Salon.com > storage wars

Reality TV may have a right to be fake

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:54:00 +0000

Perhaps you have not been following the saga of the current “Storage Wars” lawsuit, but it is a perfect, absurd thing: The former star of a reality TV show railing, through the courts, against a reality show for being fake. And thus pops up the evergreen reality TV conundrum: forget how much, or little, reality goes into these shows, how much, or how little, awareness of reality goes into enjoying them? Most savvy viewers know that they're all a little bogus: Does it matter if we know they're a lot bogus?

David Hester, a participant in the first three seasons of “Storage Wars,” A&E’s popular show about people who buy storage units, filed a lawsuit against the network back in December alleging that the company “salts” storage units — fills them up with interesting and valuable things, like a newspaper from the time of Elvis’s death — as well as other untoward, totally familiar reality TV tricks, like filming scripted interviews, setting up phony footage, and denying via press release that any such behaviors are going down. Hester further alleged that his refusal to salt his own lockers has made him look less competent than his colleagues and forced him to close his storefronts, and then when he complained about some of these practices he was wrongfully terminated. (A&E has countered that Hester is trying “to convert a garden-variety breach of contract claim into a tabloid-worthy drama, in which Hester portrays himself as a crusading whistleblower.")

Items in Lindsay Lohan’s storage locker to be auctioned off to pay for rent

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 22:20:00 +0000

TMZ is reporting that tabloid darling Lindsay Lohan will have to auction off the items in her storage locker, for which she currently owes about $16,000 in unpaid rent.

Lohan's so strapped for cash that Charlie Sheen recently gave her $100,000 to help her pay back taxes (of which she owes more than $200,000).

...aaaand cue the "Storage War" jokes ... now:

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Is “Storage Wars” fake?

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:49:00 +0000

It's no secret that reality TV can be heavily manipulated, scripted and edited for the sake of entertainment. But according to star David Hester, manipulation on the set of A&E Network's "Storage Wars" borders on illegal. Hester claims that the show, in which bidders get a few minutes to inspect auction items released from storage, is rigged. After raising concerns with the show's producers, Hester claims he was wrongfully fired.

Now Hester is suing the network, arguing that the show planted items to be auctioned off, including a BMW Mini. Hester's claim alleges that A&E's conduct is "fraudulent" and "possibly illegal," citing the Communications Act of 1934, "which makes it illegal for broadcasters to rig a contest of intellectual skill with the intent to deceive the viewing public." The Hollywood Reporter explains, however, that Hester's lawsuit relies on a specific interpretation of the Communications Act: