‘Storage Wars’ alum Dave Hester files suit against A&E, claims show is ‘rigged’

Is “Storage Wars” fake? If you believe a lawsuit filed by one of the show’s former stars, you may believe so … but you also have to remember that there are multiple sides to every story, and the guy filing the suit no longer is a part of the show, and was reportedly fired for talking too much smack about it in violation of his contract.

In legal documents obtained by Deadline, Dave Hester is suing A&E and the production over charges that he was wrongfully fired over bringing concerns about the authenticity of the show publicly, and the suit also states that producers will often plant expensive items, such as a BMW or a newspaper with a valuable headline about Elvis Presley’s death, in lockers for the participants of the show to bid on:

“[‘Storage Wars’] regularly ‘salts’ the storage lockers that are the subject of the auctions portrayed on the Series with valuable or unusual items to add dramatic effect, even going so far as to stage entire storage units.”

While A&E at the moment has no comment on the litigation, a representative for the auction company that existed long before the show began had this to say to TMZ, refuting the claims by Hester:

“We only sell legitimate units on Storage Wars. Every unit goes through a 64-day legal process and no one has access to units prior to auction.”

From one standpoint, you can argue that this suit is just built on words from someone possibly bitter over losing their job. However, you also have to consider that there are these sort of reality TV conspiracies that happen all of the time, and in the case of other shows in the past (with “The Hills” and “Jersey Shore” as examples), we have seen producers stage all sorts of situations for dramatic impact.

What do you this about Hester’s claims, and do you think that “Storage Wars” is rigged?

Photo: A&E