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Storage Wars - Is this for reals?

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H

hayejin

Member
I've been watching storage wars marathon on A&E this morning and evening but is this real or staged? I'm sure the producers edit or weed out the busts but seriously why would anyone abandon a storage when there are sometimes jeweleries or safe or even cash hidden behind picture frame(really?)?

It just seem unreal how such abandoned storage units have so much junk sometimes worth upwards to 30k in'em. Anyone know if this is all real and people can actually make living off of doing this or is this just fake reality show?
 
B

BatDan

Bane? Get them on board, I'll call it in.
It's both.
They do make money off selling the contents of abandoned storage lockers but a lot of the fights and drama are obviously staged.
 
G

G-Fex

Member
no but Storage Hunters on TruTV is real.

So is everything on TruTV

have you seen Lizard Lick Towing or Full Throttle Saloon?

it blows my mind how real those things are and how WILD they can become. I'm like "Can they really film that? No way!"
 
S

Synth_floyd

Banned
They probably pre-screen the storage containers in advance so they know what's in them and then the bidding and drama is all scripted. That's how it works in Pawn Stars.
 
B

BigJonsson

Member
G-Fex said:
no but Storage Hunters on TruTV is real.

So is everything on TruTV

have you seen Lizard Lick Towing or Full Throttle Saloon?

it blows my mind how real those things are and how WILD they can become. I'm like "Can they really film that? No way!"
Click to expand...



lol
 
P

Prez

Member
I think a lot of that stuff is stolen. Also if the owners can no longer pay the rent they no longer have access to the locker. So they couldn't go get something out of their locker to pay the renting fee.

Anyway, these guys do this for a living. They need to buy close to a hundred lockers a week to be able to do this. Most of the lockers are worthless but they compensate and make a profit with the findings you get to see on the show.
 
P

Phenomic

Member
One of the ideas on this me and my brother have discussed is honestly just people either not knowing what they having and just not having the money to pay the bill and they let it lapse, or something as simple as people who own these storage lockers pass away and they are left without people knowing about them.

I'm not saying it's 100% legit because who knows, but I'd like to think it's not 100% BS.
 
E

elrechazado

Banned
Phenomic said:
One of the ideas on this me and my brother have discussed is honestly just people either not knowing what they having and just not having the money to pay the bill and they let it lapse, or something as simple as people who own these storage lockers pass away and they are left without people knowing about them.

I'm not saying it's 100% legit because who knows, but I'd like to think it's not 100% BS.
Click to expand...

The existence of abandoned storage is absolutely real guys....this isn't the question. The question is whether the show itself depicts a real process of the bidding and buying of them.

If you've never used or known anyone who used or lived by or seen a storage place like this, they have regular auctions and sales because a set percentage of the people who use them abandon their shit there all the time.
 
E

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
Synth_floyd said:
They probably pre-screen the storage containers in advance so they know what's in them and then the bidding and drama is all scripted. That's how it works in Pawn Stars.
Click to expand...

There's no actual drama in the show from the episodes that I've seen, though. The most drama is when that 'YUUUUP' guy bids up stuff to piss off the bald guy. After that they usually talk to the bald guy and he says one or two things about how much yuuuup guy annoys him.
 
A

Acheron

Banned
If they don't plant then there is judicious editing of literally hundreds of auctions to get the handful they show. In fact it's even possible that in an episode each storage locker purchased was not purchased on the same taping day. The likelihood that on each day three guys purchase a locker, one doesn't and then two of the three have a real antique is impossible.

So take your pick: they plant stuff OR they edit down considerable footage to an unrepresentative result

Either way don't get into storage auctions.
 
T

thefit

Member
This happened to Paris Hilton, she didn't pay her bill and so her storage locker was auctioned off the person who bought the contents made a lot of money from reselling the contents among the stuff in there were nude pics and diaries.
 
B

big_z

Member
storage units with a lot of value can be real but are rare. the show is fake. watch closely and now and then you'll see boxes and stuff restacked differently when they had to do reshoots of scenes.
 
H

hayejin

Member
thefit said:
This happened to Paris Hilton, she didn't pay her bill and so her storage locker was auctioned off the person who bought the contents made a lot of money from reselling the contents among the stuff in there were nude pics and diaries.
Click to expand...

I don't remember anyone buying the unit. Last time I heard it was the storage unit place that was trying to sell off the items unless Paris cough up some millions.
 
A

alphaNoid

Banned
The show is real, I actually went with a coworker years back to an auction out here and Barry was there. I didn't know at the time, but I remember him now. But I've been into Dave Hesters shop in Costa Mesa and the premise of the show in general is very, very real.

People abandon storage units because they can no longer pay for them. Its a repo so to speak and the storage company just acquires then auctions them off. Now, being that its a TV show it is produced and highly edited in post to give that zing that keeps you tuning in.

I will end with this, all of the auctions these guys go to are listed here in the local paper so its very real.
 
B

BigJonsson

Member
hayejin said:
I don't remember anyone buying the unit. Last time I heard it was the storage unit place that was trying to sell off the items unless Paris cough up some millions.
Click to expand...


No, the woman who bought the unit has been on the last couple episodes of Storage Wars
 
C

Cheerilee

Member
BigJonsson said:
No, the woman who bought the unit has been on the last couple episodes of Storage Wars
Click to expand...

Apparently Paris Hilton's people set up automatic payments for the locker, but the rates went up and the automatic payments didn't cover the difference. Her people didn't realize.

The storage company sold the locker to this woman for thousands, and she turned around and sold it to a tabloid website owner for millions.

The website tried to sell individual people permission to snoop through Paris' personal effects, including medical and bank records, and got sued for invasion of privacy.
 
M

Mineshaft_Gap

4077th
Korey said:
History Channel’s Pawn Stars is Fake

all of these shows are fake.

Edit: All "reality shows" are fake, except for the competition ones because those can be sued by the contestants
Click to expand...

I knew something was off the moment I saw this episode.

"These things are really hard to date."

No bitch. The back of the neck has a volute behind the headstock. Also you could see the finish cracking around where the two slabs of mahogany are pancaked together. No one with even a passing knowledge of Gibson Les Pauls and their history wouldn't know this. They're a pawn shop. '70's Les Paul customs are pretty damn common. I called bullshit right off the bat.
 
G

Gamer @ Heart

Member
Could some of you guys post more of these links that talk about how these shows are fake? I cant be alone in finding them incredibly fascinating.
 
E

equap

Banned
Brandi is real....
25-brandi-in-truck.jpg

Brandi-Passante-Feet-466806.jpg

whatuj.jpg

brandi-passante-storage-wars.jpg
 
E

elrechazado

Banned
equap said:
Brandi is real....
[MG]http://www.aetv.com/storage-wars/photos/season-2-preview/25-brandi-in-truck.jpg[/IMG]
[IG]http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/Nnedd/Brandi%20Passante/Brandi-Passante-Feet-466806.jpg[/IMG]
[IG]http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/Nnedd/Brandi%20Passante/whatuj.jpg[/IMG]
[IG]http://img.poptower.com/pic-71344/brandi-passante-storage-wars.jpg?d=600[/IMG]
Click to expand...
glad it's not only me
 
S

Slayven

Member
I live around corner from a storage place. They have actions about once a month. I should go one time and see how many lockers have meth equipment in them.
 
D

dskillzhtown

keep your strippers out of my American football
Acheron said:
If they don't plant then there is judicious editing of literally hundreds of auctions to get the handful they show. In fact it's even possible that in an episode each storage locker purchased was not purchased on the same taping day. The likelihood that on each day three guys purchase a locker, one doesn't and then two of the three have a real antique is impossible.

So take your pick: they plant stuff OR they edit down considerable footage to an unrepresentative result

Either way don't get into storage auctions.
Click to expand...

I think that they edit a ton of the stuff out of the show and try to piece together a show. I know a couple that did the storage auction thing for awhile. When they hit big, it was usually huge but it was extremely rare. Also, the way it was done locally was different from the show. Locally they raised/opened the door for one minute, then shut it. You would have to bid based on what you think you saw.

It is still a cool show even with the patching together of footage. Let's be honest, putting all of that stuff on a show wouldn't be entertaining at all.
 
B

BigJonsson

Member
Its like that similar show on Spike with the huge fat guy, they say up front that they buy tons of lockers but the show is only their biggest scores
 
D

dskillzhtown

keep your strippers out of my American football
AlexMogil said:
Remember when these channels showed interesting educational stuff?
Click to expand...

Gotta make money. Smithsonian still plays educational/historical shows mostly. But before History and Discovery started these reality shows, I can imagine their ratings were much lower. Plus these shows are cheap as hell to produce. As long as every now and then we do get something educational/historical, then I don't mind the reality stuff.
 
V

VALIS

Member
All of these reality shows are scripted. The worst thing is they don't even try to be subtle about it anymore. You can tell what's going to happen by the end most of the time given the obvious set ups.
 
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