I watch a lot of those reality shows like American Choppers, Storage Wars, etc., and I’ve always wondered what the particulars are of the contracts between the network and the shows participants. The reason I ask is related to the above link about Dave Hester, the villain of the show, threatening to leave if his demands aren’t met. Is it money, exposure that his business gets, or what?
In general, how are their contracts structured, is money involved, If so, how much, and what other things do the participants get?
Hester heading for the door? Might explain why in a couple of most recent shows there’s been a new jerk bidder/buyer involved – the producers have his replacement lined up, just in case.
Hester’s the least interesting of the four (well, five… arguably six). He’s repetitive about how much he enjoys bidding the others up and that’s gotten dull (“yay, I made him spend money, just like all the previous times I made him spend money”… zzzzzz). The others have more personality:
-Barry’s got his old-guy eccentricities
-Jarrod and Brandi have married-couple love-but-bickering
-Darrell’s got his “wow factor” enthusiasm, occasional malapropisms, and some kinda drama going on with his son Brandon
If Hester wants out, let him go. Nabila can step in full time, if she likes.
I envy you your uncle and your dad. Barry’s so calm and pleasant and kinda smart. What’s he doing on this show?
I hate the “bidding up” and don’t understand why some of them fall for it. It’s too risky, and it makes both bidders look like chumps. I’ve been to lots of auctions – none of them televised, of course – and nobody bids just to make someone else spend more money. I guess it adds to the “drama”.
I usually fast forward through all the drama just to see what’s in the unit. I have been absolutely amazed at the uniqueness and high dollar value of some of the stuff that was abandoned. I’d love to see followup interviews with the original owner to find out why they just let the stuff go, rather than selling it themselves.
Our move from Iowa to Seattle in '67 was quick and dirty. We were being evicted from our house and all the money we had was what mom sent for gas, food, and 2 nights in a motel. We loaded baby stuff (and babies) in the car, along with some clothes.
We left the little bit of furniture we owned in the house, except for a cedar chest (mom’s) full of my winter clothes (mohair sweaters and pleated wool skirts) and a fancy vacuum (also mom’s, purchased from a door to door salesman). The cedar chest and the vacuum we took to a local shipping/storage/consignment place, and we paid a month’s storage.
The plan was to have the stuff shipped after we got settled, but we never did. By the time we could afford to get it, the stuff had been sold. I’ve often wondered who bought it. I’m back in Iowa now and I know that cedar chest isn’t far away.
But yeah, I wonder about the owners. They could be dead, in the hospital, in jail – or just broke.
The attitude I don’t like is when established bidders get annoyed when new bidders start. The older bidders act like it’s their sandbox and how dare the upstart shove their way in? The way I see it, no one has an exclusive right to bid and if a newby gets the locker, oh well, better luck on the next one.
Having fun. Everyone else in the cast is doing this for a living. Hester, Darryl and Jerrod & Brandy all run secondhand stores for which the primary source of “secondhand” is these lockers. Barry is enjoying the hell out of himself because it’s his hobby. The man’s worth $7 million…he doesn’t NEED any of the crap he buys in the lockers. The others are scrabbling to keep their businesses above water, while Barry’s cruising in looking for neat-o things to collect.
It’s one of the reasons he reminds me of my dad. Dad came to the collecting/restoration hobby later in life (he was in his 40s before he ever really started collecting things). He’d buy old advertising (Victorian trade cards, posters, displays, etc) and old toys and phonographs. The toys and phonographs he restored, to the point where, when he died, he was pretty well-known in the local auction-going/collecting community and was starting to repair and restore old toys for other people. But it was ALL a hobby. He never made any real money off of this stuff…it was all for fun on his part.
jayjay, thanks for that. It prompted me to look Barry up (on Wiki, not in person). I would have thought his background was TV or movies or music, something involving talent and the arts, but produce? Cool.
He’s the only reason I watch. I hope he sticks around.
The thing I don’t understand is that Jarrod and Brandi are supposed to be the least financially flush of the group but it seems like every show they are driving a different brand new vehicle.
