We'll they mentioned when I first meet them on the show how I spoke with Danielle. That was bull. I have never spoken a word to her. A producer for the show contacted me about the game and asked for my opinion on what it was worth. I gave them a rough ball park over the phone as to what it was worth without seeing it. Several phone calls back and forth later and they told me they were with American Pickers and wanted to see if I would be interested in appraising it on TV. To which I agreed.
They were really pushing me to say it was worth $500 on camera and although I didn't completely agree to it, I didn't disagree either. I really didn't get to see the game in person until Mike ripped the moving blanket off of it. Then I saw the game was a turd. Termite damage, cigarette burns, couldn't plug it in, power cord chewed up. Yes it looked like it just came out of a barn. I told them $200 and crushed their dreams...ha ha.
As for shooting the set and it being staged. The whole crew for the show, showed up about 30 minutes before Mike and Frank showed up. The crew came in several vehicles including the Antique Aparatus Van...but neither Mike or Frank were driving it. As a matter of fact, the Hockey game arrived in the back of a Uhaul truck.
Once the crew got to the TPF they looked around the hall for where they wanted to do their shoot and decided on an area on the ballroom. Two stage hands from the show brought the game into the TPF (still covered with moving blanket) and set it down about 15 feet from where we were doing the shoot.
Being fashionably late, Mike and Frank arrive by car. They small talk with us as the crew mic's us up. Immediately it was apparent, Mike is a really nice guy and Frank is a pompus prick. Very arrogant and unwilling to small talk besides "yes" "no" answers.
They then tell me how they want to do the scene and ask me to stand back around the corner from where we are doing to do the shoot. I'm staged around the corner with a stage hand. The camera's start rolling and Mike and Frank lift the game up and carry it for the last 15' and put it where we do the scene. BS if you think they carried it from the outside in the Antique Aparatus truck and into the TPF ballroom.
I then walk over and we shot the scene. I was jaw dropped out how rough the game was and it was hard to talk up a turd. I then mentioned on camera how I had never scene the game before. Oh they liked to hear that "CUT" Ok let's do this again "tell us how you've never seen one of these before"'
We shot another scene that was cut out of the show. Prior to shooting the scene Mike was joking about how the game was already here and they didn't want to load the POS game back onto their truck and wanted to sell it. There were about 20 of us standing around watching the shoot and he offered it for $400 no one expressed interested, $300? still crickets churping. Finally he sold the game to my buddy Eric for $225. We then filmed a scene where I found someone interested in buying the Stanley Cup game at the Festival (ie: Eric). Eric was also filmed inspecting the game and giving his .02 on it's condition and him making a deal on film to buy it for $400. However this entire scene was scraped to the editing room floor.
Anyhow we finished the scene and Mike happily signed some promo pictures for all of us that were there. Frank was no where to be found. One of the producer ladies was looking for Frank so that he would also sign some stills for us and his response so rudely was "F*** U I'm playing pinball!" He begrudgingly came over and signed the pics and the whole crew packed up and headed out the back door.
I followed them outside (mind you this is after we have already done the entire scene inside the TPF ballroom). And the cameraman filmed a scene of Frank backing up the Antique Aparatus truck to the backdoor of the TPF and Mike waving him on to back the truck up to the door. If you see this episode they play this scene first...like it's them backing the truck up to the show about to unload the Stanley Cup game into the ballroom.
anyhow that's pretty much how it went down.
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