Everybody on Storage Wars had a nickname, and for Darrell Sheets it was “The Gambler.” He’d pay big money for lockers and often score big, like the time he paid $3,600 for the contents of one storage site and found artwork inside worth $300,000 — the biggest score in Storage Wars history (as of 2012), per HuffPost.

Sheets remained with Storage Wars for the entirety of its 12-season run, and after the show ended production, he chose a quiet life of semi-retirement and a focus on his personal life and health. During his time on Storage Wars, Sheets dropped a large amount of weight with the aid of Nutrisystem, according to PR Newswire, and divorced wife Kimber Wuerfel. In a later deleted Instagram post, Sheets revealed that he suffered a small heart attack and complications in the form of a lung infection in early 2019. “I’ve been very sick for 3 months and two nights ago I had a mild heart attack, found out I have congestive heart failure and a severe issue going on with my lungs,” he wrote. After he recovered, he moved to Lake Havasu City, a California-Arizona border resort town, retired, and got engaged to Romney Snyder, who works for a horse rescue organization.

Barry Weiss was an original cast member of Storage Wars, known as “The Collector” on the show for his tendency to bring home large auction hauls (which is saying something for a show about the acquisition of other peoples’ discarded possessions). Older, more seasoned, and far more relaxed than his often high-strung Storage Wars costars, Weiss became a hit with viewers and a breakout figure — so much so that he left the series that made him famous after four seasons. The destination — his very own spinoff shows. In 2014, Weiss starred on Barry’d Treasure, traveling around the U.S. in search of rare finds, American Pickers-style. It lasted just eight episodes, while Storage Wars: Barry Strikes Back, a 2015 compilation show in which Weiss and former costar Kenny Crossley presented unseen footage from Storage Wars, made it ten episodes.

Unfortunately, Weiss was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. According to TMZ, he was struck by a car mid-ride and spent two months in a hospital in 2019, some of that in the ICU and some of it recovering from back and femur surgeries. Upon his recuperation, he landed a gig as the “global brand ambassador” for California’s Sherwood Valley casino.

Before he became an extremely likable reality TV star and storage locker bidding contender on A&E’s Storage Wars, the amiable Kenny Crossley worked for the New Orleans Sheriff’s Department and managed storage facilities in Los Angeles. That job got him involved with locker auctions and connected him with Barry Weiss, and Crossley was seen occasionally in early years of Storage Wars before he became a major buyer and main cast member for the last three seasons of the show. Not only did he delight at finding hidden gems in delinquent storage lockers, he expressed that joy with his infectious catchphrase — “Kenny do it!”

Since the cancellation of Storage Wars, Crossley has been doing a lot of things, so to speak. According to his website, he launched a line of clothing bearing his indelible catchphrase, and he runs Jackie’s Famous Pralines, a New Orleans-based nut-and-candy company. Crossley is also a budding YouTube star, with Kenny Do It Adventures. Sometimes he just talks to the camera and reflects on current events, sometimes he talks about his Uber passengers, and other times he enjoys and describes junk food items from behind the wheel of his car, like fritters, Taco Bell chalupas, and Costco hot dogs.

During her time in the Storage Wars franchise, Mary Padian performed a rare TV feat — she moved from a spinoff onto the main show, jumping from Storage Wars: Texas to Storage Wars proper during its fifth season. In both iterations, her fellow residents of the locker auction subculture called her “The Junkster” because she wasn’t afraid to get a little dirty to go for something valuable — dumpster-diving was an option for Padian.

As of 2019, Padian has kept up the work of looking for valuable items in dark and overlooked places and reselling them for a profit, operating Mary’s Finds. Subtitled “Totally Keuhl Treasures,” she focuses on interior design enhancers, offering “an eclectic mix of handmade, vintage, & one-of-a-kind home goods” she’s found on excursions around Texas.

She doesn’t just stick to old stuff from Texas, however. Padian has frequently worked with Ubuntu Life, an organization that benefits special needs children in Kenya by selling handmade and traditional-style bracelets and bags. 

Auctioneers Dan and Laura Dotson ruled the Storage Wars roost with their unique set of skills up until season 10, when Emily Wears joined the cast. Born into a family of auctioneers, Wears proved to be a prodigy, working for her father’s Iowa company at age 10 and beginning her training (which included bilingual calling) at 17. She won a slew of titles as a teenager before moving onto reality TV, which before Storage Wars included stints on another Thom Beers auction series Money Barn, and American Idol. It would seem that Wears can sing almost as well as she auctioneers, although judges Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez, and Harry Connick, Jr., all voted against letting her proceed in the talent competition series.

After Storage Wars stopped producing new episodes, Wears has focused on her personal life and entrepreneurship. According to Collectors Journal, she married rodeo cowboy Cody Kroul and in November 2019 gave birth to a daughter named Millie Rose. On Instagram, Wears describes herself as a “Cowboy’s Wife” and #dogmom but also runs a small business selling leather goods and Western-style boots called, appropriately enough, Western Wears.

Mark Balelo injected some youthful, cocksure swagger to Storage Wars when he popped up in seasons two, three, and four of the reality series. Nicknamed “Rico Suavé” for his preference of dressing up in very nice clothes for routine, low-key storage locker auctions, Balelo came prepared to those cash-only events with a big wad of bills.

Balelo’s appearances on Storage Wars belied a slightly darker past. According to Radar Online, the reality star entered a guilty plea in 2009 on a charge of transport of a controlled substance, for which he received a sentence of 60 days in jail and three years probation. A violation of that agreement sent him back behind bars for a spell in 2011. His off-screen troubles continued into February 2013, when Simi Valley Police arrested Balelo for possession of methamphetamine while under the influence of the drug, according to Hollywood Life. Just days after his release, per TMZ, Balelo committed suicide. He was 40 years old.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

Storage Wars: Texas was the first and most successful of the Storage Wars spinoffs, running for four years and nearly 90 episodes. Among the most prominently featured treasure seekers on the show were “The Rangers,” Ricky Smith and his nephew and business partner Bubba Smith. Ricky grew up in an auction family, developing his skills as a teenager in his parents’ auction house decades before he parlayed that into an extensive wholesale and resell operation based out of a well-stocked warehouse in tiny Lampasas, Texas. Bubba, meanwhile, advised on matters of electronics and art. The Smiths had been hitting up storage lockers for nearly 40 years by the time they were cast on Storage Wars: Texas, utilizing what was, at the time, a well-kept trade secret.

Despite the increased competition thanks to a slew of locker auction reality shows, like the one on which they starred for three seasons, the Smiths still operate their business, Lampasas Warehouse. It’s a part of Smith Auction Services, their 30-year-old business that facilitates auctions for the Smiths and its clients looking to unload a lot of merchandise. Due to “life-changing events,” Smith Auctions became a largely online bidding-and-buying operation.

The vast majority of the bidders, buyers, and players in the Storage Wars franchise base their livelihood around the auction circuit — they buy the insides of abandoned storage lockers and unload what they find at a profit through their own retail or resell operations. But for Storage Wars: Texas regular cast member Moe Prigoff, the locker game was a side hustle. Granted, for a decade prior to his appearances on the reality show, he ran a small, high-end antique and interiors store called River Regency, which specialized in art and furniture. But that wasn’t his main line of income. He was a successful foot doctor, too, running a Dallas surgical podiatry clinic. According to his Facebook page, he was also affiliated with the International Foot and Ankle Foundation for Education and Research.

In the years since Storage Wars: Texas left cable TV, Prigoff has kept on with both the antiquing and medicine. His self-described “fabulous” business, River Regency, was still in operation as of late 2020, while North Dallas Podiatry Center remains active.

Lesa Lewis came to Storage Wars: Texas at a professional crossroads. When the show began, she’d been buying storage unit contents at auctions for years, and unlike her co-stars, sold the best of what she found online. Storage Wars: Texas depicted Lewis starting a retail operation for the first time, a thrift store called Again and Again, alongside her employee and de facto buying partner Jerry Simpson, who clearly resented Lewis frequently giving into temptation and keeping some of her best storage scores for herself. 

After starring as one of the main locker-picking teams in the first season of Storage Wars: Texas, appearances from Lewis and Simpson diminished in the second and third years of the series, with producers focusing on latter cast additions Jenny Grumbles and Mary Padian. According to Online Storage Auction, Lewis said she and Simpson vacated their main roles because of a salary dispute, which was resolved after filming had resumed.

After the series wrapped production, Lewis focused on her business. According to Facebook, Again and Again remains open for business in Crockett, Texas.