Many of us might have seen at least a part of the Discovery Channel's hit show Monster Garage back when it was wildly popular in the mid-2000s. Since then, the show has been canceled and from recent viewings by yours truly, it seems to be showing more of its age.

For those of you who may not know, motorcycle bad-boy Jesse James hosted a television show that was about taking normal cars and from the use of a team of experts and handymen, would build cars to serve whatever purpose the production team had chosen. The build team was different every week and if they completed their challenge, they'd get an expensive tool kit.

Though the premise of the show was interesting, no one really wants to watch a bunch of mechanics work on a car, so to stir the pot and to appeal to a broader audience, the producers would dramatize the show a bit. Some of these tricks were nothing new in the reality TV show world, and most other reality TV shows utilize the same tricks over and over again to get a rise out of their audiences.

Jesse James has revealed that the show was mostly staged when he wrote an anger-fueled blog about the show after his other hit, Outlaw Garage, was canceled. Besides this one account of the going on behind-the-scenes, one of the mechanics, who was also a writer for Car and Driver, reported on the show in an issue of the magazine.

Not every moment of the show was fake, though, and plenty of suprising moments that may have seemed scripted were, in fact, 100% real.

20 Totally Fake: Scripted Drama

via The Oakland Press

It's no secret that reality shows often are scripted to keep things interesting. Otherwise, they'd just show the mundane lives of everyday people. Even celebrities have a boring day from time to time, and to spice things up, they have writers on hand to speed things along. Monster Garage was no exception. In Larry Webster's article (which I'll mention a few times in this article), another mechanic had self-appointed himself as the alpha of the group and, according to Larry, this just dug into what the producers wanted on the show. Whether or not the mechanic was approached by the executives and swayed to help them is unknown but certainly not impossible.

19 100% Real: One In 10

via Autoblog

An interesting part of the show that hasn't been talked about much (before or since) is the fact that the team did indeed fail their objectives and often left Jesse having to destroy five hard days of sweat and tears. After the show ended, they figured about one in 10 projects failed and were destroyed, usually using something with too many explosives strategically placed for dramatic effect. The sorrowful part of this story is the amount of potential that could have come of the cars if they were auctioned off instead and sold to a collector or a mechanic who could've completed the monster builds on their own.

18 100% Real: Breaking The Rules

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It isn't much of a secret that James didn't get along with Discover executives. It's because of this attitude for “the man” that Jesse broke just about every rule he could in the show. From going over budget to building it in a day, Jesse wanted to get away with all he could while making it harder on the producers to turn out a show. He got into raising all sorts of trouble and meanwhile, we at home are more entertained by Jesse's anti-hero antics than we would've been by any staged event the producers had tried to force into the stories of each episode.

17 Totally Fake: The Window Incident On The Tailgater Escalade

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In another piece of Larry Webster's tell-all, he tells about how he was tasked with removing the rear windows and replacing them so they would flip up—revealing the speakers. Larry admits that this was way above his head but that he felt the urge to just get it done, so he pushed forward. It was what happened when he returned with one less window that the drama was pumped way up and entirely out of proportion. One of the experts got angry at him and though the frustration could be apparent in a real-life situation, it's very apparent that Larry was set up.

16 100% Real: A Free Snowmobile Car

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With a limited budget of $3,000 (and later $5,000), the garage had to use any freebies they could get their hands on. As the television show got more popular, more companies were willing to donate parts to the builds. One particular project was entirely free, of course, and I'm talking about the Mini Cooper snowmobile. The Cooper was given to the show by BMW and all the parts needed to make it a worthy snowmobile were donated by Polaris. In return for their offerings, they got some publicity on a television show that was one of the most watched on the Discovery channel at the time.

15 Totally Fake: Curse Of The Hearse Episode's Real Flaw

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The Hearse was a far0fetched build—even for Monster Garage standards—and with the technicality of the hydraulics and the relatively cramped space of a Cadillac Miller-Meteor, the mechanics had their hands full from the beginning. This Cadillac was meant to be transformed into a car crusher but though the build got off to a great start, various surprise appearances in the form of a coffin go-cart (which was cool and actually fit the theme of the build) and the Batmobile came onto the show and quickly got the mechanics distracted, leaving them rushing to complete the build, taking shortcuts, and ultimately failing. Whether this was set up by the producers or not is anyone's guess but people can't just randomly come onto the show, leaving us to believe the team was destined to fail.

14 Totally Fake: Rented Volkswagen

via NewBeetle

Just about everything the Monster Garage show was bought by Jesse or the channel. The episode that concentrated on building a fan car out of a VW Beetle had one little exception to this rule. When they do the initial designs and introduction, a stock white Beetle is shown as the prospective monster. But when they start tearing into the car, it seems to grow a sunroof. What happened is that the studio hadn't yet gotten a Beetle for the show, so they rented one to fill in for the first day while one was getting bought that was the same color to avoid confusion. A few viewers caught the slight difference between the two when they were tearing out the interior and saw that the headliner had a large rectangular hole in it that wasn't there before.

13 100% Real: Scrapheap Challenge (Junkyard Wars) Inspiration

via Pa TV

Scrapheap Challenge was a show from across the pond that took junkyard finds and created all sorts of different machines to fit a challenge. Hosted by Robert Llewellyn, two teams were pitted against each other to build a machine that could complete a challenge better than the other. It's in the crazy builds that you can see where the inspiration came from for the main idea behind Monster Garage. Instead of taking junk and creating something useful, Monster Garage took perfectly fine cars and built machines that would sometimes fulfill their purpose—and if they didn't, well, we all know what happened then.

12 100% Real: Yes, There Was A Game...

via Ghosts of Xbox Past

I can say with a slightly disapproving look on my face that I have played this game—and have beaten it, too. I can say I enjoyed it then, but I was also younger and perhaps my standards for video games were a lot lower. Either way, years after this game's release, I can see it now for what it really is: a cash grab. The video game is a flop with critics and audience alike, grabbing only 1 ½ stars on IGN, with complaints of unoriginal builds that draw directly from the show and a tedious build that tests patience rather than just being enjoyable for the gamer.

11 Totally Fake: Cheated Out Of Tools

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The rules state that if the mechanics complete their tasks, they get a $3,200 toolset to take home. Stories persist, however, that not everyone received the promised tool kit, which were followed by complaints that they didn't fulfill their part of the build to the satisfaction of the team and, therefore, were made to forfeit their tools. After reading this, I think we all are on the same page. It's absolute nonsense and the production company simply didn't want to give up an expensive toolset and chose some poor contestant to complain about. If the job was complete and functional, we see no reason that could justify the fact that they didn't get their tools.

10 100% Real: Problems With Iraq

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Jesse has never been scared to go into dangerous areas but no matter how much he wanted to, Discovery wouldn't allow him to go to Iraq to do a special build for a show. It makes sense why the channel would say no given the kind of conflict that has been going on in the area at the time. Of course, Jesse being how he is, he went anyway on his own dime and met up with some of the soldiers overseas despite his family's concern for his safety. Nonetheless, Jesse returned unharmed and a better man for it and continued hosting the show.

9 Totally Fake: Jesse's Absence

via Discovery

Jesse may have been the host of the show—but that's it. As told by our inside friend, Larry, he was only there for maybe a half an hour a day, and that's if he showed up at all. One Monday, he was supposed to be there but he wasn't and then he showed up late the next day after doing some racing that morning. All Jesse actually contributed to the project was a mount for the TV antenna and bigger brakes, which he did the work for in one morning before the crew came in. But whether that's a plus or a minus is a serious question.

8 100% Real: Disappointing Builds Got Destroyed, Too

via Gary Payne Photo

The highlight of a failed project was to see Jesse destroy it in some sort of huge explosion. That didn't mean the successful builds were saved, though, and some of those were destroyed simply for Jesse's entertainment. Whether the build was successful or not, if the car didn't perform up to Jesse's standards, he would destroy them in his typical fashion. I could only imagine the disappointment the mechanics felt after they had successfully spent the past week struggling to get the project togethe, and though they were paid off in their toolsets, they still ended up seeing their project destroyed.

7 100% Real: (Almost) Failure To Launch

via BolamFamilyMotorsports

Before Monster Garage was even set to be a show, Discovery was doing a documentary on custom motorcycles when they were referred to Jesse James' West Coast Chopper shop. When they entered his shop and started filming, Jesse was a little behind on his orders and was stressing out—nevermind the camera crew further crowding the shop. Jesse almost threw the whole camera crew out just to relieve some of his frustration. Despite himself, he didn't, and we can all be so grateful because Monster Garage wouldn't have been the same without the outlaw biker and his aura surrounding every piece of the show.

6 Totally Fake: Unseen Dreams

via GenerationHighOutput

Jesse did all he could to get some of the more interesting builds onto the show. The “Hellica” was probably as close as Jesse ever came to his true goal on the show: going 200 miles per hour. His dream never came to fruition, though, and most likely stopped after the Celica rocket car only reached 185 mph. He seemed pretty satisfied with the build and didn't end up destroying the Hellica, though he would never come that close to his ultimate aspiration again in anything else the teams built throughout the years that the show remained on the air.

5 100% Real: Denied Designs

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The crews on Monster Garage seemed able to build just anything out of any automobile. Of course, the production crew and Jesse didn't create all the ideas but rather, they were submitted as suggestions from fans all around the world. There were certain criteria that people had to follow when submitting and also, producers had to take into consideration the time and money that could be spent on such a project. One high-profile build that almost got onto the show was a yellow submarine (you know, the one from the Beatles song) built off of a rocket ship. As cool as it would've been, it didn't quite make it onto the show.

4 Totally Fake: All About Agriculture

via StangTV

There have been a few agricultural-based monster builds and one that comes off the top of our heads is the Mustang mower: how cool was that? Though the build turned out cool, it was no idea of Jesse's. The production crew pushed for some more agricultural builds but Jesse wasn't raised on any farm and, as such, he wanted cooler stuff like rockets cars and wheelie ambulances. Of course, we know which way the studio went but without Jesse's input, we can't say the show would be the same. Maybe a few more John Deere builds would have ended up being broadcast through the ether.

3 100% Real: Humble Host

via Amazon

Fame has a way of making people act strangely. Since Jesse James started coming into the public eye, he's become something of a celebrity. Though it doesn't seem that the increased fame has affected the star at all, even after the dips in his personal life, in a review with Jeff Wilson of MRT back in 2003, he made a comment about what was then his new found fame by saying “I'm just a metal worker.” But we know now that this couldn't farther from the truth, as James is a well-seasoned motorcycle builder, gunsmith, and even a race car driver from time to time.

2 Totally Fake: The Camera Only Shows What They Want It To

via Netflix

It's fairly common knowledge that TV only shows what the producers want to show, whether it be the news or the latest reality show. As such, some of the mechanics weren't so keen on how they looked on screen, made to look foolish or silly as they were downright humiliated on screen for the entertainment of the country. This coincides with the scripted drama mentioned earlier and it's now clear that the Monster Garage executives tried to bring the worst out in people to build some tension within the show and make whoever they could look all the more foolish for their on-screen struggles.

1 100% Real: Ordained Minister In The Name Of Monster Garage

via Worthpoint

For the episode where they were building a Suburban into a mobile wedding chapel, the show was well into it's run and for Jesse to fit the bill, he went and became an ordained minister for real. Nothing was for show here and Jesse James is registered with the Universal Life Church Ministry. Apparently, it was for no more reason other than making Monster Garage that little bit more of an entertaining show and it is unknown whether he'll ever marry anyone again. It's just one more thing the Jesse has done and that he can add to his repertoire of potential hobbies.

Sources: IMDb, MRT, and Car and Driver.