“He’s Always Covering His Throat” — ‘Blind Frog Ranch’ Fans Suspect Duane Ollinger Health Decline

Like Skinwalker Ranch and The Curse of Oak Island, Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch has audiences. Some viewers of the show are intrigued by the purported treasures and other secrets brimming beneath the surface of the Utah land. Others, however, aren't so sure of claims that the earth in which the series takes place is as uncanny as some claim.

However, recent discussions surrounding the show have less to do with the veracity of its content and more with Duane Ollinger's health.

A longtime "high-risk oil contractor" Duane Ollinger ended up selling his Amarillo, Texas-based contracting business and began devoting his efforts to mining gold in Utah's Uintah Mountains.

While prospecting there at Blind Frog Ranch, he uncovered a series of intriguing "underground caverns." It's the exploration of these caves that serves as the premise of the Reality TV series.

Much of the series is centered on Duane's efforts in attempting to find treasure resting beneath these caverns. So it's not surprising that a good portion of the show's screen time is dedicated to the gold prospector's work.

And viewers have begun to speculate that something is amiss with Duane's health. On a Facebook group page dedicated to debunking the series, numerous users on the social media application posted several observations about his physical appearance, and that it seemingly indicates he may be suffering from illness.

One woman asked: "Did Duane have surgery on his head?"

Someone else remarked, "I think he's deathly ill."

While another thinks that a recurring article of clothing Duane is constantly sporting from episode to episode is indicative of potential problems.

"He doesn’t look well, and covers his throat in every episode," another person wrote. Additionally, someone else thought that his habit of covering his throat was due to an issue with his throat. This fact, coupled with Duane's speech patterns led them to believe he may be suffering from throat cancer.

"I'm thinking since he covers up his neck and kinda stiff and voice is a little off that maybe he had throat cancer and surgery?"

Someone else replied that Duane himself had commented upon the status of his health within the series. "I could tell he wasn’t looking that well, and a couple episodes ago it was mentioned that he had health issues."

For others, the way the prospector has been carrying himself recently throughout the series is indicative of his worsening health conditions. "Looks real bad compared to Season 3. Bent over, real thin, and shaky."

Others thought that perhaps Ollinger had to undergo "back surgeries" which is presumably attributed to partaking in constant physical labor.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published analytics that linked heightened levels of back surgeries and musculoskeletal disorders for manual laborers. Seeing as Duane has worked as an oil rig contractor and is now a gold prospector, it's not outside the realm of possibility that he could very well require surgical procedures to address injuries he sustained over years of physical work.

Duane still seems to be active on social media. Recently, he posted a screenshot of text to his Instagram account detailing that the series is the second most watched program on the Discovery Channel, and 121st most popular on overall TV.