What if the worst moment of your life became nothing more than a punchline to millions of people?
That’s exactly what happened to American Chopper stars Paul Teutul, Sr. and Paul Teutul, Sr. The epic onscreen fight they had was all-too-real, and it resulted in years of legal drama and family tragedy. But to many who have never even seen the show, that moment is nothing but a funny meme format involving a chair getting thrown.
As a reality show, even the biggest fans of American Chopper often assume that what they see onscreen is fake to some extent. However, much of the tragedy was quite real, and we’re going to get to the bottom of the tragic truth behind this iconic show.
The show was almost completely different
While the Teutuls are the heart and soul of American Chopper, they aren’t the creators of the show. Instead, the reality show was created by Craig Piligian. And in an amazing interview with Forbes, the creator revealed that the show was almost completely different.
Originally, Piligian was going to focus on a different New Hampshire bike shop. After determining that shop lacked “the right mindset,” he began shooting with the Teutuls. This led to a kind of revelation: “What we started to see was that it was a relationship show more than it was a build show. The bike was a by-product of the relationship with the father and the son. It just came out of nowhere and was hugely successful. It was the first family docu-soap.”
This revelation changed the face of television, and it certainly changed the lives of the Teutuls. But by focusing the show on the family’s relationship, Piligian almost completely destroyed that relationship.
