Since its premiere in India in 2011, American reality show Pawn Stars has gone on to become History TV 18's top-rated show. The cast is bombarded with requests from across India to visit and view family heirlooms and vintage items, ranging from 400-year-old coins to a pen dating back to 1853. Pawn Stars Rick and Corey Harrison speak to Avantika Bhuyan about their Asia tour, fans in the country and some of the weirdest items ever to enter their shop.
Did your popularity in India take you by surprise?
Rick Harrison: I knew we were popular, but I didn't know we were this popular. We recently went to the Taj Mahal and were surprised to find people walking up to us for autographs or to get pictures clicked. When we started doing the show, all we wanted was a season or two to help out with the business. Little did we know then that the show would spread to 150 countries and would be shown in 38 languages.
Viewers are hooked to the spats between the various family members, especially Corey's fights with Granddad.
Corey: When you fight with your grandfather, it's always great to have your grandma on your side. Fighting with my father (points to Rick) is easier as I am always right.
Rick: I always tell people that the greatest thing about my business is working with my family and the worst thing about my business is working with my family. My father was in the navy for 20 years where he was the drill master. So he was paid to yell at people. If my dad comes into the shop and is not complaining, we ask him if something's the matter. We are used to him being like this.
You take barely a minute to determine prices of all that comes into your shop. How do you make it look so easy?
Rick: I have been doing this for so long that I genuinely know the prices of things that come in. We get thousands of items every month; even during slow months we get 3,000 items. So with experience and years of dealing in items, it's become easy to fix prices. The same experience helps in fishing out fakes. For example, if we get a Rolex watch, I see if the movement is right, the crystal is right, the placement of the hands is right and so on.
What are some of the weirdest items that people have tried to pawn in your shop?
Rick: Shrunken heads are some of the weirdest stuff to have come into the shop. There are tribes in South Africa which, after killing their enemy, would remove the skulls and sew the head back. They would then preserve these shrunken heads.
Corey: We also get some unique items, like guitars made by Les Paul for his wife.
I believe that you both are avid collectors as well.
Rick: I collect old maps. There is a map from the 1650s which has 'island of California' written on it. I also collect books predating the 1500s.
Corey: And I have some 20 bikes; some are stored at dad's house and some at my friends'.
Which has been your most memorable tour?
Rick: The India tour has been great. Then there was this visit to Buenos Aires when we thought that 300 people would turn up. But about 12,000 people turned up. We quite felt like The Beatles.
Any plans of shooting a season in India?
Rick: If the show continues to do well here, then why not? A lot of people say that Delhi might be the oldest city in the world. So I can imagine that there must be a lot of stuff here of interest to the show. And there's such a mix of people - not like Tokyo where everyone is the same. Here everyone is different.
How has the slowdown affected business at the pawn shop?
Rick: Yes, it has affected the business. You have people selling but not a lot of buying. That's hard on the cash reserves.
Did your popularity in India take you by surprise?
Rick Harrison: I knew we were popular, but I didn't know we were this popular. We recently went to the Taj Mahal and were surprised to find people walking up to us for autographs or to get pictures clicked. When we started doing the show, all we wanted was a season or two to help out with the business. Little did we know then that the show would spread to 150 countries and would be shown in 38 languages.
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Corey Harrison: The first time we ever watched the show, 15 minutes into it I thought no one is ever going to see this; it's such a waste of time. Who would have thought it would become so popular?
Viewers are hooked to the spats between the various family members, especially Corey's fights with Granddad.
Corey: When you fight with your grandfather, it's always great to have your grandma on your side. Fighting with my father (points to Rick) is easier as I am always right.
Rick: I always tell people that the greatest thing about my business is working with my family and the worst thing about my business is working with my family. My father was in the navy for 20 years where he was the drill master. So he was paid to yell at people. If my dad comes into the shop and is not complaining, we ask him if something's the matter. We are used to him being like this.
You take barely a minute to determine prices of all that comes into your shop. How do you make it look so easy?
Rick: I have been doing this for so long that I genuinely know the prices of things that come in. We get thousands of items every month; even during slow months we get 3,000 items. So with experience and years of dealing in items, it's become easy to fix prices. The same experience helps in fishing out fakes. For example, if we get a Rolex watch, I see if the movement is right, the crystal is right, the placement of the hands is right and so on.
What are some of the weirdest items that people have tried to pawn in your shop?
Rick: Shrunken heads are some of the weirdest stuff to have come into the shop. There are tribes in South Africa which, after killing their enemy, would remove the skulls and sew the head back. They would then preserve these shrunken heads.
Corey: We also get some unique items, like guitars made by Les Paul for his wife.
I believe that you both are avid collectors as well.
Rick: I collect old maps. There is a map from the 1650s which has 'island of California' written on it. I also collect books predating the 1500s.
Corey: And I have some 20 bikes; some are stored at dad's house and some at my friends'.
Which has been your most memorable tour?
Rick: The India tour has been great. Then there was this visit to Buenos Aires when we thought that 300 people would turn up. But about 12,000 people turned up. We quite felt like The Beatles.
Any plans of shooting a season in India?
Rick: If the show continues to do well here, then why not? A lot of people say that Delhi might be the oldest city in the world. So I can imagine that there must be a lot of stuff here of interest to the show. And there's such a mix of people - not like Tokyo where everyone is the same. Here everyone is different.
How has the slowdown affected business at the pawn shop?
Rick: Yes, it has affected the business. You have people selling but not a lot of buying. That's hard on the cash reserves.