The Discovery Channel has been around for a very long time and used to be a great resource for learning new things from around the world. Sadly, all that's going on now, are stories about casts and members of the channel that are quite scandalous. The network has reality shows literally riddled with convicted criminals – some of whom are pedophiles and felons.
Discovery Found Out
Not only does Discovery Communications own this channel, but they also own Animal Planet and TLC. It seems the Discovery Channel has sunk to an all-time low with reality shows that are misleading and quite honestly disgusting. Take a look at some of the worst scandals in Discovery's history and how people on these shows were able to make money off their really nasty habits.
Not in the wild
One of the biggest criticisms was that Grylls never stayed in the wild while making the episodes, as he led us to believe. On many occasions when the camera stopped rolling Grylls would get comfy in resorts and 5-star hotels.
Learn about Bear Grylls and his fake production:
The Alaskan Bush People Aren’t Even Alaskan
The show Alaskan Bush People has been swirling in controversy as more and more people couldn't figure out what was real and what was a lie. It seems that the family claiming to be Alaskan Bush People are Not Alaskan Bush People, as a matter of fact, they originally lived just 10 miles outside of the town!
The family members Billy, Bear, Bam Bam, Noah, Matthew, and Gabriel were given citations due to false claims they made on their hunting and fishing licenses regarding their residency. They claimed they were born and raised in the wild but actually were living in Texas and Colorado. In 2012, it seems they bought their licenses right after moving to Alaska.
Alaskan Bush People Pleaded Guilty To Fraud
The cast from Alaskan Bush People wrapped themselves in so many lies about living in Alaska, they couldn't dig out. In 2015, the Brown family finally confessed they did not live in Alaska but only said so to collect government checks. Billy and Joshua Brown pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree Unsworn Falsification. This is when someone makes a written statement that is false and he or she knows it was not true at the time.
Allegedly, the family claimed they lived in southeastern Alaska. The state has an Alaskan Permanent Fund Division that offers full-time residents thousands of dollars to remain in the state. Billy Brown confessed that he collected $7,956 from the state and Joshua “Bam Bam” Brown said he collected $1,174. They were both found guilty and sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Gold Rush didn’t need the gold
One of the strongest characters on the show was Parker Schnabel. He was always the ‘young kid’ among the cast. He has always talked about growing up poor and having a poor life. Being part of the cast has made his life good, even during the heartbreaking scenes of the poor kid.
7 figures
Let’s look only at season 5. Being on that season alone earned him around $1 million. But he continues to talk about being poor for the cameras and being in debt. Well, he could be in debt if he took the money he earned and spent it unwisely. Can we really believe him when he’s making a seven figure income?
Let’s talk numbers
The ‘young kid’ is 24 and a close look at his net worth reveals that he is worth over $2 million! So even if you’re a Gold Rush die hard fan, you still can’t look aside. The amount is crazy considering his age.
Hard knock life
So if we try and sum up what we’ve learned about the ‘young kid’, it seems that while we get the poor kid story on camera, he is quietly making a substantial investment in his future career and income. We’re all for it, but we do ask for some honesty to go with his success.
Mistake Or Two By The Crew
Another spin-off from Pawn Stars is American Restoration which follows the team bringing old items back to life. What the viewers finally see on the show is the product of many long hours of work and experience. While the show focuses on making old items look as new as possible, there are viewers of the show that have discovered some mistakes.
As an example, during the episode “Secret Fan” a viewer noticed the wheels on a go-kart that was restored. The wheels were put on crookedly, causing the kart to wobble! For what they are charging, you'd be better off taking your antiques somewhere else.
Pawn Stars Don’t Work There
Pawn Stars revolves around the lives of Corey, Chum Lee, The Old Man, and Rick as they inspect and buy many antiques, or artifacts, and old items. They do have a shop and they use to work out of it on a regular basis but that is not the case anymore, due to the camera crews.
The cameras were always in the way of the customers and affecting the shop's potential sales. Now the group only goes to the shop for filming but that doesn't happen too often anymore.
Ann “Chickadee” Cardwell Sued Mama For Honey Boo Boo Money
Even though Here Comes Honey Boo Boo was canceled, the family still ended up in the headlines when Chickadee sued Mama June. She sued her mother and the network for supposedly withholding $201,000 in profits from the series.
Cardwell claimed her 2-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, was owed nearly $100,000. Supposedly, the family was paid $22,000 for each episode which was to be divided among the kids. Mama June claimed all the money was directly deposited and she never saw so much as a dime. TLC had no comment.
The Legal Woes Of The Swamp People
Swamp People revolves around the lives of a bunch of alligator hunters who live in Louisiana. As wild and crazy as that sounds, you might be even more shocked by their crazy lives off screen. RJ, Jay Paul, Nick Payne, Chase Landry, and Randy Rivers Jr have all had their own legal battles but probably the worst offense came from Trapper Joe Lafont.
Joe has a history of domestic abuse that dates back to 2012. His first offense involved assaulting his girlfriend in a hotel lobby. The same charges were brought against him again in 2013 and 2015.
Replace And Go
TV shows, especially reality shows, are always at risk of facing changes. It is rare that a show goes its entire series with no changes anyway. After the sixth season of Swamp People, a massive change went down. This shift saw a dozen cast members replaced like they were nothing.
The History Channel went out of their way to remain silent about their reasoning for getting rid of the original cast. Fans from all over were in the dark after the premiere of Season 7. It is also believed that the network does not like hearing from former cast members bemoaning their being fired from the show.
Are They Really Off The Grid?
Mountain Men allows viewers to watch the lives of a group of people who are looking for a simpler time before today's many comforts. While there are people who choose simpler lifestyles, the viewers of this show are unaware of the unauthentic lifestyles of this cast.
The problem is, the cast is not as removed from today's comforts as viewers might think. Jason Hawk has an online store, Tom and Nancy Oar have cable.
Nothing Is Organic
Staged events seem to be commonplace for reality shows but why stop there. Another element that is not what it seems is encountering. It shouldn't be a shocker that the producers set up encounters as well. The History channel has shown they can be as “original” and remote from reality as Discovery!
The majority of sellers are found by the producers and then it's arranged for the experts and sellers to meet in front of the cameras. Rick has plenty of time to learn everything about the item so he can speak with whatever expert comes along.
Fritz Doesn’t Care
Back to American Pickers, viewers are presented with an image that leaves them believing Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz are totally devoted in what they do. What that means, they have been searching for treasures for years before the show ever started. Fooled again, this time by Fritz!
Wolfe really was collecting antiques for many years even when he was much younger. Fritz, on the other hand, is more interested in the business end and collecting. If you observe, you will notice he does not get as excited as Wolfe when there is a new finding.
Questionable Views
As shown above, Danny Koker is not afraid to express his political views outside the shop. When interviewed by The Morning Show, he talked about hybrid and low-emission cars and said he believes they are practically futile.
He pretty much has said that environmentalism is not a big deal and then openly supported Donald Trump during the election. That said, the network does not want Counting Cars to become a political platform for Koker to express his views but he doesn't seem to care if his views are publicized or not.
The Misrepresentation Of Hunting
It can be very frustrating for viewers when shows do not paint an accurate picture of what they are watching. If you are watching a show about hunting alligators, you would expect that you are looking at something that is the real thing. There have been viewers that have criticized the network for showing something that is just not true.
We can only assume that only real alligator hunters would know truth from fiction and know what to look for to rate the authenticity of these shows.
Poor Buying Selections
Many viewers really enjoy watching the segments for negotiating prices. Even though many have no idea that they are all staged, they enjoy the interaction between the staff and the customer. In most situations, the cast comes out on top during the deals. Then again, there have been other times when the cast made some really poor purchases!
Cast members have been very open about their bad purchases such as Corey who bought stolen Rolex watches or The Old Man bought cubic zirconias! The downside, some of these bad purchases have cost them up to $10,000 such as the fake Willie Mays uniform!
Chumlee Has His Troubles
There are many viewers that think Chumlee is the best part of Pawn Stars. He's not as outspoken as others when talking about historical items. He has a good personality even though his approach is somewhat short of a full load. Although though he does possess a laid-back attitude, he ended up in trouble in 2016.
The police raided his home and found drugs and illegal firearms. He was sentenced to 3 years probation so it would not interfere with his appearance on the show.
Little Faith In Street Outlaws
Justin “Big Chief” Shearer told some people something he believed to be true about the show, placing the cart before the horse. He said he had little to no faith that the show would become successful. He said that Street Outlaws started began with just small media companies filming races but then it just started to take off.
Even the producers had little to no faith that it would make it past the first season. Because they truly believed this, they decided to give it their all while filming the first season. To everyone's surprise, the network was really impressed and awarded them 10 complete seasons!
Threatened Off Camera
Moonshiners focuses on the cast members making illegal moonshine. Literally, millions of people couldn't wait to tune in to this docudrama-style show. Once in a while members of the cast were stopped by the police while the cameras were still rolling. For some reason or another, they always managed to either walk or drive away which made for good television drama!
There have been times when not everyone has been caught on camera. Tim Smith said that on one occasion, at his home, law enforcement asked him about the show. He decided to stay calm and invited them in to have some food.
Close To Lost
It seems if you are a driver and appear on Street Outlaws, you can increase your popularity enormously and are guaranteed to build your fan base. That said, you can also put yourself in a position to lose your license if you choose to show up on the show. In 2015, the NHRA, or National Hot Rod Association, threatened to take drivers' licenses away from them if they appeared on the show.
Drivers pushed back against this threat from the NHRA but the association stood their ground. They said their decision was based on stopping licensed drivers from promoting illegal and hazardous activities. In a statement, they hoped drivers would turn around and do the right thing.
Virginia Called B.S. On The Moonshiners
Being misled by the nature of the show, the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control admitted they were wrong but didn't stop at that. Instead, the department turned around and threw mud at Discovery for airing a fake show, or so they claim. Viewers were already very confused, wondering why the state would let a crime like this take place. The state finally responded by telling the public the show was not really showing illegal moonshine.
The cast members continued to state the opposite claiming that the state was just angry because they couldn't catch anyone in the act of making illegal moonshine!
Discovery Channel Got Flak For Fake Shark Documentary
In 2013, the Discovery Channel ran into some flak when they aired a false documentary in order to launch their upcoming Shark Week. The airing show was called “Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives”. This documentary was about a 70-foot prehistoric shark that was found and presumably still alive! That's one really old shark!
It is believed that Megalodons existed between one and two million years ago. Even though the documentary was an obvious hoax, viewers took to the internet complaining about it. All said and done, a massive 4.5 million people tuned in to the show and this special was the highest rated show in Shark Week's 26-year history! We're willing to wager a bet that Discovery didn't mind!
Does The Discovery Channel Vet Their Reality Stars?
Discovery, without question, has so many reality stars that are tied up in scandals, so don't you wonder how they perform background checks, or vet, the people they want to work with? No doubt, reality stars come with their own personal baggage, but hiring a convicted rapist is crossing way over the line.
Adding insult to injury, just consider how much money these reality stars are actually making! According to Business Insider, their salaries vary a lot but some of the most popular stars can earn up to $10 million dollars a season!!
(Un)Real Mermaids
Animal Planet has always been considered a reliable channel but, unfortunately, being connected to the Discovery Channel, all bets are off. Animal Planet aired two documentaries claiming that neither one was fake. The viewers believed these documentaries were scientific evidence that mermaids exist! At some point, Animal Planet finally admitted that the documentaries were actually science fiction although the shows never revealed that little tidbit!
Even if viewers were becoming aware that the documentaries were science fiction, many people believed mermaids really do exist because, after all, it's Animal Planet! The downside, many of the viewers were children that are a highly vulnerable audience. That said, even though mermaids are fiction, approximately 3.6 million people watched the second mermaid documentary which became the all-time record breaker for the channel.
Offgrid
At the beginning of 2010, Alaska The Last Frontier was launched at a time that people were searching for “America”. The show focuses on the Kilcher family who lives on the outskirts of Homer, Alaska. They live without modern day technology or “off the grid”. Each week viewers tune in to watch the family struggle to survive.
All said and done, the Kilcher home is only a few minutes drive to a mega supermarket. This supermarket is one of those huge stores that has just about anything one would need to survive the winter months in Alaska. As with so many reality shows, the storylines and drama on the show are staged. As an example, the producers enticed a bear to show up from nowhere by luring him with Salmon!
The fake Russian Yeti
In early June of 2014, a documentary was aired called “Russian Yeti – The Killer Lives”. It's believed the filmmaker searched for video footage showing the deaths of nine Russian hikers in 1959 who were killed somewhere in the Russian mountains.
The documentary showed footage and sounds that were recorded in the 1950s and some expert interpretations. It would be somewhat believable if we knew how Russian students in the 50s were able to get their hands on high-tech, HD digital recording equipment!! Well, this document is now considered a work of fiction!
Not so deadly
One of Discovery's most popular reality shows is Deadliest Catch which launched in 2005. The show gives insight into the crab fishing world. Quite honestly, the topic is not on the top of my hit parade. Supposedly, Deadliest Catch comes from potentially fatal conditions that fishermen might run into.
Although crab fishing can be a dangerous job, the producers went out of their way to create most of the drama on this show. Deadliest Catch's Captain Elliot Neese said that everything was made up to create better entertainment on television. Also, the Discovery Channel's executives lowered the number of ships so everything would look like the fishermen were very successful. On another occasion, the producers provided a fake storm in order to get higher ratings.
Amish Mafia
Amish Mafia follows the life of an Amish man named Lebanon Levi. He is a member of the Amish community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. According to Discovery, he is the boss of the local mafia in the community. Viewers get the opportunity to see the internal policies and the various power struggles within the Amish Mafia and also watch Levi struggle to protect his people from the outside world.
Many people have probably never noticed the credits at the end of the show that has a disclaimer that states many of the scenes are recreations of actual events. Also, none of the Amish people in the show follow their faith. Levi constantly talks about the fact that he was never baptized which is sacrilege to the Amish. On top of that, Amish people are never allowed to be in front of a camera, to begin with! In a chuckle moment, Levi drives around in a rental car with stickers on it!
Any rush?
One of the longest running shows, Gold Rush, was first aired in 2010. The viewers follow a group of men who lost everything in the recession of 2008. They start searching and mining for gold, mind you, without any former experience, but, supposedly learned everything along the way.
Their problems began when former cast member Jimmy Dorsey, who left the show after the first season, said the producers would tell him what to do and what to say. He was also pressured into leaving the show so the network could get better ratings. The Alaskan government claims that the show intentionally broke laws so there would be higher drama.
American Guns Stirs Controversy After Cancellation
With America's obsession with firearms, Discovery decided to cash in with their popular show American Guns. The show focused on the Wyatt family who owned a gun shop called Gunsmoke Guns located in Wheat Ridge Colorado. Unfortunately, the show was surrounded by a lot of controversies.
American Guns aired the final episode in 2012 even though it had favorable ratings. It's believed that many tragedies such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting were the reasons. Even though Discovery claims the show was not canceled, they pulled the plug. They said they simply decided not to renew the show and had no plans of showing the reruns.
Gunsmoke Guns Burglarized After Show's Cancellation
Shortly after the show was canceled, the shop Gunsmoke Guns was burglarized through the ceiling.
In 2013, someone broke into the shop by cutting a hole in the roof. The police were not sure if this person worked alone or had accomplices but he got away with 12 handguns and 3 rifles.
That said, no one was ready for what was going to happen to the family next though most people were stunned! Hint: If you have a high-profile business, you might want to make sure your roof is reinforced!!.
Richard Wyatt Never Actually Had A Gun License
It seems that Richard Wyatt was not authorized to sell guns because he lost his license for violations of Federal laws and regulations. That said, it was never specified what laws and/or regulations were violated. He continued selling guns through a straw Federal Firearms license that belonged to someone else.
He was also accused of changing the address of his shop (Gunsmoke) to that of Triggers which he did not own. If someone purchased a firearm at Gunsmoke, they were sent to Triggers to fill out the paperwork. To Richard's way of thinking, this seemed like the perfect loophole until he got caught. Then, in 2016, he was indicted for conspiring with others to sell guns without a license.
Wyatt Failed To Report $1.1 Million Of Personal Income
Beginning in 2010, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives found out that Wyatt may have been unlawfully in possession of automatic weapons. IRS agents raided the store as part of an ongoing investigation regarding tax evasion. When the agents took a closer look at the shop's records, they discovered something just did not add up.
Burying himself in even more problems, Wyatt was charged with failing to report $1.1 million in personal income between 2009 and 2012 and also charged with filing a false tax return. He was found guilty on 10 felony counts including one count of conspiracy to sell fire3arms without a license and the other 9 for tax fraud and evasion charges.
American Guns Dealt With Pawn-Happy Criminals
The show seems to have contributed to the sale of a stolen firearm. In the last episode of the first season, someone named Wylie Newton attempted to sell an antique Colt Pistol worth $20,000.
The gun was stolen from a privately-owned New Mexico Museum and Newton might have gotten away with it if he hadn't tried to sell it on TV. Someone watching the show recognized the stolen gun and alerted the authorities. Needless to say, Newton was arrested and charged.
Sons Of Guns Canceled After Star Arrested For Rapes
Another gun-related show from Discover is called Sons of Guns. It focused on the Red Jacket Firearms, which is a company that sells and manufacturers custom guns. The show was canceled after the star, Will Hayden, was arrested for raping two young girls when they were 11 and 13.
Pathetically, one of the girls was his older daughter. Hayden was found guilty on of aggravated rape and forcible rape. At the time of his conviction, hew as still facing additional rape charges in Livingston Parish. He denied all allegations when he testified but was eventually sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Hayden Also Accused Of Molesting Young Girls
During an episode of Dr. Phil's tell-all show, reality TV star Stephanie Hayden Ford talked about her father Will Hayden, who had been sexually inappropriate with her when she was 12 years old. Later on, he was sentenced for life.
She also said that he sexually assaulted her cousin and one of her friends. What is even more disturbing, she said her father also sexually molested her 12-year-old sister. According to Ford, the initial allegations that led to her father's arrest and sentencing came after a personal assistant who caught him naked and kissing his youngest daughter!
Sons Of Guns’ Kim Ford And Stephanie Hayden Also Arrested
It seems the Hayden family has more than one criminal in their closet. Discovery managed to dodge a bullet by canceling the show Sons of Guns after the allegations hit the fan. After her father's arrest for his sexual crimes, Stephanie Hayden Ford and her husband, Kris Ford, were also arrested for one count of cruelty to a juvenile.
Supposedly, the couple struck their 9-year-old son so hard with a belt, he suffered major bruises on his lower back. Even though it was only Kris who struck the boy, Stephanie was taken into custody after her son said she was in the room at the time of the assault.
Bear Grylls
Any person can still find episodes of Man vs. Wild (Born Survivor in the UK) in reruns around our media-rich world, even though it’s been off the air since 2011. And for good reason.
A lot of allegations were made about many scenes that seemed too fake to be real. And the allegations were right! The Discovery Channel and the show producers apologized for them many times. First...
Bear Grylls isn't a survival expert
Bear Grylls says (or said) that he is a survival expert and known much about bushcraft, but a closer look shows us that he was not so “survivable” before talks about the show began.
The guy served in the British commando unit called SAS for three years, so he did receive some survival training but that’s about it. He also did climb Mount Everest when he was only 23, he crossed the North Atlantic in an inflatable boat, and hosted a dinner party in a hot-air balloon.
Is it enough?
Ok, so he is an adventure guy and pretty tough, but is it enough to be called a survival expert? If you compare his résumé to other survival experts, even TV stars like Ray Mears and Les Stroud, it starts to look as if his experience quite up to the task of surviving.
Real experience
Mears has been teaching bushcraft skills since 1983. Not only that, but he’s been teaching it to military units as well as private citizens. He was even contacted by the UK police to help them track down a criminal who shot many people and then disappeared in a wooded area. Stroud has been a wilderness survival instructor since 1990, and he also teaches survival skills in the Canadian military.
Why Man vs. Wild’s Bear Grylls Was Fired
By our understanding, there was little to nothing Grylls wouldn't do including drinking his own urine!! Needless to say, he was fired from the Discovery Channel because he would not put in the work required outside of Man vs Wild. He had made it clear that he would not work on two of the network's future projects.
Enter Discovery Communications who would not allow him to stick to the show that made him famous. They decided his conduct was unbecoming and therefore fired him. Man vs Wild ran for 6 seasons but due to problems and contract issues, the show eventually tanked.
Unusable
On many episodes, Grylls has shown several survival techniques that in real life situations, would have no use or effect. It was all purely for the sake of ratings. How do we know that? In one episode filled in Africa, Grylls claimed you could get drinkable water out of an elephant dung. Well, a real Survival and bushcraft instructor, Les Stroud said during a Reddit AMA: "It is NOT possible to squeeze drinkable water out of elephant dung—well, it is when your cameraman has soaked it with bottled water."
Too dangerous
Other techniques shown on the show by Grylls could actually make your situation much worse if you try and recreate them. Two of his most common techniques shown on the show involve hurrying or running and jumping when in dangerous surroundings and getting wet when you don’t really need to.
Real life
When In a real-life survival situation, any injury you receive, even a small one, will lower your chances of making it out in one piece. You don’t need to brake anything, even a sprained ankle could be a disaster. If you’re in a dangerous surrounding, first find a high place and learn what’s around. Take the time to find the safest way out. Even if what you decide is longer, it’s worth the extra time.
No Luck No Glory
Discovery's reality show, American Pickers follows Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz around as they explore the country hoping to find discarded treasures that might be valuable. They are often aided by their store manager, Danielle as they search for collections and pick through junk to get their hands on the best items. What they do find is real enough, but how they find this stuff is not shown on the screen.
This is what really happens, the producers are sent items from collectors. They sort through everything and decide what items are the best quality. Once they have collected what they want to use, Fritz and Wolfe examine each piece on the show. The fact is, luck was not used in the making of this show!
Pre-Selected
You would think that because Pawn Stars and American Pickers are on the same network, they would follow similar rules of conduct. Rick Harrison seems to have a friend for just about everything but when discussing experts, he doesn't seem to have any for the show. You would think that Harrison, from Pawn Stars, would find experts to examine the artifacts, but in reality, it's the producers!
Viewers might not know that experts are actually brought in ahead of time. Another tidbit, the producers are the ones who get the experts, not Harrison.
Cody Lundin Insisted Dual Survival Co-Host Tried To Kill Him
Another one of Discovery Channel's reality show, Duel Survival was surrounded in controversy when the host of the show, Cody Lundin filed a lawsuit against the network. The lawsuit claimed that the co-host, Joe Teti, had threatened to kill him while they were filming the show. Cody said that the producers of the show tried to make it look as if he was losing his mind during the filming. In actuality, Teti was waving an ice ax around threatening to bury Cody on a mountain in Norway.
This was not the first time Teti threatened Lundin. During filming in Hawaii, co-host Teti threatened he would impale Lundin with a spear! Lundin also alleged the Teti showed him pictures of people he killed while being a member of the CIA.
Naked And Afraid Crew Members Give Contestants Help
Discovery's very popular reality survival show, Naked And Afraid, ran into problems when contestants alleged the show was fake. In the show, a man and woman survivalists were placed in the wilderness for 21 days and had to learn how to survive. The show also clearly states that if the crew helps out any contestant, it would defeat the entire purpose of the show.
Well, according to the Daily Mail, allegedly the show fed a female contestant bread, rice, and baby food when she became quite ill after eating a turtle. She also received two separate IV drips in order to keep her from becoming dehydrated. It was very clear that the contestant needed help because her life was at risk. That said, the Daily Mail alleged it was completely dishonest by not admitting she was offered help because of the life-threatening circumstance she was under.
Naked And Afraid Contestant Lashed Out Over Scripted Segments
During the season 3 finale of Naked and Afraid, Honora Bowen competed alongside Matt Struzel in Brazil. Although Matt completed his challenge, Honora did not, due to suffering from heat exhaustion. She decided to go to her blog and blow the whistle. Her post totally shattered everyone's perception of the episode. She said she was pressed into starting an argument with Struzel during the filming in order to make the episode more dramatic.
Adding to that, she said the producers coached her in giving false statements about her background and her relationship with her father. She went on to say that she didn't finish the competition because of heat exhaustion instead she had developed a bladder issue but the producers would not let her out, even though she asked several times. She finally had to fake a medical condition in order to get off the show.
Visitors Were Not Impressed
In 2012, Counting Cars premiered which was a spin-off of Pawn Stars. The show is set around the crew buying, selling, and customizing unique cars at Count's Kustoms Auto Shop. Danny Koker, from Pawn Stars, was a car expert and due to his enormous knowledge of vehicles, finally landed his own show.
The show was based on people visiting the shop on the show and it seems most people were very happy stopping by. Unfortunately, not everyone felt the same way. Some either said the shop's location was inadequate or the merchandise was overpriced. In a nutshell, they felt underwhelmed by the entire experience!
Is It Staged?
Now that we are aware that collections on American Pickers are staged, maybe it's time to find out what else is staged. The two main elements of the show are finding collections and selling them. When they sell, the negotiations are all staged! Should that come as any surprise?
Also, the seller along with Mike and Frank always seem to argue but in actuality, it's all an act. The targeted price is chosen by the producers and the sellers in advance of the pickers meeting up with them.
Viewers Outraged When Eaten Alive Turned Anticlimactic
False and misleading advertising goes on more than you would think and it is a serious offense. That's why the Federal Trade Commission has guidelines to address this problem. When Discovery aired Eaten Alive, Paul Rosolie attempted to be eaten alive by a 180-foot anaconda. Fans were absolutely livid!
The network promoted for months that Paul would actually be eaten alive. After spending hours antagonizing the snake he had to be rescued by his team. Supposedly, the snake swallowed his head and he thought his arm was going to be broken. Discovery lost a great deal of credibility from the backlash alone.
PETA Criticizes Discovery Channel For Eaten Alive
PETA was extremely concerned and one of many angry voices on the internet claiming to be misled by Discovery's advertising. The point is, Rosolie wore a special carbon fiber suit and a helmet that supplied oxygen. He was given full rein to torment the snake for higher ratings. After tormenting the snake, what if he was actually swallowed alive? Well, the network would just kill the snake to get him back!
