‘Pawn Stars’ Nearing 600th Episode as the Cast and Crew Start Filming Season 20
Published Sept. 25 2021, 12:27 p.m. ET
The reality series Pawn Stars has been airing for so long, even History has given up on counting the seasons, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported last month.
For the record, though, the season currently airing is the show’s 19th outing. And fans will be glad to know Pawn Stars is still filming: The Review-Journal noted that production for Season 20 was slated to begin this month.
“Honestly, when I look back 13 years ago, when this all started, I thought we’d be done by now,” Pawn Stars personality Austin “Chumlee” Russell told the newspaper. “I thought, if anything, I would be off doing some dumb show of my own. But we’re still making Pawn Stars, and I’m loving it. Every year is better than the year before.”
With 19 seasons and counting, ‘Pawn Stars’ is a “well-oiled machine” Chumlee said.
In case you haven’t tuned into Pawn Stars, the reality show tracks the pawning operations at World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, Nev., where Chumlee works alongside his childhood friend Corey “Big Hoss” Harrison and Corey’s father, Rick Harrison.
“The three men use their sharp eyes and skills to assess the value of items from the commonplace to the truly historic, including a 16th-century samurai sword, a Super Bowl ring, a Picasso painting and a 17th-century stay of execution,” History explains on the Pawn Stars website. “It’s up to them to determine what’s real and what’s fake, as they reveal the often surprising answer to the questions on everyone’s mind, ‘What’s the story behind it?’ and ‘What’s it worth?’”
And even though the show expanded from 30-minute episodes to hour-long installments in 2019, the production schedule isn’t as demanding now as it once was.
“It’s gotten to be like a well-oiled machine. It’s gotten easier,” Chumlee explained. “What used to take us four or five hours, we can do in an hour now. We know what is expected, and that makes it fun. … Even when I’m away from ‘Pawn Stars’ for a month or two, I’m ready to come back to it.”
Rick Harrison still loves doing the show all these years later.
Rick told the Review-Journal that the “biggest adjustment” of his reality fame is that he meets fans wherever he goes, even internationally. “I’m in Kuala Lumpur, and I’m mobbed,” he added. “That’s no joke. That’s actually real.”
But it sounds like the 56-year-old wouldn’t give up the show for anything. “Pawn Stars just keeps on going, keeps on going, and I still love doing it,” he said.
As the show nears 600 episodes — that milestone episode will air in early 2022, the Review-Journal reports — Rick has ideas about keeping the show fresh.
“I’d like to get some Raiders on the show,” he said, referring to Las Vegas’ NFL team. “I should call [Raiders owner] Mark Davis and ask him about it, before we start filming. He’s told me he loves the show.”
Pawn Stars Season 19 airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET on History.