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I have no doubt that Pawn Stars is scripted and the exchanges are staged. I also don’t think that Chumlee is nearly as stupid as he’s portrayed to be. He serves as “comic relief” otherwise he’d be fired. I think that the sellers and the items are mostly real but I think they (the sellers of the most interesting items) come back into the store for filming. Otherwise the show would be boring.

I still like the show however as I find it educational. I like how they give the historical background of the item or the person associated with it and I like to see how the appraisers validate the item or prove it’s a fake. I also like how Rick schools people on what they think the item is worth and the reality of what it’s actually worth and or the difference between the price a pawn shop is going to pay for it vs. the “retail” price. For instance say an item has an appraised or has an estimated auction value of $2,000, the seller expects to get $2,000. Rick is very upfront that he’s in it to make a profit. He has overhead and the cost of carrying inventory and other expenses and often advises the seller to try to sell it himself and come back if that doesn’t work out.