Busted The Real Hustle

Making The Real Hustle is one of the most challenging jobs in television.

Con games are a matter of trial and error

and we've had a fair share of both.

People often ask, "Is every scam successful?

"Are we ever recognised?

"Or have we been caught red-handed?"

And the answer is...

yes...yes...

and sometimes.

In this show, we're going to reveal what happens when scams go wrong.

On tonight's show, not one but two guest hustlers

get caught up in a crazy con gone wrong.

-Want to buy some stamps, mate?

-Mate, I'm a massive fan!

Looks like Alex needs to go back to card trick school...

-BLEEP!

-..and this mark is well and truly busted.

At any point, did you have any inkling that you were on a TV show?

Every week, celebrities up for the challenge

were invited to join the hustlers

to see if they could cut it as con artists.

Our stars featured in lots of successful scams across the series

but some of them didn't QUITE go to plan.

In fact, some cons went so wrong

that a couple of the most famous guest hustlers

didn't even make it on to the show.

One of the stars was undefeated world champion boxer Joe Calzaghe.

Helps, in boxing you have to use a lot of mind games

and try to trick your opponent to believe you are more confident.

So, hopefully, I can use some of them qualities today

in what I'm going to do, you know?

I'm just going to enjoy this day and just do my best and, hopefully,

it's going to work!

HE LAUGHS

At first, things went normally for Joe

as he met up with Paul for the traditional Hustle briefing

but little did he know, things were soon to go horribly wrong.

-All right?

-How are you doing? Good to meet you. Welcome to Glasgow.

It's good to be here.

Not the greatest part of Glasgow, but it has character.

You're going to have a fight.

-Am I?

-Well, actually, you're not. None of us are going to fight you!

It's going to be a fight between a very dodgy pawnbroker,

a fine arts dealer - a very sophisticated type of guy -

-and in the middle's going to be you.

-OK.

-All right.

-Let's take a walk. Really good to meet you.

-Good to meet you too.

-Listen, if there's a problem, anything kicks off.

-Yeah?

-You're on your own!

-OK!

-JOE LAUGHS

So far, so good.

Hopefully Joe won't be pulling any punches today

in The Stamp Collector.

For the first part of this scam,

the Hustlers were operating in a luxury hotel in the city centre.

Joe is playing the part of an eccentric stamp collector,

Mr Phillips.

To avoid him being recognised,

the Hustlers brought along a cunning disguise -

fake facial hair. Check.

Fake leg brace. Check.

And a wheelchair. Check.

Joe and Polly waited in the Hustle Van as Alex got into position.

He was posing as a well-heeled businessman

selling off a top of the range laptop.

Can I get you gentlemen a drink?

And this guy was here to buy, making him the mark.

But this scam's about to go horribly wrong before it even gets started.

Take two.

This time, this guy's the mark.

Can I get you a drink? Would you like something to drink?

Could I have a glass of water? Something like that.

-Can I have a Diet Coke?

-Diet Coke and a glass of water?

OK, I'll just get those for you.

He thinks he's here to do a bit of business with Alex

but this scam is actually about buying a rare vintage stamp.

I was going to ask you a favour.

I'm meant to be having a meeting here with another person,

I'm buying a stamp.

-Do you know anything about stamps?

-My dad collects them, actually.

Really?!

Oops, that could be a bit of a problem!

Alex pushes on regardless.

Well, I've been in collectables and things like that for years

but I've never dabbled in stamps until recently,

where we, kind of, realised there's a lot of,

you know, some of them are worth a lot of money.

So, erm, this guy who's coming, he's got one of these.

So, apart from selling off computers,

Alex is also dabbling in the vintage stamp world

and he's also here to meet a well-known collector

who's selling an extremely rare stamp.

-Ten years ago it went for almost 20,000.

-Yeah.

-£20,000.

So, I've been dying to get my hands on one and he's got one.

But he's going to be here any minute

and I don't want him to think that I've...gone away.

He's in a wheelchair, he's got a broken leg. He's Mr Phillips.

If he comes in, would you let him know I'll be back in five minutes?

-Five or ten minutes.

-Yeah, no bother at all.

Yeah, but listen, I'll pop off, so,

-I don't want to keep you guys too long.

-No problem.

-Cheers.

Alex heads off to get the laptop,

leaving the mark to look out for the eccentric stamp collector.

-Oh, a

-BLEEP

-stamp collector!

But hang on a minute.

SCOTTISH ACCENT: "Oh, aye, my dad collect stamps! Oh, a Penny Red, I know all about that!"

-Well?

-Guess what his dad does.

-I know, we just heard.

The mark's recognised Alex.

Sadly, Joe Calzaghe didn't get to deliver the knockout punch

and the scam went nowhere.

The producer broke the bad news.

What?

Oh, really?!

Anybody want some stamps?

Keep watching to find out if the Hustlers did finally manage

to sell someone that priceless stamp.

Because of the success of The Real Hustle

and the fact that it's been going for 11 series,

what we just saw isn't the only time the Hustlers were recognised or rumbled.

-Do you know him?

-No, I think I recognise him.

Oh, really?

-I think I recognise you also, though.

-Really?

All right then, love.

Have you got any, like, cash on you that you could give to me? HE LAUGHS

-Where's your friends?

-Oh, go away! SHE LAUGHS

-I know your face!

-You know my face?

-The Hustle, yeah?

-OK. Ha-ha!

-Sorry.

Thanks anyway. Thank you.

-You look like the girl from The Real Hustle.

-Oh, everyone says that.

-Aye.

After hundreds of scams,

recognition became a real problem for the Hustlers

and they had to come up with clever ways of keeping their identity secret.

Over the years, Paul, Alex and Jess had to become masters of disguise.

They've played fake sheiks, hippy-dippy stallholders,

high rollers, security men, mechanics,

the long arm of the law and dodgy down and outs.

They've even resorted to dressing up as animals to avoid being rumbled.

And Jess, well, she's been blonde, dark, curly,

jet-set and veiled.

In fact, she's been everything from a cleaner to a WAG.

With stints as a barmaid, a charity worker and a cat in between.

Mistress of the quick-change, she's even been pregnant a few times.

Now, THAT'S above and beyond the call of duty - even for a Hustler!

When Hustlers go out, they don't take money...

they take prop bets.

The proposition bet has only one rule

and that's that the Hustler always wins.

Action!

Yeah, they might always win but sometimes, just sometimes,

it didn't always go exactly as planned.

LIGHTER CLICKING

-Come on!

-So embarrassing!

-THEY LAUGH

So...? SHE LAUGHS

Here's some bits they didn't want you to see.

So, I've got a test of skill.

You've got to balance the 50p on your finger, your index finger.

Now, you got to get the card out from under the 50p

without the 50 falling to the table.

You can only use one finger, right?

Anybody can do this, I'll buy them a drink.

Cos this is hard!

Ready?

Just say, "action".

Action.

BLEEP

BLEEP

Look how elegantly and beautifully I handle these. It's like...

All right. What d'you say?

Paul Daniels. Oh, right!

-That's the most insulting thing anybody's ever said to me!

-THEY LAUGH

Whoops!

BLEEP

I do want to sip that but it's got bubbles in it.

-It's a bit dangerous, I'll be like...

-SHE HICCUPS

Of course, I needn't mention the fact that

if I do get it you have to go BLEEP mental!

-Yeah!

-You know it, of course we will.

Take 27. OK, ready?

THEY CHEER AND LAUGH

I didn't notice!

-I'm just going to sit there until one of you gets me a whisky!

-Amazing!

Thank you.

Earlier, in The Stamp Collector, filming had to be abandoned

when two marks recognised Alex.

Weeks of research and planning went down the drain

and guest Hustler Joe Calzaghe didn't even make it out of the van.

And that wasn't the first time they tried it.

Here's what happened a few weeks earlier with another special guest.

That time, it was this guy who was the mark.

Apologies for the delay.

Luckily, he didn't recognise Alex so the next part of the scam kicked in.

He'd come to pick up a laptop.

Alex told him he had to pop out to collect it,

but asked the mark to keep a lookout for someone else he was due to meet

- a stamp collector.

Yep, that's right, in a wheelchair. Funny, that. And here he comes.

In fact, it's someone even more likely to be recognised than the Hustlers.

It's only Sid Owen!

EASTENDERS THEME PLAYS

Excuse me!

I thought, being in Scotland, maybe they don't watch EastEnders as much,

and everywhere I went, I just got recognised, so I thought,

"How the hell am I going to convince people that I'm someone else?"

Because I don't want to let anyone down.

So, fingers crossed that I get it done so we don't have to work this afternoon!

Is it Ian Steele, Daisy? Ian Steele?

Yes! Your name?

Oh, hi. How are you?

The crazy disguise worked a treat.

The mark didn't suspect a thing, so finally,

it was all systems go, for...

Stamp Collector, Part two.

For the meantime, let's join in, as everyone is waiting for Alex to come back.

So, are you into stamps?

No, no, not at all.

That's handy!

This is my favourite, look at this. Think this is worth a few thousand.

See the blue one?

Oh, look. It says 1966, as well.

World Cup, you know.

The mark's looking fairly bemused, as our next character turns up.

It's Paul, in a faintly ludicrous porkpie hat,

posing as a rival stamp dealer.

Ah, how are you, Robbie?

-Good to see you.

-Hi, there. You all right?

He obviously has a good relationship with Mr Phillips,

and it turns out he's also here to buy a particular stamp.

But it seems like it's the same stamp Alex is interested in.

-Is this it?

-We've got the goods here.

-Can I?

You've got some money for me, have you?

You know, I spoke to someone. I think I can probably move it.

Really?

Probably looking at about a grand to you.

-A grand?

-Yeah.

Right.

OK.

Paul's already offering a lot of cash for it,

and he seems keen to close the deal quickly.

I'm happy to close it now. You want to do it now?

-That's why I'm here, yeah.

-All right.

-We do have another meeting, though.

-Right.

-With Ian.

-You should talk to Ian, as well.

-He'll be coming back.

He's on his way, isn't he?

Well, he should be. He shouldn't be too long.

Polly reminds Mr Phillips that he's here to sell their stamp to Alex, not Paul,

who's just happened to wander right into the middle of their meeting.

PHONE RINGS

Right on cue, the mark's phone rings. It's Alex.

'I'm just checking in, really. Has Mr Phillips arrived?'

Yes, he's here just now, yes, and a colleague's arrived as well.

'Oh. Who's that?'

A chap called Rob.

'Oh, OK.

'That's not good for me, cos obviously he's a competitor, and he is quite a shark.'

The mark tells him that Mr Phillips has arrived,

but there's someone else here too, and he seems to be muscling in on the deal.

Ian, hi.

'I was just wondering if you could meet us on The Grill On The Corner.'

Well, that would be nice, yeah, yeah.

'Let's meet on The Grill On The Corner in half an hour, shall we?

Perfect. OK.

'Thank you.'

-Hello?

-'Thank you, Gary, and apologies again.'

OK, that's no problem. Cheers. Bye.

Seems like Alex can't make it back to the hotel quickly enough

and has asked Mr Phillips to meet him in a nearby restaurant.

The mark agrees to go along so he can finally pick up that laptop.

Paul's not invited, but tags along anyway.

Truth is, he's here to make sure the mark comes along for the next part of the scam.

So, the mark and Mr Phillips are at the restaurant, waiting for Alex.

Dodgy dealer Paul is still hanging about like a bad smell,

desperate to nab the stamp from under Alex's nose.

If you want to do the deal right now, I can go to 1,500.

I think I should just wait for Ian.

He ups his offer to £1,500, but Mr Phillips is still keen to wait for Alex.

After all, he's a gentleman of his word, and that's only fair.

And here comes Alex.

-Hey, how are you doing?

-Ian?

-Yes.

Apologising yet again to the mark for the delayed laptop,

he then gets straight down to his other business

- buying that very rare stamp.

-Can I see the..?

-Yes.

This is the one that I enquired about.

Yeah, that's the one that I'd very much like.

Can I ask what you're interested in paying him?

I would say I'm happy to make you an offer here of 1,500, if that's...

-1,500?

-Yeah.

The stamp's a cracker, and he's happy to offer £1,500, matching Paul's offer.

Well, hold on.

That's the same offer I made while we were waiting for you, wherever you were.

Well, I had to go out on business that I have with these gentlemen,

so, you know, 1,500 would be the deal.

-I could do it cash.

-I can do it cash.

-You can do cash?

-Absolutely.

Well, cash is good for me.

It's all getting a bit ugly now.

In fact, Paul starts an all-out bidding war

and pulls out a massive wad of cash.

If you're serious about selling...

-Well, I've come here to see you, haven't I?

-Yeah.

I can give you 3,000 in cash.

Right, OK.

Today.

And that's it.

He ups his offer to three grand, which he puts in an envelope.

All right. Could I just ask, with all due respect,

because I feel that I set up this meeting, and it's been hijacked a little bit.

I agree, but we've done a lot of business together over the years.

OK, and we've never done any business.

And there's plenty more business to come. Can you give us a couple of minutes? Is that OK?

You've got three grand, yeah?

-Well, look. My money's on the table.

-Right, OK.

Just give us a minute. Let me talk to Ian.

-I don't know this guy, but my money's always been good.

-OK.

-OK.

-Cool.

Paul then goes outside, leaving a very stunned table.

-That was a bit intense, I thought.

-Yeah, well, he's a bit pushy, isn't he?

Alex now goes in for the kill.

-I think three grand's a very good offer.

-Right.

But I don't think you might realise the value of what you have.

-Sounds interesting.

-It is interesting.

Do you know what the last one of these which came at auction sold,

and it was sold in about 1990?

-No.

-OK. As you can see, it's got the same cancellation mark,

which is what makes these of high value.

-This fetched £19,500.

-Wow.

So, I don't want to see you enter into a business deal

where you're going to lose a lot of money.

Right. What's the bottom line?

If this sold for 20,000 in 1990,

it is not illogical to presume that we could get 30,000.

30,000, yeah.

So, if I give you 1,500 today,

and I give you 15% of the sale price,

then you stand to make considerably more than £3,000.

Yeah, but I need cash.

Mr Phillips likes Alex's deal,

but is adamant he wants three grand in cash

before he leaves the restaurant.

But you do realise that what I'm offering you is a little bit more, right?

But that's what I've come for.

OK, erm...

Alex only has 1,500 quid.

Where on Earth could he get another grand and a half at such short notice?

Can you give me two minutes?

Well, the gentleman here, he still wants three grand.

Alex now turns his full attention to the mark.

What I was going to ask - I have 1,500.

I believe you carry 1,500 as well?

That's the cash he's brought for the laptop.

If I can get an advance payment, so to speak,

and I'll make it worth your while.

I'll offer you 5% of the sale price.

How much would you like?

10%?

This guy drives a hard bargain.

10%. I know I can get a lot of money for that stamp.

Well, I know what I like, and I like what I see right now.

OK, we've struck a deal. We're going to give you 3,000 cash. OK.

So the scam has gone to plan.

The mark hasn't recognised the hustlers or Sid Owen,

and he's just handed over all that cash for his share of a worthless stamp.

But this scam hasn't gone to plan.

In fact, something has just gone terribly wrong.

Something even the hustlers weren't expecting.

Alex takes a closer look at the mark's cash.

It's clear from his face that he knows something isn't quite right.

Can someone help us?

Oh, sure, yeah.

But, ever the professional, he puts the money away and leaves together with Polly and Sid.

But, on his way out, he's talking to the show's producers over his radio mic.

Guys, that money looked, that looked faked, that money, OK.

I think we're being done by him right now.

-That is fake money that he gave us.

-Is it?

The producer goes over to speak to the hustlers and examine the money.

ALEX: We've been given paper. This guy's doing something.

I looked at him straight in the face and he smiled.

That is paper.

There's no question. It's all fake.

But what on Earth was going on in what turned out to be the strangest scam

in 11 series of The Real Hustle?

Had the mark been unlucky at the cash machine,

or could he be trying to hustle the hustlers?

Alex, Paul and the show's producers went in to find out.

How did you get this?

Where did you print this?

Gary, we suspect you know you're being filmed for a TV show.

The objective of the show is to take your money

and then give it back to you.

Everything you gave us was fake money.

If I asked you to look at this marked note,

would you say it's a genuine note?

You'd think that was a real hologram, there?

You realise why we're asking you these questions, because it's legally a very murky area for us

to be seen to be handling fake...

I mean, instantly, when I saw this...

That's why I looked at you for a brief second, and you, kind of, had a little twinkle in your eye.

That was instantly fake, to me.

Paul gives the mark the benefit of the doubt.

Everybody completely understands this has all caught you a little bit off-guard,

because the idea was we would leave you,

you would find out that you'd bought a rubbish stamp that wasn't worth anything,

and everybody was gone, and then we'd come back and we'd give you your money back.

But because you've given us that, it's kind of changed from being a TV show

to being a bit of a problem for us.

I just need you to understand that, when you handed over illegal money, right,

and believe you, me, we've tried to use counterfeit cash as good as this one,

and we're not allowed to use it on the show.

The mark's still looking puzzled, but Paul lays it on the line.

This is exactly the kind of thing we try and teach people not to take.

So we're kind of, in a way, trying to protect you.

So tell me what was going on and then we'll understand.

Right.

So he claimed he'd smelled a rat all along.

Seems like he simply didn't believe a second-hand laptop

could be worth such a high asking price.

Thinking the deal was well dodgy from the start,

rather than hand over genuine cash,

he decided to use a pile of fake notes he brought with him,

just in case he was being ripped off.

At any point, did you have any inkling that you were on a TV show?

Can I see that?

And it turned out that it wasn't only the mark who was being cautious.

He later claimed in a national newspaper

that his 13-year-old daughter thought the setup was bogus all along,

warning her dad, "It sounds like you're on The Real Hustle."

Of course, Alex and Paul were more than aware that it can be

a criminal offence to be in possession of counterfeit banknotes.

The event was reported to the police,

but despite carrying out a series of enquiries, in the end,

it was decided there was no case to answer.

So, did the mark hustle the hustlers?

Not this time.

So, scamming unsuspecting marks out of their hard-earned cash can be a very risky business

and things don't always go to plan.

Even well-seasoned con artists like the real hustlers get it wrong sometimes.

-Have you got money on you as well?

-Yes.

-Put your money in here as well, and then you can just look after it altogether, is that OK?

-Yeah.

This scam relied on Jess sneakily switching an envelope

full of the mark's cash with one stuffed with newspaper.

Her bag had been expertly doctored with magnets for the con,

but the eagle-eyed mark noticed poor Jess fumbling with the bag,

and it wasn't long before she was rumbled.

Excuse me!

Sorry, someone's going to come and talk to you. You're actually on a TV show!

The key to this scam working was Alex managing to persuade the mark

to let him borrow her mobile phone.

Not a massive ask, but despite Alex's best efforts,

she was having none of it.

Two seconds to call and let them know where I am?

-I've got no money on that.

-Or I can send a text, is that all right?

I've got no money on it, that's the only thing. I would let you.

-Can I try?

-No, I've got no money on it.

She admitted afterwards, however, that she'd had credit on her mobile all along.

She just didn't trust Alex. Quite right, too.

Excuse me, I've just found this ring.

It doesn't happen often, but sometimes random marks just happen to be too well connected.

In this scam, Jess was claiming she'd found a diamond ring outside this shop.

Unfortunately, it turned out this guy was mates with the owner.

I know Jay. Jay's my friend, who's friends with the manager.

Oh, really?

He even offered to call him.

Oh, wow. Oh, what, you've got their number?

That's definitely not what Jess was hoping to hear.

In this con, the unsuspecting mark thought he'd come to buy a cheap telly.

Well, give him a call.

But before he knew what was happening,

he was being offered the deal of a lifetime.

A fabulous £60,000 Aston Martin for just five grand.

Everything had gone without a hitch and the hustlers were hiding upstairs

when Paul suddenly remembered he'd forgotten one tiny thing he was meant to do.

When it comes to handing out hustling advice,

it's probably best to leave it to the professionals.

The fake commerse...

And although it goes o...goes oh, it goes ooh!

It's natural to want to help a damsel in distresh, but... distresh!

Make sure you understand

where the people are coming from,

which could be...

..Never Never Land.

Right, I'll do it again!

A quick call to the...

So, the best adv...

That alone should send alarm bells ring...bl-blah.

If you're ever offered...

BLEEP

What's happened here is someone's parted with money to a complete stranger.

-I think. I can't remember what the

-BLEEP

-they've done, actually! Have they?

It's very difficult not to remai... not to... No. No, no. Go back!

So, that's that. This is The Real Hustle.

The original real hustlers...

..and new recruits Polly and Jazz have scammed their last marks, for now.

# Are you ready?

# Are you ready?

# Are you ready?

# Do you know?

# Or feel it too?

# Are you ready?

# Do you know?

# Or feel it too?

# Are you ready?

# I got to show

# I feel this for you

# I feel this for you

# I feel this for you

# I feel this for you

# I feel this for you

And remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

If you want to know more about how this show is made, go to....

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd