Pawn Stars premiered on the History Channel in July 2009 and aired for 17 seasons, concluding in June 2020. Throughout its run, it became one of the most popular television shows, with millions of viewers tuning in each week to watch the antics of the Harrison family and their team of experts at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop Las Vegas.
At its peak, Pawn Stars drew in over 7 million viewers per episode, making it one of the highest-rated shows on cable television. It also spawned several spin-off series, including Pawn Stars UK and Pawn Stars Australia, as well as numerous imitators and parodies.
Despite its popularity, the show has faced its fair share of criticism and controversy over the years. Some have accused it of perpetuating negative stereotypes about the pawn industry, while others have questioned the authenticity of its storylines and appraisals. One significant criticism the show has faced is whether it's scripted.
What Was Pawn Stars?
Pawn Stars entertained audiences for over a decade. The show followed the daily operations of the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, Nevada, which the Harrison family owns.
The show's primary focus was the family's interactions with customers bringing various items to sell or pawn. The show's prominent family members and characters included Rick Harrison, the owner of the pawn shop; his father, Richard "Old Man" Harrison (who passed away in 2018); Rick's son Corey "Big Hoss" Harrison; and Corey's childhood friend Austin "Chumlee" Russell.
Alongside the family members, the show featured a team of experts who specialize in various fields, such as art, antiques, weapons, and more. They helped evaluate and authenticate the items brought into the shop while providing valuable historical context and background to the items featured on the show.
A Pawn Stars Extra Revealed They Were Told Exactly What To Do
One Redditor claims to have the inside scoop on Pawn Stars. According to their comment on a thread in AskReddit, "I was selected to be on Pawn Stars in the background. They tell you to pretend to look and point at items and to be really quiet. The director person tells Rick and the person with the item everything to say. Super fake."
A former show employee has claimed that much of what you see on TV is staged. "We were encouraged to put on a show for the cameras," they said. "Sometimes we would shoot a scene five or six times to get it right."
Rick Harrison, one of the show's stars and co-owners of the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, has been outspoken about the show's authenticity. In several interviews, he has emphasized that while some planning may be involved, most of the show's content is unscripted.
"There's no script, but we have an idea of what we're going to talk about. It's really more of a reality show than anything else," Harrison told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. In an interview with Parade, he echoed this sentiment: "We don't have a script, but we have a rough idea of what we're going to talk about. We're not actors. We're businessmen who happen to be on TV."
Harrison's son, Corey, has also defended the show's authenticity. In an interview with Fox News, he explained that while the experts appearing on the show are sometimes briefed on the items beforehand, the cast members are not given scripted lines. "We don't have a script; we don't know what's going to happen until we walk out that door and see what comes through it," he said.
However, not everyone in the Harrison family has been as definitive in their defense of the show. Rick's father, Richard "Old Man" Harrison, was known for his no-nonsense attitude and skepticism of reality TV. In an interview with the Las Vegas Sun, he admitted that some aspects of the show were staged for the cameras.
"Some of it is real; some of it is phony," he said. "We've always said that if somebody comes in with a 16th-century Ming vase, we're not going to let them walk out with it. But everything else is fair game."
Similarly, Chumlee, the Harrisons' friend and employee at the pawn shop, has acknowledged that some aspects of the show are planned. In an interview with ABC News, he explained that while the interactions with customers are unscripted, the producers sometimes give the cast members specific tasks or scenarios to work with. "They'll say, 'Hey, why don't you guys do a race to see who can sell the most items in an hour?' And then we just go with it," he said.
The truth about Pawn Stars seems to lie somewhere in the middle. While the show may not be entirely scripted, some planning is undoubtedly involved in its production. Nevertheless, the interactions between the cast members and the customers are mainly unscripted, and the experts who appear on the show are genuine professionals in their fields.
Whether viewers consider the show authentic, it is hard to deny its enduring popularity and impact on reality TV.
What Was The Most Expensive Item Bought on Pawn Stars?
Their pockets got deeper in later seasons of Pawn Stars, and the purchases became grander. One significant investment would be when Rick Harrison came across the original sketches of Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are.
While speaking to the dealer, Harrison said, "It was the greatest book ever written. When I was a kid, I was fascinated by the pictures... It was so different from any other children's book."
These sketchers are one of a kind, as Sendak never sold prints of his work, making them even more special. After speaking with an expert, who told Harrison to expect $310,000 for the sketches, he made a deal with the seller for $250,000—making Maurice Sendak's sketches the most expensive purchase on the show.
Pawn Stars is currently streaming on Hulu.
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