For more than 300 episodes, Rick Harrison has been dishing out information and dollars on his History Channel reality series “Pawn Stars.”
The store owner turned TV star is a fount of knowledge, equally adept at discussing a vintage guitar as he is a Civil War-era rifle. And he’s a master haggler, able to get unusual items for his Las Vegas pawnshop at unusually low prices.
Harrison will be using those dual expertises for his new show, “Pawnography,” a trivia game show hosted by comedian Christopher Titus debuting Thursday on History, where some of the star’s possessions will be at stake.
“I have warehouses full of bizarre stuff and, literally, it’s a bunch of stuff from my shop,” Harrison says. “So I’m incentivized to win. I definitely want to win the show.”
The show is set up in three stages. In round one, two contestants and the duo of “Pawn Stars” regulars Corey Harrison (Rick’s son), and Austin “Chumlee” Russell face off. In the second round, Rick steps in. In the final round, the contestant who wins the most and the trio, with each answering 10 questions.
Here’s where the haggling skills come into play. The show ends with an all-or-nothing deal where Harrison, based on how well he thinks the contest did, offers a cash deal to walk away, leaving their winnings. Otherwise, if they think they beat Harrison, they can pass on the deal and find out who did better.
While you’ll have to wait to see how Harrison does in the show, it’s a good bet that he’ll be hard to beat. He’s a voracious reader and he’s fascinated by books like one about the history of batteries, which, he says, he has read twice.
“Believe it or not, books like that absolutely fascinate me,” says Harrison, who is also the spokesman for the Epilepsy Foundation. “They’re page-turners. I can’t turn them down.”
So what’s your best chance for beating Harrison?
“I can tell you right away that popular culture is not me,” he says. “I just don’t watch television that often. I could not tell you anything about today’s music or any of the current cool things.”
