The Show Is An International Hit
Having now been translated into 38 languages, and aired in 150 countries, Pawn Stars is a bonafide international hit. In fact, Harrison claims he’s “been mobbed by people in Buenos Aires, the Philippines, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi,” adding, “Everywhere in the world, people know the show.” The guys even did an Asian tour in 2013, during which Las Vegas Now said they were “greeted as if they were the reunited Beatles.” And according to OKJ Discoveries, fans lined up for hours at various meet-and-greet events attended by Harrison and his son, Corey “Big Hoss” Harrison, for the chance to lay eyes upon the reality stars. It’s pretty remarkable to think that a TV show could turn a couple of guys from a pawn shop into megastars on par with rock and roll legends.
The Shop Is A Tourist Attraction Now
Remember what manager Travis Benton said about how 99% of the pawn shop’s customers are really just tourists? Well, Harrison backed that up big time in that Las Vegas Now interview, claiming his shop “competes with the ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign for the number one non-gaming tourist attraction in Las Vegas,” as well as gets “more visitors than the Hoover Dam.”
And it seems to be true. A reviewer for Traveller notes that lines routinely extend down the sidewalk, and can sometimes take “two-to-three hours to get through.” But visitors should should also be aware that if they’re waiting hours to catch a glimpse of their favorite Pawn Star, the chances aren’t great. “Occasionally one of the superstars will come out from the back and sign autographs for about an hour,” Traveller reports. So, it fittingly is a roll of the dice whether a super fan’s long wait will pay off with an autograph, but hey, isn’t that what Vegas is all about?
Gold And Silver Pawn Shop Self
To visit the Pawn Stars shop for free, you simply have to show up during their store hours! However, keep in mind that there are usually long lines. Nevada residents get priority in the store, so if you know someone in Las Vegas, it might be worth asking them to tag along.
Once youre in the shop, you can feel free to look around and see some of the rare objects theyve collected over the years and also see different areas that you recognize from TV. Photography is allowed, though due to some Nevada state laws, you must refrain from taking pictures directly towards the pawn counter. Video is not allowed in the store.
Though many of the visitors to Gold & Silver Pawn Shop are looking to meet Rick, Chumlee, and Corey, just showing up isnt a guarantee to meet or see them. Rick, Chumlee, and Corey do not regularly work at the Pawn Stars store however, they will visit fans on the shop floor. Their visits are not usually announced, so youll just have to get lucky.
If you want to put luck more on your side, check out their other businesses where they are often seen regularly. Rick and Chumlee are usually at the Pawn Plaza during the week. Rick bartends at his bar, Ricks Rollin Smoke BBQ and Tavern, on Friday and Saturday night. Chumlee is often at his candy store, Chums Candy, Wednesday through Sunday in the afternoons.
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Show Production Actually Interrupts Business
Parts of the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop temporarily close to the public when the crew shoots an episode of Pawn Stars. This can sometimes mean a real interruption of business, according to shop manager Travis Benton, who told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that “sales can suffer because of the show.” Benton also estimated that “one out of a hundred” people who pass through the shop are actually there to do business. The rest are just there as fans of the show. “Filming takes place two to five times per day, Monday through Friday,” Benton said, and he doesn’t know until the night before, “usually around 6 p.m.,” what the TV crew has planned for the following day.
But before you start thinking that GS Pawn is in danger of going out of business, keep in mind that the store draws 4,000 to 5,000 visitors a day. Not to mention Harrison once told Las Vegas Now, “I’m at a point in my life where, if I don’t like it, I don’t have to do it.”
They Were Sued By Their Original Tv Agents
While the pawn business can be perceived as a dirty game, the entertainment industry is right there alongside it, especially in the cutthroat world of celebrity representation. In 2012, all three Harrisons as well as Chumlee were sued by their ex-manager the network, meanwhile, was sued by the talent agency that represented them, Venture IAB. According to TMZ, their ex-manager, Wayne Jefferies, claimed that the Pawn Stars crew dropped him after a dust-up concerning his handling of their response to A& E’s spinoff show, Cajun Pawn Stars. Venture IAB’s lawsuit alleged that History Channel execs worked with another agent to lure the guys away from them. Jefferies sought “unspecified damages,” but Venture IAB sued for “for more than $5 million.”
The Venture suit seems to have been eventually dismissed, and Harrison, for his part, didn’t seem to be fazed by the legal drama. When asked about the Jefferies suit, Harrison told Fox News, “The more money you make, the more times people sue you. People are always going to…eventually go to sue you for something.”
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The Store Was Sued For Melting Stolen Coins
When you deal with the public for a living, you really never know what’s going to happen. Harrison was reminded of this the hard way in 2014, when his store was sued for melting down a collection of gold coins that the former owner, David Walters, alleged had been stolen and sold off by his niece. According to UPI, Walters claimed that his niece received $12,375 for his $50,000 gold coin collection. And although pawn shops in Nevada are required to hold onto items for 30 to 90 days in case the owners want them back, gold coins aren’t subject to that law. Unfortunately for Walters, that meant his collection was gone by the time he tracked it down.
Shop spokeswoman Laura Herlovich offered a pretty unsympathetic view of the situation, telling UPI, “If the grader is not someone we trust, the cases are cracked open and the coins are sent out to be melted down. That was the case here. I don’t know for sure, but I believe a majority were melted down. They weren’t worth what he thought they were worth.” We’re sure that devaluation takes the sting right out of being ripped off by his own family.
Olivia Black Was Fired For Being Naked
Pawn Stars cast member Olivia Black lost her gig on the show after nude photos of her surfaced, exposing her previous career as a model for SuicideGirls.com. She later revealed that she was still an employee of the store, as she was really only “fired” in front of the cameras. Harrison confirmed the details of the scandal to Fox News, saying, “I never fired her. She’s out doing her own thing now. It’s just the production company did not want her working there anymore. What she does in her personal life…is her business.”
Black resumed her modeling career, and it was alleged that she sued to get back on the show. Although during her Reddit AMA, Black denied there was a lawsuit and openly petitioned to return to the show, writing, “I am still trying to show the production company that if I was fired for the SG photos, that the fans don’t care. I’d just like to have my job back. I think The fans are a lot more open then they’re given credit for.” Ultimately, Black never returned to the show, and even left her job at the store several months later. It’s okay, Oliviawe still love you as a Suicide Girl.
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The Untold Truth Of Pawn Stars
When it comes to reality TV and Pawn Stars in particular fans need to learn to expect the unexpected. That could mean everything from seeing what kind of random crap someone tries to sell to the brokers of Gold & Silver Pawn, or being shocked when the real world intrudes on the unreal-reality that the show inhabits on television.
Pawn Stars fans were caught by surprise when series star Austin Lee “Chumlee” Russell was arrested for drug and weapon possession as part of an ongoing sexual assault investigation. The truth is, we never really know the people we like seeing on TV. And that wasn’t the last time fans were reminded that the reality we see on Pawn Stars doesn’t end when we change the channel: in 2018, longtime fans were sad to learn that Richard “The Old Man” Harrison had passed away at the age of 77. Time to put the hawking on hold as we look at the untold truth about the cast of Pawn Stars.
Items Available For Purchase At The Gold & Silver Pawn Shop
Visitors are free to mill around and look at all of the items for sale in the shop. One of my favorite things to do when I was there was to see the items that were featured on the television show and to try to remember if I saw them when they were featured. If they were on the show, they were marked with a special tag.
I was amazed at the prices of some of the items in the shop. The most expensive things I saw were the artwork, and some of the jewelry, such as some of the Superbowl rings. Although it is fun to visit the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop because you are really entering the set of a television show, which just happens to also be a business, the visit is very educational. I am pretty sure most people will never be able to see an authentic Superbowl ring in person unless they visit the shop.
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They Know What They’re Getting
Given that attempting to film the actual day-to-day life at a pawn shop would result in some pretty boring television, it should come as no surprise that the items you see brought into the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on the show have been vetted beforehand. Granted, this doesn’t mean that the items are plants from producers. In fact, longtime shop manager Travis Benton told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that his brokers “spot unique items and show them to producers who decide if they are worthy of broadcasting.”
Another shop employee, Rocco Landi, said, “Once an item is deemed ‘possible TV material,’ its seller is coached on how to act while on camera. Some people have a great item to sell, but they appear nervous on film. It can take several tries to get it right, depending on the person. … Producers have cut items from the show because the seller could not ‘pull it together’ on camera, but it doesn’t happen often.”
Production History And Format
Pawn Stars began with Brent Montgomery and Colby Gaines of Leftfield Pictures, who were struck by the array of eclectic and somewhat seedy pawn shops in Las Vegas during a 2008 weekend visit to the city. Thinking such shops might contain unique characters, they searched for a family-run shop on which to center a TV series until they found the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop less than two miles from the Las Vegas Strip. It had been the subject of a 2001 PBS documentary, and the manager and part-owner, Rick Harrison, had been trying unsuccessfully to pitch a show based on his shop for four years. The shop, and Rick, had previously been featured in the Las Vegas episode of Insomniac with Dave Attell in 2003.
Interpersonal narratives focusing on the relationship and conflicts among Rick, Corey, the Old Man, and Corey’s childhood friend, Austin “Chumlee” Russell, who also works at the shop, also comprise episode plots. These usually pertain to arguments over the running of the shop, the elder Harrisons questioning Corey’s judgment, and aspersions cast on Chumlee’s intelligence and competence. Before the second commercial break, a multiple-choice trivia question related to the shop and its inventory, the cast members or one of the featured items is shown, with the answer provided after the break beginning with the Season 8 episode “A Very Vegas Christmas”, a trivia question is asked at every commercial break.
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The Old Man Passed Away In 2018
Sadly, no one lives forever, despite Chumlee’s fondest wish. On June 25, 2018, TMZ reported that Richard Harrison, more commonly known to fans of the show as “The Old Man,” had passed away at the age of 77. His son, Rick Harrison, broke the news to the world: “‘The Old Man’ Harrison passed away this morning surrounded by those he loved. He will be tremendously missed by our family, the team at Gold & Silver Pawn and his many fans the world over.
“He was my hero and I was fortunate to get a very cool ‘Old Man’ as my dad.”
Of course, without the Old Man, we never would have had Pawn Stars at all. Richard Harrison opened the Gold & Silver Pawn shop in Las Vegas with his son, Rick, in the early 1980s. Even as the shop’s resident Old Man, he was front and center as one of the most important reasons for the shop’s and the show’s overall success.
Most Successful Pawn Shop: World Record Set By The Gold & Silver Pawn Shop In Las Vegas
World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn ShopWorld’s Most Successful Pawn ShopPure Volumereports
Rick Harrison knew that he could create a successful television show based on the inner workings of his familys pawn shop, but it took him a while to convince networks that it was a good idea.
I figured that a show would mean free publicity and free publicity would mean more business, he told Star-Telegram. But everyone told me that no one wants to watch a show about four fat guys in a pawnshop.
Audiences fell in love with Pawn Stars as soon as the first episode aired. In its first year, it was the second most popular reality show on TV . An episode ofPawn Starsthat aired in January 2011 was watched by over 7 million viewers.
Richard Harrison , his son Rick, Ricks son Corey, and Coreys friend, Chumlee had been working at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop long before Pawn Stars premiered. Old Man opened the store in 1989 and ran it as a 24-hour family business.
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Rick Harrison Makes Pawning The Star Of Vegas
Not all reality TV stars are the same. While some become household names due to poor behavior or their dating and fashion choices, others become famous for being genuinely entertaining.
Rick Harrison falls into the latter category. He is the owner of the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, which his father Rich- ardThe Old Manopened in 1988. He is also the star of HISTORYS incredibly popular reality show Pawn Stars, based around the shop and its customers. The show launched in 2009, and life changed forever for Rick and his family. The unlikely star seems amused by his place in the spotlight.
Ever since I was a kid, I was just a massive bookworm. Im a huge nerd. You could put Kim Kardashian in front of me and I wouldnt know who she was, Rick says. I seriously have no idea what she looks like.
So how does a self-confessed nerd end up becoming a TV star and owner of the No. 1 non-gam- ing attraction in Las Vegas? Lets just say, it was in the stars.
Chumlee’s Past Wasn’t Exactly A Clean Slate
In May of 2016, Austin “Chumlee” Russell landed a plea deal for charges he received after police raided his home in connection with the investigation of a sex assault case. Though he never faced any sex assault charges, according to TMZ, police found marijuana, meth, Xanax, and eight firearms not registered to Chumlee during a raid of his “Chum Chum Room,” which is his “party spot” complete with a stripper pole. But the Pawn Stars regular’s lawyers were able to negotiate down to just two charges: felony possession of a firearm and felony possession of a controlled substance, both of which “will eventually become misdemeanors once he completes probation.”
And it’s not the first time Chumlee has been involved in some shadiness since becoming a reality star. In 2012, cameras captured Chumlee in a brawl with an unidentified man who approached him and a group of friends while they were hanging out on Hollywood Boulevard. He later insisted he was fighting in self-defense, and that the man was a stranger who asked for a ride and then threatened the group with a gun. It’s unclear what happened to the man who was beaten and badly bleeding when Chumlee and his friends fled the scene, but it’s probably a good guess that he didn’t get an invite to the “Chum Chum Room.”
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Chumlee Was The Victim Of An Internet Death Hoax
A lot of celebrities are subject to death hoaxes online, but very few take on any kind of real traction. For some reason, however, when the internet randomly decides that Chumlee from Pawn Stars is dead, a lot of people believe it.
According to Snopes, the first time Chumlee fake-died was in 2013, when the dubious site Internet Chronicle reported that he passed away from a “marijuana overdose.” Not only is it not possible to die this way, it was completely made up. Snopes also reports that less than a year later, another site, eBuzzd, prematurely declared Chumlee dead, this time from a heart attack. This report was particularly ironic given that the lovable goof had actually dramatically changed his lifestyle and was dieting and exercising at this time. Presumably responding to the rumors of his death, Chumlee tweeted, “May we live long, Rich forever.”
