Rick Harrison and Austin “Chumlee” Russell from Pawn Stars and the new spin-off, Pawn Stars Do America, have a contentious back-and-forth relationship.
Fans are commenting about a recent interaction between Rick and Chumlee that was shared on Instagram.
Chumlee has worked for Rick at the pawn shop in Las Vegas for over twenty years, so something about their relationship must work well.
The duo recently worked together at a History Channel event in Mexico called Historyfest, while Rick’s son Corey Harrison stayed home, presumably minding the main store in Las Vegas.
But the video Chumlee shared on his Instagram has fans commenting on their working together and why they “put up with him” at the store.
Chumlee’s Instagram video is captioned, “Let’s see how Rick likes this vanilla coffee,” it seems that Chumlee intentionally mishandled Rick’s coffee order.
Fans comment that they would have fired Chumlee long before now
In a video that Chumlee shared, Rick calls out to his employee, Chumlee, and says, “Chum, give me a cup of coffee.”
“You want it black?” Chumlee asks, and Rick responds, “You know how I like my coffee.”
Chumlee then gets the coffee and mutters, “Black, huh? How about some vanilla?”
After watching Rick spit the coffee out, fans commented that Chumlee should have been fired long ago, insinuating he is not the best employee.
“I’m surprised he kept his job as long as he did. Rick, I would have fired him long ago.”
Another fan agreed, “Hahaha, I’m always thinking the same thing.” Giving your boss the wrong coffee order seems to be a fireable offense.
Another fan shared that he could never understand why Rick’s dad, The Old Man, “put up with him!” Rick’s dad, Richard Harrison, died several years ago, but he was a fixture on the show, and everyone loved him.
Then someone commented, “You always need one for dirty deeds…”
A look into Rick and Chumlee’s relationship
Rick Harrison’s oldest son Corey and Chumlee have been friends since childhood. Rick treats Chumlee like one of his kids and uses him to be the butt of the jokes, mainly for television.
But it works, and Chumlee is a massive part of Pawn Stars’ success story. He is the comic relief in what could be an otherwise dull pawn show that showcases the same types of things for sale over and over again.
Pawn Stars Do America airs Wednesdays 8/7c on History and streams the next day.