My 8-year-old loves “Storage Wars,” the A&E reality show that follows around people who bid on storage units being auctioned off for lack of payment by the owners. He wears his fake teeth and calls himself Barry (after Barry Weiss, one of the regulars on the show who wore fake teeth in one episode to “disguise” himself). He also runs around the room yelling “Yuuup,” which is what Dave Hester, another show regular, says when he bids on the storage units.
At least Hester used to be a regular. My son will probably be devastated because Hester has been let go from the show. The premise of the show is that a group of buyers – Weiss, Hester, couple Jarrod Schulz and Brandi Passante, and Darrell Sheets and son Brandon – visit different storage units going up for auction. But, potential buyers cannot go inside the unit and can only see from the door what the unit might have to offer. After a unit is purchase, viewers get to see the buyer going through the unit to see what unseen treasures may be found. They often take interesting items to local dealers to find out the value. All the regulars on the show with the exception of Weiss, a self made millionaire who is a collector, then resell the items.
A&E maintains that the show is in no way staged, but Hester recently came out saying it was. He said A&E plants items in the storage units and manipulates the bidding.
Oh Dave, don’t you know better than to bite the hand that feeds you? Just like that, Hester’s contract was not renewed and rumors are that A&E plans to replace him with Mark Balelo, a buyer that has been seen in a few episodes in previous seasons.
Although Hester appeared in the first episode of season four, which just recently premiered, he will not appear in any other episodes.
Hester has filed suit against A&E and Original Productions, the production company that films the series. In the suit, Hester claims he was fired after meeting with officials over concerns that the planted items in the storage units were in violation of federal laws in place to prevent producers from deceiving the viewing public.