Ernie Brown Jr. was born on the 26th June 1976, in Washington County, Kentucky USA, and is a reality television star, who is well known for starring in the television series “Call of the Wildman”, in which he is known as The Turtle Man since he is able to snap turtles bare-handed. When he was only a 17 year-old boy, he is known to have caught the turtle named The Loch Ness Turtle which was nearly 70 kg. The Turtle Man catches 300 turtles per year, and overall he has caught more than 12,000. Unsurprisingly, he has also been injured 33 times.
How rich is the reality television star? It has been estimated by authoritative sources that the overall size of The Turtle Man’s net worth is as much as $1 million, as of the data presented in early-2018, accumulated during Ernie’s career which began in his teenage years.
Turtle Man Net Worth $1 Million
To begin with, Ernie grew up in Kentucky, with the family settling down in Marion County. When just five, Ernie decided that one day he would become worthy of being on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, however, at seven years of age, he managed to catch a turtle bare handed, in a pond without any equipment, only using his hands, as the boy wanted to help to nourish the family. His uncle as well as his father were familiar with the technique, and taught it to the boy. Being 17 years old, Ernie set his personal record, catching the biggest turtle in his life which was almost 70 kg weight. In addition to catching turtles, he did various blue collar jobs, such as helping in construction sites, worked on a dairy farm, and in a lumber yard. Unfortunately, he has had several accidents working on construction sites, which among other injuries resulted in breaking his jaw and losing some of his teeth.
Concerning his career as a television personality, Ernie Brown Jr. has appeared in the television program “Kentucky Afield” (2008), showing his abilities, and so attracting the attention of producers who worked on the Animal Planet channel. From 2011 to 2014, Ernie Brown starred alongside Neal James in the reality television series “Call of the Wildman”, broadcast on Animal Planet. In the show, The Turtle Man catches not only turtles but also other types of nuisance animals, like possums, foxes, spiders, snakes, skunks and racoons. He tries to protect not only himself, but also the animal, as he catches each one and takes it to a safe place. Usually, he is paid only to cover the cost of gasoline. The show “Call of the Wildman” was very popular, at its peak gathering more than 780,000 viewers. After the show, Ernie Brown Jr. has been invited as a guest star into various television programs,which have included “The Tonight Show”, “Anderson Cooper 360°”, “Duck Dynasty”, “Billy the Exterminator” and many others.
Finally, in the personal life of the television personality, he was married to Debbie, and the family has two daughters, with custody granted to their following the couple’s divorce, but the children still communicate with their father.
