Pawn Stars is Fake

Pawn Stars, one of the most popular shoes on TV, is fake.  And I don’t mean it’s scripted and directors cut out and move content around to make it more interesting.  I mean it’s entirely fake.  The only thing real about the show is the place where it is filmed and the people that work there.  Other than that, nothing is real.  Pawn Stars is a show on the History Channel about a Boca Raton pawn shop in Las Vegas.  It is supposed to document deals going down between customers and the pawn shop.  It is supposed to be as if the cameras are just in the background and the shop is running a normal day to day business.  However, nothing could be further from the truth.  The customers are fake, items are fake, deals are fake, everything.

First, the show is on the History Channel which means it has to have something to do about history.  Every single item that goes in and out of Pawn Stars has to do with history.  It’s never a TV or Rolex watch.  It’s always Abraham Lincoln’s boxer shorts or a document signed by George Washington.  It is all stuff that no one actually owns.  In a real pawn shop, the majority of items are jewelry, electronics, etc.  Maybe one out of 1,000 people who try to pawn something actually try to pawn a piece of history.  And if they did, the owner would have no idea how much it’s worth.

Second, the customers are fake.  There are casting calls begging for normal people who want to be on TV to fly to Vegas.  Maybe some of them actually own the item they are trying to sell maybe they don’t.  But they aren’t just walking in by themselves.  They are seeing ads to come be a customer on Pawn Stars.  This is never mentioned on the show and it’s incredibly misleading.  Whether the items they bring in are their’s is up for debate, but you cannot deny the fact that the customers themselves are fake.

Third, there is no way Rick Harrison knows this much about history.  Sure, I’m sure he is very well versed but come on, he could quit and become a history professor at Harvard if he knew what he knows on the show.  I’m sure he knows the items that are coming in well before hand and does ample research to learn about them.  And of course when he doesn’t know enough he calls in a buddy who is an “expert” in that field.   Which brings me to my next point.

Fourth, the experts are a joke.  Yes, they are experts or at least work in the field they are claiming to know about, but they are not Rick’s friends.  They are just there to grab a check and be on TV.  Also, why do they tell Rick and the customer what the item is worth.  If they were truly his friends they would tell him in private so that he can buy the item for the least amount possible.  The last thing you want as a pawn broker is for your customer to know exactly what you know!

Finally, the last point that makes Pawn Stars fake is the fact that no one has ever gotten a loan.  Everyone comes in to sell their items never pawn them.  In the real world, the main focus of a pawn shop is to lend money, not buy items.  Pawn shops would much rather lend than buy because they earn interest on the loans.

Pawn Stars is a super entertaining show.  It captured the top TV spot for months.  But while most people actually think it’s real, it’s not.  It’s fake.

[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdA3__EAKCk&list=UUPXoT51B05-2RQIuhy_Wz2g”]