Hobby lands Athens couple on History Channel

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Joseph and Carissa Scott of Athens will be featured on tonight’s episode of “Picked Off” on the History Channel. The show airs at 9 p.m. Courtesy photo

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July 25, 2012

Hobby lands Athens couple on History Channel

By Rebecca Croomes For The News Courier The News Courier Wed Jul 25, 2012, 01:52 AM CDT

— Joseph and Carissa Scott live for the thrill of the deal.

The Scotts, both 43, said they’ve spent most of their free time for as long as they can remember, even before they were married, going on adventures looking for antiques.

“We both have traveled a lot,” Joseph, a NASA contractor said. “We’ll look at the calendar and see a free weekend, or a free Saturday, and we’ll say, ‘Hey, let’s load up and drive to Nashville.’”

Now that love of collectibles has secured them a spot on the History Channel’s latest competition series, “Picked Off”, which airs tonight at 9 p.m. and is the third in a series of six episodes.

“We were just blown away when we found out that we were literally going to have a chance to do this,” Joseph said.

Taped in the spring, tonight’s show will focus on the Scotts and other two-member teams who must find the deal of a lifetime with only $100 per day. The team that comes out on top after a series of elimination challenges, as judged by renowned antique dealers Todd and Ethan Merrill, will win the $10,000 grand prize.

“That old saying of ‘one man’s junk is another man’s treasure’ sometimes can come true,” Joseph said.

Joseph and Carissa, an RN, are fans of the other History Channel series “American Pickers,” so when Carissa saw the casting call for “Picked Off” on Facebook, there was no question about trying out.

“That just kind of piqued my interest, because, number one, we’re fans of the show and, number two, that’s something we enjoy doing,” Carissa said.

The couple didn’t know the competition was for two-person teams, so Carissa said she originally only put Joseph’s name down on the application. Producers liked his credentials, but wanted to know who is partner would be.

“Well I struggled with well who am I gonna choose,’ because I’ve got a couple of guys that I’m friends with that we go to auctions and picking with them too some,” Joseph said. “So (Carissa) said, well I’d love to do it too, pick me!”

They thought trying out as a husband-and-wife team who go antiquing every weekend would make them better candidates to be put on air, but they didn’t make the cut, Carissa said, until they were called in at the last minute.

Everything from where they were going to what they were doing was only revealed on a need-to-know basis, Carissa said.

“We had about five or six days (to prepare),” Carissa said. “We didn’t really know where we were going because it was an undisclosed location. We didn’t really know what we had signed up for, to be honest.”

The schedule was intense, the couple said. All interviews were done off set, but still on location, so the Scotts were never home while the cameras rolled. Filming, traveling and actually participating in the activities of the competition without knowing anything about them beforehand let the contestants show true emotion during the twists and turns of reality television.

“They wanted the element of surprise, they wanted the shock factor,” Joseph said. “When you started into some of the competitions and things that they have down for you to do, they didn’t want you to have strategized and researched things and all that.”

It was a challenge the Scotts said they enjoyed. Rooms full of people were directing their every move, but everyone was professional, the couple said. They said they had so much fun that they would recommend the experience to anyone.

“There were so many times during the filming when I would punch Carissa and say, ‘Can you believe this? We’re on a reality TV show,’” Joseph said.

“It was very surreal,” Carissa said.

Despite everyone asking the obvious question, contract rules prohibit the Scotts from revealing details or results of the episode they’re featured in.

Showing off their hobby on national television for a chance at $10,000 has not burned the Scotts’ love of antiquing. In fact, Carissa said, it has given them a new perspective.

“It was a lot different doing it from the TV standpoint, but that’s a passion we have and we went to an auction last weekend, and it’s just something we enjoy,” Carissa said.

When not trying to score thousands of dollars on the small screen, the Scotts travel the back roads of the South looking for curios for their own collection, most of which is kept in their garage, or for things to refurbish and sell online or in town.

Joseph and Carissa Scott will make their national television debut tonight at 9 p.m. on the History Channel.

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