Prior to his appearance in Storage Wars, Barry Weiss already had some idea about reality TV since he is the godfather of Jesse James. If you are not familiar with who Jesse James is, he is a celebrity motorcycle customizer and host of several reality TV shows including Monster Garage on the Discovery Channel and Jesse James Is A Dead Man from Spike TV. James also made an appearance on the Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 video game and was the focal point of the a program narrating several of the custom builds at Austin Speed Shop in his own TV show, Jesse James: Outlaw Garage.
Jesse James is also the ex-husband of famous actress Sandra Bullock which practically makes Barry Weiss a Hollywood celebrity as well. James’s Discovery Channel website also claims that his great-great-grandfather was the cousin of the notorious Old West outlaw. If this is indeed true, this also makes Barry part of a legendary lineage as well!
Brandi Takes Adult Film Distributor To Court
One of the female stars of the show, Brandi Passante, won a legal battle over a man alleged of propagating a false video of Passante with illicit contents on the web. Federal judge James V. Selna of the U.S. District Court in Central California found Hunter Moore, former operator of the website “Is Anyone Up”, guilty for the violation of contempt. Moore was ordered to eliminate the video of Passante from the sites that he posted them on.
A fine for $50 for every day that he fails to remove the video was imposed by the court. The fine would double after two weeks of non-compliance. The lawsuit was filed by Brandi’s camp in 2013 and originally featured $2.3 million worth of claim in damages. She would eventually end up with just a meager $75 in compensation. For Brandi though, it wasn’t about the money but more on clearing her name and image as a celebrity and person in real life
Darrell The Stalker
Since 2011, Darrell Sheets has enjoyed a long and romantic relationship with Kimber Wuerfel. Storage Wars Darrell Sheets has a net worth of $4.5 million while Kimber Werfel is a successful real estate agent of Orange County. The two first laid eyes on each other while behind the wheel, on the open road, through their car windows when Darrell was making his way towards the 55 and 91 interchange in California.
After they exchanged glances, Darrell wasn’t able to resist the urge to tail her car for a number of miles before finally handing her his number through a piece of paper. So basically, he was driving in California when he accidentally spotted Kimber on her car and started stalking her thereafter. Although it sounded a bit creepy, the move worked and remarkably, Kimber called him on the number he gave. The two clicked instantly the moment they dated. Darrell even relocated to Huntington Beach from San Diego just to grow closer to Kimber. Eventually, the pair got so close that in less than a year they became engaged in March of 2012.
Hester’s Lawsuit
In December of 2012, Dave Hester filed a lawsuit against A&E and the producers of Storage Wars. Hester declared that he was booted out from the reality TV show following his complaint regarding the producers of the show and their purposeful rigging of storage units. Hester’s legal complaint exclaimed: “The truth is that (producers) regularly salt or plant the storage lockers that are the subject of the auctions portrayed on the series with valuable or unusual items to create drama and suspense for the show.” Hester further revealed that the producers began planting items in units during the very first season of the show.
He also said that, following his complaint, only lockers that other participants purchased where planted and the ones that he purchased were intentionally excluded. Because of this, Hester asserted that he looked mediocre compared to his competitors of the show and was forced to close several of his own shops as a result.
A Big Softie
Barry Weiss, one of the biggest stars in Storage Wars (if not the biggest), once departed the show to film his own version of the reality TV series called “Barry’d Treasure”. Weiss would ultimately come back to Storage Wars after his show flopped. Barry was never really into the world of bidding on storage units until a friend discussed to him the prospect of participating in Storage Wars.
Although Barry Weiss wasn’t that experienced in the storage hunting game, he managed to hit a big score early during his appearance in the show’s first season when he bid $275 on a storage unit packed with various salon supplies. The locker looked like a bust at the start but eventually, it turned out to be a huge win after Weiss dug up a model grand piano out of the mess. Barry secured a decent $11,625 profit from the find and that instant taste of victory most likely influenced him to stay longer on the show.