Jasperite David Miller got a taste of fame Feb. 27, when TV star Jeff Schwarz came to town to film a segment for his OLN reality show The Liquidator.
The show follows Schwarz as he acts as a middleman between wholesalers and sellers, documenting his quest to “buy low and sell high.”
Last Friday, shortly after 9 a.m., when he and his crew were scheduled to arrive at Miller’s shop below the Dollar Store, Miller stood behind the counter talking about the show and its host.
Schwarz and his crew had arrived in Jasper the night before, and Miller had taken them out for a few drinks. According to Miller, the two got along like “peas in a pod,” which was a relief because a few days before, things hadn’t looked so rosy.
“You know what? I talked to him [the other night] on the phone, and I was like, ‘I hate this guy, I don’t even want him to come.’ But then we went for pints and it was like talking to myself,” he said.
Miller said that during their initial conversation Schwarz was threatening not to show up, saying there wasn’t a deal for him in Jasper, and that Miller was wasting his time. But the two eventually agreed that when he got to town, Miller would buy a bunch of postcards from him.
Miller said that the night before, when they had gone out for drinks, Schwarz had apologized, and everything was good.
When Schwarz and his crew arrived at Miller’s shop, which sells used items that Miller either purchases or picks up for free, Schwarz greeted Miller and took a walk around. Taking pictures of Miller’s T-shirt designs and peeking into the back room he told Miller that he liked the place.
Miller had bought something from Schwarz last year, and had also participated in an online contest put on by his show. Because of that connection, Schwarz had called him and offered to make his shop one of the stops on his latest season of the show, where he has hit the road for a tour of Western Canada.
Around 10 a.m., as Schwarz was trying to sell Miller recreational “water pipes” to display in his shop, a producer came in and told them that they would soon start filming in the back alley. Schwarz disappeared to get ready, and Miller stood outside watching the preparations.
In the alley behind his store, the crew had pulled up and began unloading the truck. First the rack holding the postcards, then an assortment of other items, big and small. By the time they were done, a pile the size of small car sat in the alley.
Miller, about 10 metres away, looked on with wide eyes.
“Are you going to buy it all?” a friend asked.
“I don’t know, I guess,” Miller replied, giving a short laugh and looking around.
Shortly after, a producer came to prep Miller, running him thought how Schwartz would come to the back door, and how Miller would greet him.
Inside the door, waiting for the knock to come, Miller stood in the back room with his hands in his pockets. He wasn’t nervous, he said, just hungover.
“You can’t be stressed about something like this,” he said.
The knock came, the cameras started rolling, and Miller went outside with Schwarz to make a deal. The show’s producers kept the filming area on lockdown, not letting anyone near, but Miller said in an interview March 3 that he was outside filming for more than five hours.
All told, Miller said, he spent about $2,500. That included all 5,000 postcards, a high-end bicycle, some pellet guns, cutlery sets, dollies, artwork, a pontoon boat and a few other things.
“My plan was maybe to spend a few hundred bucks,” Miller said. “But when the camera crew’s there, and people were talking fast, and .... I don’t know,” he said, lifting his palms and shrugging his shoulders. “But I only bought stuff I think I can flip and make money on, so I’m not stuck with a bunch of crap. I just have to find out how to move it.”
On top of that, Miller said, when the episode airs, it will be like an advertisement for his shop in the 140 countries where the show is broadcast. It is like he is buying a commercial for his shop, he explained.
Looking back on the experience, Miller said he thought the whole thing was “amazing,” even if things started off slightly rocky.
“There were so many ups and downs, [but] then they come here and they like me and they like the town, and they end up staying an extra day.
“It went from [Schwarz] thinking he wasn’t going to find a deal, to him finding one and coming here.”
Schwarz has even extended an invite to Miller to go to Vancouver to be featured in a future episode, buying water pipes. Maybe it will amount to nothing, Miller admitted, but who knows, maybe he could spin his cameo into an opportunity to appear on reality shows across the network.
Until that happens, he said he is still reflecting on his 15 minutes of fame.
“The most important thing I think is that I had an eight-person film crew come and film me. I’m still blown away by that. Like, it’s not just one guy coming here with a camera, it was a whole production.”
Miller’s segment will be featured on the upcoming season of The Liquidator, which he said will air sometime in the next six months.
Trevor Nichols
[email protected]
