'Pawn' star: Crazy customers want items burned
Ashley Gold of 'Hardcore Pawn' shares best stories from father's shop
NEW YORK – Tru Tv’s “Hardcore Pawn” has to deal with a hardcore cast of characters and one cast member has to keep them all in line. That tough lady is Ashley Gold -- the daughter of patriarch Les Gold who owns the largest pawn shop in Detroit. The jewelry expert spoke to FOX411 about that other pawn shop show and why she’s all for more of them coming to TV.
FOX411: Did you always want to go into the family business or were you pushed into it?
Ashley Gold: My parents told me I could do whatever I want. Be whatever I want but I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps. I wanted to have the thrill of not knowing what was going to walk in that door and that’s exactly what I do.
FOX411: What has been one of the craziest run-ins with a customer?
Gold: I had the most unique experience. Somebody brought me in a bag of gems and they didn’t know what they had. This lady brought in a bag of rubies and she wanted a $1000. I’m looking at it and I didn’t believe she had it. I showed it to one of my gem experts and it was a Burmese ruby. I ended up giving that lady $10,000. We both started crying. It changed this lady’s life. So, it’s not always a sad story. It’s not always an argument. This is something for the good.
FOX411: Has there ever been an item that you thought someone was making a mistake selling?
Gold: I don’t talk people not into selling it. I tell them maybe get a loan on it instead because maybe you want to get it back. So a loan is different than selling something. Selling something means you’re never going to get it back. Getting a loan on something in the state of Michigan loans are good for 90 days so after the 90 days you can pay off your interest, get another three months which means you pay off your loans. So, if you don’t have the money, your principal plus your interest. So, you can just pay off your interest. So, you can keep on doing that.
FOX411: You recently lost 40 pounds. Do you feel pressure to look a certain way now that you’re on TV?
Gold: I didn’t lose the weight for anybody but myself. I lost the weight because I had enough. I had it. I’ve been a yo-yo dieter my entire life and enough was enough. You get to a point where you’re either in school and you want to do better or you are either feeling depressed and you want to help yourself in that way or like me I was watching myself on TV and I said, “It’s enough. I’m really overweight.” On my birthday in January I said, “It’s a new year and a new me.” I actually went by that motto and this year it’s a new me. I lost 40 pounds. I started running 5k’s all the time.
FOX411: Do fans ever confuse your show with the “Pawn Stars?”
Gold: As long as you don’t call me bad names I’ll be whatever you want. I’m that pawn chick. We’re all here to help an industry. If there are pawn shows out there that can broaden the horizon and we can help the pawn shops out there. Pawn shops used to have a bad stigma. People used to walk in and put their head down and not want to go in there and now with the pawn shop shows out there now people are so proud to walk in and buy a piece of jewelry and say, “I went to the pawn shop today and I got a great deal.” So, if were able to be out there, be on TV and be able to help everybody out there in the industry why not?
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