The Real Hustle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Real Hustle | |
 |
|
| Format | Reality/Documentary |
|---|---|
| Starring | Alexis Conran Paul Wilson Jessica-Jane Clement |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 61 (as of 21/05/09) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 29 mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC Three |
| Original run | February 9, 2006 – Present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
The Real Hustle is a BBC television series made by Objective Productions and written by Alex Conran and Paul Wilson. The show demonstrates confidence and magic tricks, distraction scams and proposition bets performed on members of the public by presenters Conran, Wilson and Jessica-Jane Clement.
Contents |
[edit] History
The show began as a spin-off of the BBC show Hustle, due to the original show's popularity. However, the series is now considered completely separate and the relationship between the shows is rarely mentioned. Beginning with series 5, each episode has been given a subtitle; for example series 5 was titled "The Real Hustle: Las Vegas" where many of the scams were filmed in the city itself, including in casinos. The 6th series began on BBC Three on Thursday 9 October at 10:30 pm and was subtitled "High Stakes". Series 7, entitled "The Real Hustle on Holiday", began airing on 21 May 2009 and an eighth series has also been commissioned.
Series 1 and 2 were narrated by Dean Lennox Kelly, with series 3 to series 5 narrated by Steven Jackson. Series 6 was narrated by Craig Kelly and series 7 is being narrated by Paul Nicholls.
In the title sequence of the show, the pseudonyms of the presenters are given as Ian Steele, Rob Marks and Sue Windle. While the boys often call themselves these names, Jess often doesn't reveal her fake surname, and calls herself Suzie instead of Sue. She has also been known to call herself Tracy Rutherford.
[edit] Example of scams
- A deposit is taken on a car multiple times from different people who turn up to buy it.
- A computer keyboard is replaced with one containing a key logger and bank details are obtained
- A skimmer device is placed on a cashpoint with a pinhole camera inside it, recording the information on the user's cards magnetic strip along with their PIN; the data is then put on the magnetic strip of an e-top up card which is used to withdraw money from the victim's account
- The Black money scam at a market stall
- A fake hollow cash point is installed on a busy street, in which one of the hustlers hides and records the information on the user's cards magnetic strip along with their PIN obtained from the user typing on the keypad.
[edit] Criticism
The series itself has been accused of being fake[1], on occasion featuring extras as the "innocent members of the public", and in portraying "scams" which are not technically possible, or which would be such a serious criminal offence (e.g. credit card fraud) that they could not be legitimately committed for the purposes of making an entertainment television programme. However these accusations have never been backed up with any evidence other than internet speculation.
A statement on some episodes suggests that all "victims" have been genuinely hoodwinked, but that any money lost is returned to them after filming. A statement on the BBC's website[2] is more specific, revealing that "The participants featured in The Real Hustle have either been set up by their family and friends or believe that they are participating in another television programme."
[edit] Episodes
[edit] External links
- The Real Hustle website
- Upcoming episode dates
- BBC News - How to stay off the suckers list
- Objective Productions
- The Real Hustle at TV.com
