Bidders on the show don’t have a clue what they’re going to get after they swap their hard earned money for a storage locker. The network, after all, describes Storage Wars as “modern-day pirates blindly bid on abandoned storage units that may contain junk or treasure”. Indeed, there are units that hold untold riches but there are also other Storage Wars lockers that have housed the strange and truly bizarre.
Of course, cast members of the reality TV series are doing their best to generate the highest ROI (Return on Investment) but along the way, they can also unearth something that is a bit too weird to fathom. One cast member became the next curator of a “hand collection” that included hand sculptures, hand posters, and other items that we probably shouldn’t continue mentioning at this point.
The Most Original Storage Unit Treasure Ever
A certain storage unit discovery that wasn’t aired on TV included a bundle of cash that totaled to well… just a whopping $7.5 million! Auctioneer couples Dan and Laura Dotson unsuspectingly unloaded the most valuable locker they have ever sold in their entire lives in Indio, California for a mere $500. The man who purchased the unit discovered a safe inside the locker that stored over $7 million in cold, hard cash!
Apparently, things didn’t go as smoothly as the guy who bought the safe would have thought of though. Shortly after his unbelievable find, he claimed that a lawyer contacted him, declaring to represent the individuals who were the original owners of the storage unit and the $7.5 million bundle of cash inside. The attorney offered a $600,000 reward if he gave back the money. The guy rejected it at first but then took a second offer to retain $1.2 million and return the $6.3 million that’s left.
A Sad Loss
Amidst all the success and popularity of Storage Wars, the show also had its own fair share of tragedies. Everyone in the cast and crew and countless others who watched the show was deeply saddened when one of its co-stars, Mark Balelo, passed away from an apparent suicide. The police discovered Balelo lifeless due to carbon monoxide poisoning just days following his apprehension for possession of the illegal substance. Unfortunately, it appeared that the Storage Wars star endured a problematic life and had been apprehended by law enforcement officers for the same violation back in 2007.
Mark Balelo was the owner of Balelo Inc., a liquidation merchandise business, and became popular in the show for being among the “big buyers” who were adept at bargaining and spotting treasure beneath all the trash. Nicknamed "Rico Suave," Balelo made front page news in 2011 after helping famed actor Nicolas Cage regain a mint-condition copy of a 1938 Action Comics book that got stolen from his storage locker.
Meeting At The Audition
Dan and Laura Dotson are one of the more widely known casts in the Storage Wars because of their business-like approach when it came to auctioning and for their adorable personalities as well. The two auctioneers first met in 1996 when Laura took part on one of Dan’s auctions to bid on restaurant equipment and not before long, they were already head over heels in love with each other.
On an interview with Huffington Post back in 2013, Laura revealed that she already fell in love with Dan the first time she laid her eyes on him. The couple would eventually go into the auction business together following their marriage and become successful partners for almost two decades, including their renowned duo on Storage Wars.
Barry The Ladies Man
Barry Weiss is easily the most beloved star in Storage Wars and even the ladies would agree. The TV celebrity and businessman is known to be quite popular to women and ladies of all ages would even take the trouble of personally going to the Storage Wars set for a chance encounter with the famed auctioneer. Regardless if Barry doesn’t luck out on a storage unit, there’s always a lovely consolidation prize waiting for him just outside the set.
For some reason though, Weiss is not so blessed when it came to love and relationship compared to his business ventures. The Storage Wars star is currently single and divorced from his anonymous wife 30 years ago. He now shares custody with his two children, a son named Jack and a daughter named Julie, who today, are already adults. Barry did share that he received numerous marriage proposals after he got divorced. He truly is an authentic “Ladies Man”!