Both shows include staged units in my opinion. Information was posted on the Storage Wars forum several months ago that really called one of their units into question.
I'm sure there have been one or two but I don't believe I've ever seen a bust unit on storage wars. I know a few have looked to be a bust and then they pull out an 1800 dollar vase at the last second but can't recall a total bust unit.
but in my opinion, if it were just random like us, then it wouldnt be much for tv would it?
Most people know better than to store valuables in these units anyway.
Obviously all reality shows use a lot of editing and make story lines as real life isn't as exciting as a story line but I would at least like the characters on the show to be real people and not actors and like the show to have some basis in reality.Its called tv. And adv companys arent going to pay top dollar to advertise if the show cant keep the attention of the audience. Storage bors and AH shows make the ad companys money for a reason.
I was watching animal planet the other day while channel surfing and there were guys catching a snake. Taking a closer look I noticed one of the guys was Ton, the bald guy from auction hunters. This leads me to believe both these guys are actors and the show is totally fake.
Obviously Storage Wars drums up drama and makes a story line but I'm pretty sure all those guys are actually real people who attend auctions and run resale shops.
This kinda ruins the show for me. I can't say I'm surprised though. I used to watch Black Gold the oil show based in Odessa Texas. A buddy of mine recently moved down there and told me they were actually having casting calls for guys to be on teh show. Again, another "reality" show taht uses actors and is totally fake.
I know this topic is old but I wanted to chime in and say of course Auction Hunters is fake. So is Storage Wars. Look, ever notice how Ton and Allen are experts on the rare antiques they find? They did their homework for the show. I have been to storage auctions and I never find rare or priceless stuff. Usually its junk or household items. Mostly apartment folks who have no room for their useless stuff.
These shows have folks who want to auction off their items and they contact the show, and these items get placed in different storage units. It makes no sense whatsoever that people who own priceless antiques and collectibles would not be able to afford the storage unit. Most people know better than to store valuables in these units anyway.
Okay, I know that the geek that is buying the jet engine in "The Dallas Mavericks" episode is an actor. I have seen him in a recurring role in a Sci-fi TV show or Movie. I can picture him, but just can't place him.
Anyone else have an idea?
Does that mean that the shows are Fake? No. It does mean that if you decide to try your hand at Auction Hunting you might not want to expect that it is going to a big score every time. Remember that on Auction Hunters they say 80% of the units are a bust. That means that only 2 out of 10 units pay off.
Remember that on Auction Hunters they say 80% of the units are a bust. That means that only 2 out of 10 units pay off.
So you believe these two guys travel around the country in an old bread truck spending thousands of dollars on units to end up only being profitable on 20% of them and still make a living? Do these guys have houses or wives or kids? Do they live out of that bread truck?So you believe these two guys travel around the country in an old bread truck spending thousands of dollars on units to end up only being profitable on 20% of them and still make a living? Do these guys have houses or wives or kids? Do they live out of that bread truck?
Did you even read my entire post? Even if 80% of the units are a bust, it does not mean they are worthless. It just means they lost money on that unit. They could have lost one dollar or $400 dollars. I explained in my post that at one auction they bought 11 units, nine of which they lost money, but the other two made them enough of a profit to pay for all of the units and make thousands in profit. As far as them driving around the country I believe they do that for the show. I also mentioned in my post that I believe they get payed to do the show. What you seem to be saying is that if they are doing anything different from what they would normally do for the sake of the show that the show is fake. If that is the case then why didn't you just make a post called all TV is fake?
The next logical step to gain viewership is to add attractive, scantily-clad women - I'll guarantee you that's where we're headed. Maybe "Storage Strippers..?" :P
And regarding a buyer paying retail, remember this, the fact that an item showed up on a TV show adds to it’s ‘provenance’!
Honestly - if you have been doing this long enough you should have a number of buyers or "go-to" people for a number of different things. It's when they leave to travel all over the US and still can find not just the right person, but a buyer with cash in hand that really drives me nuts.
Yeah, it's fake. I was working on the crew, helped load the stuff into the rooms for them to act like they were bidding on it. it just supposed to be fun to watch, nobody in their right mind would think it's real. When we went to Dallas, the extra bidders were all extras, we rented a storage place for two days, loaded the stuff into the rooms, and shot the script. The guys "bid" on the rooms, then act amazed when they find the stuff. After we got thru, we took all the stuff we got locally back to the pawn shops, etc where we rented it from. Some of it we rented in L. A. The scripts were written around what we could find beforehand that was interesting, and some of it was written in later when we found it locally. We went into the pawn and antique shops, asked what they had that was really valuable, old or unusual, and rented it from them. we did our shoot, and returned it all. Simple as that. Hell, the "North Texas" shoot (Everything is Bigger in Texas) wasen't even shot in Texas, it was filmed in Lawton Oklahoma. In real life, those storage rooms are full of crap. We had to put some good stuff in there, or it's boring. All the "storage" type reality shows are faked. We have to, or no one would watch it.
Yeah, it's fake. I was working on the crew, helped load the stuff into the rooms for them to act like they were bidding on it.
it just supposed to be fun to watch, nobody in their right mind would think it's real.
Yea but the country is full of people in their "wrong" minds! Thats why $50 units are selling for $500 now. Since you are in the TV business, can you get the producers to do shows about flea markets and thrift stores and show how buying typical used household junk for $1, $5, $10, etc. can make you hundreds and thousands of dollars.Thats what Ive have been saying. I work in radio and noway in hell would subway and other adverisers risk there reputation and ad dollars on a show that cant keep the audience entertained
I can see it now, you can get Alan & Ton to come to my flea market and buy everything of my tables for $1000 then show all the antiques & collectibles they found for a profit of $3000! I can't wait, we are counting on you to make this happen!
I work in radio ...
You have mentioned this several times. What kind of work do you do:From on air ,to promotion and now a broadcast engineer. Also a hvac service tech of 4 years of school. Main job engineer
1) on-air
2) technical (board work, etc)
3) time sales
4) continuity
5) ??
6) ??
On the Boston episode, they showed that 2 units were bought, neither of which looked that great in the few seconds we got to look inside. In one, they found a great vintage bike and some valuable, random bike parts.
Quote from: OldRoads on December 12, 2011, 03:00:37 PM
And regarding a buyer paying retail, remember this, the fact that an item showed up on a TV show adds to it’s ‘provenance’!
Isn't that a city in Rhode Island ?
Oh, I dunno... pics of you with the cast? Pics of anything having to do with the show? Wouldnt prove whether it was real or fake, but would certainly tell us a few things.
But the show is fake and that is fact.
And so we dont get lost with semantics, fake meaning staged or pre arranged, acted out.
Haven't watched AH since SW started on the same night about 3 weeks ago. Be interesting to see if AH numbers go down because of that programming move on the part of A&E.
The AH boys just find too many great things...I don't even care if they are re-enactments of things they have found in the past; a good disclaimer at the beginning of the show (assume that's still on), but show me one of the 80% that don't make 10K sometime...hell, I'd be happy to see them pawning the rest of the stuff off on some other buyers, or paying someone to make the dump run, but until that happens (and pigs fly) I'll go with the less fake (but still fake) SW episodes.
I had to laugh onetime when they were in Florida. They talk about all the stuff they had take to a flea market and in 6 hours they sold just over $3000 worth of stuff. I want to take stuff to that flea market.
All you have to do is take $30,000 worth of inventory to the flea market and you will sell it for $3,000 in 6 hours! LOL
I went to an auction / taping today in Covina, Ca. It was pure coincidence as my business is next door to where they were filming and we are friends with the manager of the storage facility. I hooked up with a father / son team who are S.A.G. members (so their faces will be pixelated) and enjoyed the auction, but was surprised at the prices the units went for. I guess people were just trying to buy some camera time by grossly overpaying.
Everyone noticed 1 very attractive young girl who was by herself and got some attention from Allen. Now, I couldn't say for sure if she was a write-in to stir the pot or just a normal bidder, but she posted herself at the end of the aisle twice and I actually pointed out to the father / son team, that this would give her a direct shot walking down the aisle to confront who she was bidding against, and lo and behold I was right.
She won one and lost one, and was a very nice girl too. After the shooting and re-do's to get some extra action she stopped in my shop next door (we let everyone park in our lot, as it is huge) and talked for a minute. She was a down to earth 4x4 driving girl, not the usual self centered MBZ driving person you would associate with "Hollywood".
The cast and crew were very courteous and professional, but I know the area and will be disappointed if they seed any of the units. But hey, it is T.V. so they need to do what they need to do.
I don't care that the show is fake ( the high end scores are staged). But Clinton is a hilarious guy, a good guy, who has the funniest background, and that's all I'm intending on sharing.
obviously from what I am reading most people do not read the disclaimer at the beginning of every Auction Hunters episode. It says and I quote.Oh I wont start! But we all know that the disclaimer states! The show is 99.9% fake and we know it.
"Each year, Allen Haff and Ton Jones dig through hundreds of unclaimed storage units hunting for discarded treasures.
These are the stories of their most rare and valuable discoveries."
That would be why they only show the good units on it.
I thought this was interesting.
I thought this was interesting.
In episode 212, Allen and Ton "find" an rc viper jet in a storage unit. They proceed to "sell" it to Tons friend Billy for $9k.
http:/www.spike.com/full-episodes/31nafh/auction-hunters-top-gun-ton-season-2-ep-212
Yet, on an rc auction web page, Billy is selling the same jet for $6k
http://www.rcuniverse.com/market/item.cfm?itemId=765519
The problem is that in the auction ad Billy claims to have "built this plane myself about 8 months ago". As an interested person points out, how could billy have built the jet himself and it have been found randomly in a locker at the same time?
Either the show or the seller is lying. I tend not to put faith in "reality TV"...
I just found a reference ( and link ) to the RC Jet mentioned above in another forum , so the word on how fake the show is , is getting around .What AH needs to do is take lesson from Barry wise on SW and mimic rocky movie. Then the show would be more real!. All the TV show are scripted and are for entertainment purposes only. The networks have an obligation to the people who pay there bills and that's the advertisers.
Bandit
i have to ask about the episode that the antique black powder pistol to shot chain fired, i have to say if you have seen a certain episode of pawn stars you know how they used to prevent that back in the day.
Storage hunters, watching that right now, they keep talking about being able to research the owner, name, job, hobbies? does this actually happen in the real world?
they found a cannon, i so shocked :o
Nope, not fake. Modified reality though. See this thread.
http://storageauctionforums.com/index.php?topic=581.0
Humm you may want to pay a little bit closer attention to the Show, as Barry regularly loses money on his lockers and they have shown all of them losing money on their lockers.
Auction Hunters? I will agree they only show the great lockers and it is not too close to reality, however Storage Wars seems to be a bit more real. JMO!!!!!
I'm just waiting for the episode when they find ...... the pistol used to assassinate Lincoln. ::)
This last show had the feel of reality:
The partners agree on a top price.
One partner blows waaaay through the cap.
They lose their butts on the purchase.
The partnership implodes and one of them takes his balls and goes home, leaving the other holding the bag.
That sounds about right.
Just saw this thread and decided to register to comment on it.
Yes, Auction Hunters has been canceled.