What? 'Storage Wars" is Faked?? Say it isn't so

[Tiggeroo]

when on this show was dave ever called " The Mogul". Lots of other things probably but not that. I always laugh at his totals. He finds a dresser that here would go to the curb or sell at a yard sale for maybe 50. bucks and it's an antique worth 800. easy.

[Arielle22]

I found his allegations interesting because I always thought he seemed to get the better lockers. So was it ok if he was getting the goods but not ok if it was someone else?

[katrina1122]

Originally Posted by The Mystery Machine

Well that was an interesting read.

Here is a tip..... all reality shows are scripted and fake.
.

So true... I was a vendor at a local bridal show. For the 2 hours before it opened while we were all setting up the "Glam Fairy" show from Style (i think) was fully set up and doing complimentary hair trials for supposed brides. They were actually 3 actresses. The fairies staged the same argument over some guy in 9 different takes all while laughing in between, there was no argument.

totally fake, totally scripted...but fun to watch the taping none the less.

[Geoff_M]

Originally Posted by tvguy

Same with American Pickers. They spent a week on the road, buy $2,000 worth of stuff that they are going to make $2,000 on. Hotel for 5 nights, meals, fuel for that van, salaries for the 2 guys.......the math just doesn't work to me.

I have no doubt that the extent of the trips they show on the program wouldn't happen if they weren't being underwritten by the show's producers. But that's a minor complaint as the show in fact features the basics of what they do. But parts of the show are obviously staged as the video crew is clearly set up and ready to go when the boys are shown rolling into the person's driveway.

Pawn Stars made more sense after reading Rick Harrison's book. 99% of the stuff you see is them buying stuff. In reality, 80% (according to his book) of their business is taking items in pawn, and lending money at an interest rate of about 23% per month. THAT, is where they make their money.

It's obvious that the "sellers" are pre-screened and don't just walk up cold to the counters. I'm also sure that Rick doesn't just hang out standing behind the counter waiting for people to walk-up. Likewise, I'm sure the authenticators are often times "pre-staged". But this doesn't bother me, because I only really care about the items featured. However, I wish they'd knock off the blatantly contrived office antics.

[minniecarousel]

This is rich - Dave Hester complaining about the show being "staged". Well, duh! You were in on it Dave! YUUUP!

Barry is the one who cracks me up. From the beginning, I had heard that Barry was a friend of the Producer and was asked to be in the show. He's an interesting character, but doesn't always use the best judgement in bidding on lockers.

[FlightlessDuck]

Originally Posted by Geoff_M

It's obvious that the "sellers" are pre-screened.

This is also true for Comic Book Men (Kevin Smith's comic shop reality show). People fill out an application to be on the show as sellers.

http://blogs.mcall.com/tvwatchers/20...-book-men.html

[daughtersrus]

Originally Posted by tvguy

Pawn Stars made more sense after reading Rick Harrison's book. 99% of the stuff you see is them buying stuff. In reality, 80% (according to his book) of their business is taking items in pawn, and lending money at an interest rate of about 23% per month. THAT, is where they make their money.

One of the early Pawn Star episodes showed Rick Dale's brother (of course they didn't tell us who he was) bringing in an old Coke machine to sell. They bought the machine and ended up bringing it to Rick to fix so they could sell it at a higher profit.

[TXinmyheart]

Originally Posted by Geoff_M

It's obvious that the "sellers" are pre-screened and don't just walk up cold to the counters. I'm also sure that Rick doesn't just hang out standing behind the counter waiting for people to walk-up. Likewise, I'm sure the authenticators are often times "pre-staged". But this doesn't bother me, because I only really care about the items featured. However, I wish they'd knock off the blatantly contrived office antics.

You do apply to be on Pawn Stars.

http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-st...-on-pawn-stars

I have been to their store twice and no one from the show was ever there. The only one I recognized once was the black guy working security by the front door.

[pumba]

good thing that they didnt open a unit in Maine...Last year the owners of the deceased went in and found a dead person that was missing for a few years...I wonder if they look into units before putting them out to be sold...
AND I hated to watch Dave...he made my hair stand up ...but the others were pretty nice people...especially poor Barry...he doesnt seem to need the money..

[pixiewings71]

Originally Posted by HM

The thing that bothers me about storage wars is when they get into their units and start "counting up" how much they can make from the stuff. We can't believe that they will end up getting anywhere near what they say things are worth. We always say that we'd love to see what they actually sold their merchandise for.

This bugs me too, but we still watch because it's fun. lol I never believe when they say "I can sell this for xxx". lol

Originally Posted by minniecarousel

This is rich - Dave Hester complaining about the show being "staged". Well, duh! You were in on it Dave! YUUUP!

Barry is the one who cracks me up. From the beginning, I had heard that Barry was a friend of the Producer and was asked to be in the show. He's an interesting character, but doesn't always use the best judgement in bidding on lockers.

I love Barry, he's so funny and he finds the weirdest things in his lockers. He's just fun to watch.

Originally Posted by TXinmyheart

You do apply to be on Pawn Stars.

http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-st...-on-pawn-stars

I have been to their store twice and no one from the show was ever there. The only one I recognized once was the black guy working security by the front door.

I went in once, there was 1 guy who was on the show a few times, he started as a security guy but knew something about antiques so he was featured a few times. It was really neat to meet him. No one else was there.

Originally Posted by pumba

good thing that they didnt open a unit in Maine...Last year the owners of the deceased went in and found a dead person that was missing for a few years...I wonder if they look into units before putting them out to be sold...
AND I hated to watch Dave...he made my hair stand up ...but the others were pretty nice people...especially poor Barry...he doesnt seem to need the money..

When I worked at a storage facility we did not open them prior to auction, when the bills were unpaid we simply cut off their lock and put ours on. The only way to have our lock removed was to bring full back payment or to have it cut off at auction.

[Disneychix]

I just rented a storage facility to put some furniture in before our new house is ready. The owner of the place was going through all the fine print (seriously, getting a storage facility now has just as much paperwork as getting a mortgage!) and he came across the part about defaulting on the rental and how the auction set up goes and the timeframes and such.
I do have to say, he told us it is illegal for even him to open the locker and rifle through before the auction.
So while I know that these shows are staged and edited and whatnot, I honestly don't believe they are 'planting' goods and units.

[ShesAPirate]

Originally Posted by I loveStitchnippyjon

Dave is just trying to get more publicity. He seems like a mean-spirited, small person. I hope he actually WAS fired!

My thoughts exactly. When I saw the link was to a lawsuit, I knew his name was going to be on it.

[mad madam mim78]

I decided it was fake when 98 percent of the time it was one of the show cast members who won the lockers. You're telling me that out of 50 people that showed up to the auction it was only storage war people who won.

The sad part is I wonder how many people decided to start buying storage lockers hoping to find treasure.

[Diznygrl]

Originally Posted by Tiggeroo

when on this show was dave ever called " The Mogul". Lots of other things probably but not that. I always laugh at his totals. He finds a dresser that here would go to the curb or sell at a yard sale for maybe 50. bucks and it's an antique worth 800. easy.

They label Dave as "The Mogul" during the theme song/opening credits. Jarrod is "The Young Gun", Barry is "The Collector", and Darrell is "The Gambler".

[The Mystery Machine]

Originally Posted by Disneychix

I just rented a storage facility to put some furniture in before our new house is ready. The owner of the place was going through all the fine print (seriously, getting a storage facility now has just as much paperwork as getting a mortgage!) and he came across the part about defaulting on the rental and how the auction set up goes and the timeframes and such.
I do have to say, he told us it is illegal for even him to open the locker and rifle through before the auction.
So while I know that these shows are staged and edited and whatnot, I honestly don't believe they are 'planting' goods and units.

You need to read the complaint. They are absolutely planting things but they are doing "after" the auction, I think.

It appears that they are opening the unit right away in the show but in reality they open the unit the next day after they plant goods.

At least that is how I read it and I am not reading it again.