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‘Pawn Stars’ Update: How Well Do You Know Chumlee? History Channel Fav Tells All!

By Georgia Makitalo
Published on: 10:26 PST, Aug 31, 2016

Now that there are over 400 episodes of Pawn Stars with the entertaining Harrison family: Rick, the patriarch, Richard, the “Old Man” and son, Corey “Big Hoss.” Yet, it is Chumlee, Corey’s childhood friend, that is the overwhelming fan favorite. Giving his first interview in months, Chumlee recently sat with Big D at 93.1 The Party, in an upbeat and revealing conversation.

The Pawn Stars favorite recalls the funny way he first met Corey, what Corey, Rick, and the old man are really like, why he is selling his sneaker collection, where he is every afternoon, and what is the invitation that Chumlee will always accept. You may be surprised!

A lot of fans may not realize it, but Chumlee has been a pawn broker for over 10 years, starting to work in the pawn business at the end of 2003. Taking about his spaghetti days, the affable reality star explained that when he started out working for the Harrisons, Rick also owned a Quiznos near the court house. So, at one point, Chum worked at the Quiznos eight hours a day and then went over to the World Famous Gold and Silver Pawn Shop and worked another four hours before his day was done. On the weekends, Chumlee would work 10-hour days at the pawn shop. He did this non-stop for nearly five months. Looking back, Chumlee appreciates how much he worked then and how lucky he is now able to take more time off.

“I went 135 days without a day off before, so these days off now are really, really, really nice!”

A charismatic storyteller, Chumlee recalled the day that he and Corey met when they were 12 and 10 respectively. Chumlee’s sister had told him that there was a guy who was picking on her, which turned out to be “Big Hoss.” Chumlee went to take care of this and soon, the truth was revealed that Corey was picking on Chum’s neighbor. The two got into a little “scuffle,” but Chumlee says that Corey was quickly the winner because “he smothered me with all of his fat until I could not breath!”

“It’s not a lie, it’s not a lie!”

https://youtu.be/Cm8steiiEyo

What does Chumlee really think of his Pawn Stars coworkers? What are Rick, Corey, and the old man really like and how do they all get along?

“Corey has a great heart. Rick has a great heart. The old man has a great heart. We all mix well together. Since I have known the family for so long, I guess I was the lucky one I got the fourth wheel on the show.”

Now with the shooting schedule on hiatus, this allows Chumlee to meet and greet fans for charity or just to say a few words, take a photo, and sign an autograph. You will even see Chumlee’s brother, who always accompanies him, and always takes the photos.

Chumlee appreciates fans whether they have been watching Pawn Stars for one year or seven. Some even tell him that they watch the show everyday. Chumlee feels that meeting the fans is just a small way to show his appreciation and says that “I just want to give back to the fans who come and support me.”

“I enjoy meeting the fans and I actually do this every day. I go out there for an hour to two hours.”

What is the biggest change at the pawn shop since Pawn Stars went on the air? People! There are now more people working in the back of the shop than used to work in the whole store.

“Biggest difference is going from 12 employees to 60.”

Turns out, not a whole lot else is different. In the old days, the store was so small and Rick and the old man bought everyone lunch. As on the show, Chumlee used to run errands for the shop including getting the mail. He recalls that he does the errands and then would park his car under a special tree and take a 25-minute catnap before returning back to the shop. When new people came to work for the shop, he would always tell them to “take at least a half hour” so they would not blow his gig.

So what’s on sale at the pawn shop? “Chumlee for President” t-shirts! Now there is even size 5x available. Chumlee’s motto? “Make America late.”

As the Inquisitr reported, pawn shop owner Rick Harrison bought 50 percent of Chumlee’s t-shirt company and sells the shirts at the pawn shop.

That is not all that Chumlee is selling. Like his pal Corey, Chumlee is currently downsizing his home and that means he is selling much of his fabled tennis shoe collection. He bought the house for a good price when the economy was down and now he says it is time to cash in, while the housing prices are quite good. He explained that this is why he is selling his sneaker collection. He will no longer have an entire room to house his collection. The Pawn Stars favorite did not elaborate on if any potential buyer gets the “Chum Chum Room” stripper pole that was mentioned in the reports after his March arrest.

When asked by the radio station about Chumlee’s hobbies, the Pawn Stars favorite’s eyes lit, and he stated that he loved to play poker and was game to play any sort of charity poker events. He does not even mind paying his buy-in. He just loves to play poker.

While Chumlee did not mention his legal troubles from earlier this year, he did mention that he had to change his Instagram account to Chumlee702, as he needed to close down his previous Instagram with hundreds of thousands of followers because there were so many “R.I.P. Chumlee posts.” Obviously, he has moved on from this traumatic experience as he laughed about it with the DJ.

One tip that Chumlee did not mention was his Twitter presence. He always interacts with fans and answers their questions when he is going to be in the shop. And his response is not all shop talk! One Chumlee Twitter follower, Destiny, asked Chumlee if he was at the Coffee Bean one day. He absolutely was! And he used this as an opportunity to point out that the Coffee Bean is his favorite chain coffee. Who knew?

Perhaps the cutest story is about his nephew. Chum’s sister has five children and one of Chumlee’s nephews gave his teacher a slew of Chumlee paraphernalia including a mug and key lanyard. He moved from the back of the classroom to the front, to make sure that his teacher was using the items that he brought her. Chumlee points out that this is the same nephew that asked for some autographed photos of Chum to sell. The reality star is quite proud of his nephew’s hustle.

“The hustle runs in the family!”

And how did Austin Lee Russell end up with the nickname Chumlee? Turns out, when he was young, a friend’s dad named him after the cartoon “Tennessee Tuxedo.” Chumlee was the dimwitted walrus sidekick to the genius penguin. And this is when his new nickname was Chumlee and has stuck ever since!

“I’d been called a lot worst at that point of my life.”

Does anything surprise you about Chumlee, Rick, Corey or the old man? What do you think of the way that Chum and Corey first met?

[Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]

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