska Range-based Morgan Beasley, who is deeply missed in the show since his exit in the eighth season.

So where is he nowadays? What is he doing since his exit from “Mountain Men”, and is he planning on ever returning to TV? Stay with us to know all about the whereabouts of Morgan Beasley, and other former stars from the show!

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What Is Morgan Doing Now?

Living off the grid in some of the most remote places in the world is unsurprisingly hard, that’s why there aren’t many people as courageous – some would say foolhardy – to adopt such a lifestyle as Morgan Beasley has, but it is usually a deliberate choice. While the pilot didn’t establish himself in Alaska until 2015, his story living in the wild already stood out enough for him to gain a spot in the fourth season “Mountain Men” back.

Though his sudden exit from the show after the eight season in 2019 was never explained, Morgan’s fans would be relieved to know he’s doing great nowadays. By taking a look at the Instagram account of his homestead Apricity Alaska, it’s safe to say that Morgan spends his days taking care of business, trekking and farming includingd taking care of his animals, a life he shares with his longtime partner, Margaret Stern.

While Morgan doesn’t seem interested in talking about his past TV exploits, he’s still on a mission of expanding the word about living in the wild through his social media posts and YouTube videos on the topic. All in all, it’s safe to assume Morgan enjoys his life in Alaska just as much as back when he still appeared in “Mountain Men”.

Business

The Apricity Alaska Homestead is a project Morgan Beasley and Margaret Stern have been working on for years. Though the homestead was still in its initial phase by the time Morgan and Margaret debuted in “Mountain Men”, nowadays the business has grown to stand out on its own for its services and unique experiences offered to their visitors.

While Apricity’s mission as an agricultural homestead is to offer its customers a wide variety of vegetables and fruits harvested by Morgan himself, some remarkable adventures they offer exploring the Alaskan wilderness riding icelandic horses, guided hiking, botany and birding, and teaching homesteading skills for those who want to follow in Morgan and Margaret’s steps in adopting an off-the-grid lifestyle.

Although the experience of homesteading isn’t exactly fit for anyone, it’s great to see Morgan continuing his dream of a self-sustainable alternative lifestyle.

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Social Media, Music & Series

Even though Morgan Beasley is mostly focused on his homestead nowadays, that doesn’t mean he’s stopped pursuing his other passions.

As seen on his social media, Morgan’s deep love for music encouraged him to share his original songs on his YouTube channel. Often surrounded by nature and the stunning Alaskan landscapes seen from the Apricity Homestead, Morgan isn’t shy about letting his subscribers observe his passion for singing and playing guitar, while telling some of his most entertaining stories through his lyrics.

However, music isn’t the only hobby Morgan dedicates his time nowadays. As it happens, Morgan started “Alaska Range Homestead”, a completely self-produced series centered on his life on the homestead, in an effort to teach his audience the skills necessary to survive in such an environment before adopting a similar lifestyle. Though his audience can see sneak peeks of the project on Morgan’s YouTube channel, the series’ full episodes are only available through the subscription website Patreon, the monthly plans of which also include exclusive content and features such as poems, music, behind the scenes recordings, and even directly contacting Morgan and Margaret.

While Morgan’s current projects still have lots of room for growth, it’s great to see he hasn’t disappeared from the public eye as sometimes happens to former reality TV stars.

Who Is Morgan Beasley?

Despite owing his popularity to his appearances in “Mountain Men”, Morgan Beasley is certainly more than just a man who happened to be on TV. According to his business website, Morgan is actually an Environmental Science graduate from the University of Idaho, though his knowledge of nature goes beyond academics, tracing his experience in the field to his jobs constructing cabins, in fishery, and as a guide in remote environments.

As well, Morgan’s background as a homestead caretaker in Idaho made him the right guy to start the Apricity Alaska Homestead, knowing where to start when it came to taking care of the land and animals, exploring the land, and planning which direction he wanted the project to go. Last but not least, the Apricity Alaska’s focus on agriculture, and providing its visitors with a wide variety of natural food options is further proof of Morgan’s knowledge of nature, botany and land usage.

Who Is Margaret Stern?

The name Margaret Stern isn’t unknown for good fans of “Mountain Men”, as the professional pilot and survivalist appeared alongside Morgan Beasley from the fourth to eighth seasons.

While Margaret’s homesteading skills are outstanding on their own, her professional background is also as impressive. She’s a Botany and Natural History graduate from the Maine-based College of The Atlantic, has studied Ethnobotany, and in recent years enrolled in a Fisheries and Wildlife Management degree. The latter has been a key factor in obtaining jobs in some of Alaska’s environment protection offices, such as the state’s Department of Fish and Game, and in the Susitna River Coalition.

Besides working as a guide in North and South America, Margaret’s outdoors experience extends to farming, cabin building, taxidermy, rafting, tracking and collecting plants, as stated on her business’ website.

Unlike Morgan, Margaret doesn’t seem interested in posing in front of cameras as her partner, spending her days managing the Apricity Alaska Homestead, outdoors photography, and piloting her plane.

Why Do They Live In Alaska?

While Morgan and Margaret’s love for the environment and nature is evident, more than that is needed to adopt an off-the-grid lifestyle.

That being said, living remotely in Alaska in a self-sustainable way was a dream that Morgan and Margaret always had. As they wrote on their website’s blog: ‘we had talked, dreamed, and thought so much about this lifestyle and how we wanted to take on the adventure together… but it seemed to be simply a dream’.

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By a chance of destiny, they found a property for sale located miles away from civilization, and without thinking it further, they bought it totally unseen. The following four months were spent preparing all the necessary tools needed to make the big move, but the dream wasn’t a reality until in February 2015, when a private plane left them to their business with over 4,000 pounds weight of belongings on their new property.

After spending a couple of weeks marking their property’s limits, building a small cabin and exploring the land, Margaret and Morgan were finally set up, Though it’s fair to admit that they have been so successful in their quest thanks to their previous outdoors experience, lots of determination, patience and willingness to make their dream come true is exactly what has taken them so far now.

Who Else Left The Show?

While it’s great to see Morgan Beasley accomplishing his dreams of living off the land, he isn’t the only former “Mountain Men” whose life after leaving the show we should be closely following.

Marty Meierotto

Any good fan of “Mountain Men” knows who Marty Meierotto is. The Alaska-based survivalist is one of the original cast members of series, and unsurprisingly is still considered a fan favorite as well, even though his exit from the show happened back in the eighth season, aired in 2019.

Prior to leaving the show for good, Marty had just retired from his 31-year-long career in the Alaska Fire Service as a smokejumper and pilot. Back then he stated that his reason for leaving was wanting to do what he enjoyed the most: ‘I’ve always loved to just be in the woods, so I’m going to try and spend more time out there’, as he said in an interview with the Alaska Bureau of Land Management.

Back in his last “Mountain Men” appearance, Marty also talked about spending more time with his family, as well as exploring the land, just as he has been doing for the last three decades. Marty fulfilled his promise to himself, and apparently spends lots of time outdoors, even publishing in 2020 the book “In The Land Of Wilderness”, which reveals some preferred trapping and hunting techniques, also offering a deeper insight into his adventure in the wild.

Although Marty hasn’t been very active on social media in the last couple of years, here’s only hoping that he’s in good health and still does what he loves.

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George Michaud

Those who have followed “Mountain Men” from the start, surely remember George Michaud, a survivalist located somewhere adjacent to Idaho’s Snake River and the Teton mountain range. The influence of traditional techniques was evident in his trapping, fishing and especially in his craft methods.

As seen in some of his Facebook posts from mid-2021, he was having some leg problems, originating from an affected sciatic nerve, leaving him no option than to undergo physical therapy. However, George’s lack of social media updates stop us from knowing how he’s doing health-wise these days, but there’s hoping he had a smooth recovery.

Rich Lewis

With appearances in “Mountain Men” from seasons two to six, Rich Lewis is remembered for being the mountain lion hunter of the cast. His fearless attitude in defending his community from wild animals in Ruby Valley, not only turned him into somewhat of a local hero, but also gained him enough recognition to be cast in the show.

Unfortunately, not a lot is known about Rich Lewis since he left the show in 2017, leaving us to wonder whether he still lives in an off the grid way, or has simply adapted to a less exacting lifestyle in recent years.

Charlie Tucker

Based in Maine’s Great North Woods, Charlie Tucker is remembered for being just what one would expect from someone who lives all year long in a remote location. He was fearless and hard-working, with an attitude which turned him into a “Mountain Men” fan favorite when he debuted in the second season.

Charlie left after the fourth season wrapped up, and though he didn’t explain much about his exit, his admission of hating ‘when you don’t have reality’ during an interview with Bargon Daily News could be a clue as to why he decided not to continue in “Mountain Men”.

Unfortunately, not much about Charlie’s whereabouts is known nowadays. Just like some of his former co-stars, the trapper doesn’t have social media, and hasn’t given another try to TV since his exit in 2015.

Kyle Bell

The father and son team formed by Kyle and Ben Bell was definitely a fan favorite during the two seasons they appeared in “Mountain Men”. Although they ultimately left the show for unknown reasons in 2015, Kyle and Ben were ready to try out new things with their project “Survival Sense”, an online series they started in 2016.

However, despite setting up a website and sharing a video for their project on YouTube, the father and son disappeared from social media soon afterwards, and unsurprisingly, there hasn’t been any news about their whereabouts since then. Here’s only hoping that Kyle and Ben are in good health, and still doing what they love the most.

Jason Hawk

Unlike most of his former co-stars in “Mountain Men”, the survivalist and bladesmith Jason Hawk is quite active on social media, following his exit from the show in the ninth season.

Unfortunately, in early 2021, Jason announced that he’d just been diagnosed with cancer, and an online funding campaign was set up to help him afford medical treatment. Given that Jason’s contract with “Mountain Men” hadn’t been renewed according to his family, he didn’t receive any income other than that resulting from his job as a bladesmith, selling his creations through his website Jason Hawk Knives.

Jason has since been receiving medical treatment to overcome his cancer. The most recent procedure took place in November 2022, and his wife Mary Fricchione announced on Facebook that the surgery result was good.

That being said, there’s nothing else for us other than to wish Jason a smooth recovery and hope to see him, Morgan Beasley and many other former “Mountain Men” stars back on TV sometime in the future.