Meet 'Undercover Billionaire' star Glenn Stearns, who built a fortune running a now-bankrupt mortgage lender and spent 15 months sailing around the world on a yacht with his family

Stearns had a troubled childhood.

"I wasn't the greatest kid growing up," Stearns said in a 2005 interview with American Executive obtained by Business Insider. "I grew up in a rough neighborhood in Maryland. I could have gone down a much different path if it wasn't for some people who were very influential in guiding me the right way."

Stearns has said he is dyslexic and struggled in school as a result, according to The Orange County Register. Stearns eventually attended Towson University and got a job as a loan officer, according to his interview with American Executive.

Stearns founded Stearns Lending at age 25 in 1989.

Then called First Pacific Financial, the company started off bidding on contracts from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Stearns told American Executive in 2005.

Stearns Lending also provides foreclosure, title, and escrow services, according to The Orange County Register.

The company had annual revenues of over $500 million, according to a 2015 report by the Orange County Business Journal.

Stearns sold 70% of Stearns Lending to Blackstone in 2015, but retains a 29% stake, per USA Today. USA Today also reported that the company has 2,700 employees and is the 20th-largest mortgage lender in the country, as of July.

He predicted the financial crisis.

A reporter for The Orange County Register asked Stearns in a 2007 interview obtained by Business Insider whether a credit crisis was imminent.

"Yes, I think there is. I think the reason is because of the whole knee-jerk reaction in Wall Street and the fact that we have been making bad loans for a while," he replied at the time.

Stearns also expressed concerns about the state of the housing market, which experienced a full-blown meltdown beginning in December 2007.

"I think we are at the very beginning of this still," Stearns told The Orange County Register in 2007. "If you look at this, it's usually a four- or five-year cycle of property values increasing or decreasing. We are really, what, in the first year of this."

His wife Mindy is best known for being "discovered" during a 1996 appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," in which she made animal noises.

Oprah first noticed Mindy in her audience after overhearing the Oregon native making animal sounds, according to the Willamette Week.

Mindy worked as a dental hygienist but was offered a job as a presenter at a radio station in Saginaw, Michigan, the Associated Press reported in 2004. She went on to appear on several VH1 specials and work as a reporter for "Entertainment Tonight."

The couple first met in a casino in Las Vegas but did not stay in touch, The Orange County Register reported in 2004. Stearns asked her out via email after seeing her on television and later surprised her with a marriage proposal while she was reporting a segment on "Mansions of Southern California."

The couple wed in 2003 and now has two daughters.

"Undercover Billionaire" isn't Stearns' first foray into reality television.

Stearns and his wife starred in the first season of the TBS show "The Real Gilligan's Island," according to Today. The show featured two teams of seven people that filled roles based on the original "Gilligan's Island" characters. The participants were made to compete in various challenges, and during filming, the couple had to live in a 200-square-foot hut in Mexico.

The Stearns were cast in the roles of "the millionaire and his wife," according to The Orange County Register. Stearns was the show's winner and donated the $250,000 cash prize (and an additional $250,000, matched from his own fortune) to charity.

At the time, the couple lived in a mansion in Newport Beach, California.

The Stearns hosted a viewing party for the season finale of "The Real Gilligan's Island" at their 15,000-square-foot home, according to a 2004 article in The Orange County Register obtained by Business Insider.

The house is a seven-bedroom, three-story French chateau located in Newport Beach's Pelican Hill neighborhood, according to The Orange County Register. The property also features views of the Pacific Ocean and Pelican Hill's golf course.

There is also a swimming pool, a patio with a fire pit, a wine cellar, a spiral staircase, a home theater, and a game room, according to The Orange County Register.

The house was originally listed for $23 million was on the market for several years before it was sold for $19.65 million, The Orange County Register reported in 2017.

Stearns has since moved out of Orange County.

Stearns now resides in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The town is known for being a favorite skiing destination for billionaires and celebrities, Business Insider previously reported.

Stearns also owned a home in Fiji, he told The Orange County Register in a 2004 interview.

Read more: A 3-day trip to Jackson Hole during what I thought would be the low season ended up being a valuable lesson in writing off ski towns as winter-only destinations

Stearns said he paid $250,000 for a ticket for a suborbital flight with Virgin Galactic in 2014.

Stearns was one of 700 early customers to do so, The Orange County Register reported in 2014. Other buyers include Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashton Kutcher, Justin Bieber, and the Winklevoss twins.

Mindy wasn't as excited about space exploration as Stearns, he told The Orange County Register in 2014.

"She said, 'Get your affairs in order — your life insurance,'" Stearns told the Register. "It was sort of joking, sort of not."

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson is "good friends" with Stearns.

"Glenn maintained his legendary humor throughout his illness," Branson wrote in a 2015 blog post about Stearns' battle with cancer, "and [Glenn and Mindy] joked about wishing [Glenn] could have a strong margarita before beginning his treatment."

Read more: Richard Branson, who turns 69 today, is sitting on a $4 billion fortune but reportedly wears the same jeans every day — see how the eccentric billionaire spends his money

The Stearns family spent 15 months sailing around the world on a superyacht.

The Stearns made the trip on a 58-meter yacht named Minderella, Mindy told Boat International in 2018.

The couple had the boat refitted before taking off. The renovations included enlarging the spa pool so it fit eight people instead of two, hanging hammocks on the deck, and installing a deep fryer to make French fries.

Mindy told Boat International that the couple's daughters were homeschooled on board in the mornings.

The best part of the trip, according to Mindy, was that the entire family ate every single meal together — something that her husband's busy schedule normally would have prohibited.

Stearns said a fight with cancer inspired him to take on the challenge of "Undercover Billionaire."

"I'd had cancer," Stearns previously told Business Insider. He decided to do "Undercover Billionaire" because "life is short and I don't want to have my last breath and have regrets [about wanting] to see if I could build a business."

On the show, Stearns goes to Erie, Pennsylvania, to see if he can create a million-dollar business in 90 days with only $100, a cell phone, and an old pickup truck, and without any of his business connections. He hid his true identity and assumed the alias of "Glenn Bryant," a "regular guy" who had always dreamed of starting a business and was participating in a new TV show called "The American Dream."

Read more: Discovery's 'Undercover Billionaire' explains how recovering from cancer inspired him to try and turn $100 into a million-dollar business in 90 days on TV

Despite Stearns' financial savvy, his company filed for bankruptcy in July 2019.

The company was struggling with a large amount of debt and an increase in interest rates, according to USA Today. The company had already cut jobs and reduced its annual expenses by 40% in an attempt to stay afloat, court documents analyzed by USA Today show.

However, Stearns might not actually be a billionaire.

Discovery Channel pegged Stearns' net worth at over $1 billion — hence the name of the show. However, we were not able to independently verify that figure, as Business Insider's Nathan McAlone reported in July ahead of the series' premiere.

The Orange County Register previously reported that the Stearns had a net worth of "about $500 million" when they appeared on "The Real Gilligan's Island" in 2004.