Anyone who has ever watched Pawn Stars on The History Channel knows that Rick Harrison always jokes with Austin “Chumlee” Russell and seems to like him despite their back-and-forth.
There are times when Chumlee intentionally does things to bug Rick, even causing fans to say he needs to be fired over them.
Most recently, that happened when he gave Rick the wrong coffee order on purpose to bug him, as reported by Monsters and Critics. Certainly, Chumlee acts out for a laugh and doesn’t mean any actual harm.
Maybe Chumlee felt reticent after that encounter with Rick when he filmed a snippet for Instagram and asked Rick a specific request.
During the short video, Chumlee approached Rick at the pawnshop and said, “Say three nice things about me,” and added that he had ten seconds to respond.
Rick took a beat and repeated, “Three nice things about you…You are funny, you are smart, and you know what? You are a pretty good kid.”
Chumlee asked his fans what they think about Rick’s opinion of him
Chumlee took offense at being called a kid and captioned the post on Instagram, “Rick still thinks I’m a kid. What do you guys think?”
Everyone immediately sided with Rick’s view of Chumlee: He is still a big kid. One fan reminded him, “To be fair, Chum, you’re basically one of his kids and you always will be.”
Chumlee has been friends with the family for years through Rick’s son, Corey Harrison.
Another fan heaped praise on Chumlee, saying, “I think you’re a good dude that has bad days just like the rest of us…I feel like, when one meets you, they get you at face value and not some TV version.”
Another fan said, “Rick is right, Chumlee.” Another agreed with Rick as well, “totally agreed… Rick is not failing.”
Rick is hoping to make a deal with this electrifying find at the pawnshop
In an episode shared on the Pawn Star’s YouTube channel, Rick and Chumlee look at what a seller thinks is an original Nikola Tesla motor.
The seller, Bill, asked for a whopping $250,000 for the motor, which he insisted was the original model. He had photographs and was convinced it was Tesla’s original prototype.
The expert Rick called disagreed that it was the one Tesla debuted at Cornell, and because of that, Rick was disappointed at not finding the holy grail of prototype motors.
Not every item makes it into a deal, but they can all be viewed as a learning experience for the viewers watching at home.
As evidenced in every episode of Pawn Stars, Rick likes Chumlee and likely did not mean calling him a kid as a slam against Chum.
Rick is correct in saying that Chumlee was a good kid. Chumlee grew up before everyone’s eyes on television and has proven to be a good kid at heart.
Pawn Stars airs Wednesdays 8/7c on History and streams the next day.