Professionals in the business have long suspected that many of the storage auction programs are faked or at least shown in a way that exaggerates certain qualities while downplaying others. The purpose of reality TV is, after all, primarily to entertain. Little wonder then that realism is sacrificed at the altar of good television.
Some reality shows are better than others, though, when it comes to realism. Although Dave Hester’s lawsuit against the producers of Storage Wars brought to light certain issues that plagued that program, such as the planting of valuable items while the storage hunters fake surprise at their “discovery,” many people in the auction business stand by Storage Wars as one of the most realistic shows in the genre. Bidders lose money on units, find normal household items and generally act practical, making this show the benchmark of “good” storage auction TV.
Other programs are not nearly so well respected. Take, for example, TruTV’s offering, Storage Hunters. If the obviously derivative name were not enough of a clue that this program may lag behind its competition in quality, a few episodes are enough to show most viewers why this show is pretty unpopular. Storage Hunters is actually TruTV’s second attempt at a storage auction television show after its first short-lived and failed attempt, Forbidden Storage. Both shows suffer from similar problems: The auctions are unrealistic, the units look obviously staged, and the auctioneers act unprofessional.
According to many viewers, Auction Hunters combines the worst qualities of Auction Hunters with the over-the-top drama of the repo shows in order to deliver something to hook viewers. There are even fights breaking out and, in one particularly infamous example, a convenient explosion that seems obviously staged. Here are a few more troubling issues that suggest storage Hunters is fake:
- The auctioneer is crass and often verbally abusive, behaviors which would never work in a real-world auction.
- The auctioneer travels around the country to run these auctions, which is essentially unheard of in the industry
- Every unit not only contains rare or valuable items, they’re usually tidy and staged almost like a store front.
- There are a surprising number of people wearing “Staff” shirts at the auction for no clear reason. Coupled with the fights that break out intermittently, this certainly gives the show a “Jerry Springer” vibe.
To people in the industry, it would appear that the crew of Storage Hunters fake every aspect of the show in an attempt to make it seem more exciting. Given the subject of some other TruTV programs, this is hardly surprising. The new program, Container Wars is at least moderately more realistic, but as a rule, TruTV is almost never a reliable source of information.
