I joined this forum for the simple point of replying in this thread and to provide a good laugh to the members who've read this thread about the popular show.

I was Clinton Jones' best friend since the age of 4, up thru the first  part of high school, when I moved away and our friendship slowly drifted apart. There are some hilarious tidbits about Clint's life and childhood that are worthy of note. We grew up together in Quartz Hill, California, the high desert north of LA. He and I are exactly the same age, he has an older brother, who was my older brothers age and they were best friends. We all grew up doing t-ball and soccer together. Our moms are still friends to this day.

Clinton was the most injury prone kid in the world. He's broken major bones (arms, legs, etc) at least close to 30 times. I had to help him in Kindergarden, to write and draw, since he had a cast on his arm ( his older brother caught him riding his bike, so he stuck a rake thru the rear spokes of the bike while Clinton was riding it, flipping him up and over the top and shattering his arm when he landed). Clinton also got dragged by the arm, from the window of a car, around the parking lot of our high school, late after school one day, for talking to a guys girlfriend. The guy grabbed on to Clintons arm while he rested his forearm on the open window/door, and floored the gas. His shoulder has been permanently damaged as a result of this and his many many accidents growing up.

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.

He grew up playing with and catching lizards and snakes all the time. He never made any money at the animal wrangling thing. He was a big Steve Irwin fan though and wanted to try and do something similar to what he did.

Here's a rather humorous list of jobs that Clinton held :
1) Pleasure party host- he used to work in a small 2 person factory like setting, making *****s and sex toys, then taking them to sex parties to sell.
2) He is/ was licsensed in the state of California as a Reverend, with legal rights to perform marriages ( I don't know if he actually did any)
3)He became a very prolific piercing artist, mainly focusing on piercing the porn industry stars in San Fernando Valley
4) For hire flame blower- he always loved showmanship. He'd go to parties just to blow massive fireballs out of his mouth.
5) He is an amateur locksmith- which provided an entry way into one of his funniest TV show roles ( see below)

His film career has an interesting tie in. Years ago, he was just an extra, hired once in a while, because he fit the big biker dude look. He can be seen in Corky Romano, the piece of crap movie that Chris Kattan from Saturday Night Live did, about 10 years ago. I'm not sure if he even gets a credited role, but he is in a smokey bar scene playing a big biker dude in the movie, I don't think he even has a speaking part, but you can tell it's him.

A few years after that movie, he was still doing his animal rescue stuff ( spray painting his trucks with Reptile Rescue logos) and doing other odd jobs.  He got a call from a friend who was the receptionist at a plastic surgeons office in Palmdale, Ca. Clinton was actually cast and filmed in the show Dr 90210 as a result. Basically, one day, the camera crew for Dr 90210 were out at a new plastic surgeons office getting ready to film another boring lip job or boob job. The surgeon locked his keys in his expensive sports car and was complaining of how much it was going to cost to have someone come out to open the car. The doctors receptionist knew Clinton, and called him, telling the MD that she knew someone who could get his keys out for much cheaper. When the production crew saw this huge bald tattooed headed biker guy show up, they knew they had an interesting spin on the show and actually paid for Clinton to have liposuction. I'm sure if someone has a series on DVD of Dr 90210, they'll see Clinton, and his 8 pound weight loss via liposuction ( which was completely impossible to tell, since he's a big guy and the results weren't visible afterwards).

Anyways, I just thought I'd shed some light on his background. I don't even think he had much to do with any kind of auction hunting, I think the show concept was pitched and he makes for an interesting person to watch so he was cast.