An Antiques Roadshow contestant has revealed the drama unfolding behind the scenes and the warning producers give to the TV show’s guests.
Ellie, known as swamp_ghoul on TikTok, told viewers that when her great-grandmother died, she left a painting for her mother.
Ellie says her mother and sister took the painting to Antiques Roadshow, the American television show that “travels the country in search of America’s hidden treasures” to appraise the item.
Upon arrival, her mother and sister were allegedly immediately sent to the VIP area where her mother received a makeover in preparation for filming.
According to Ellie, the staff at Antiques Roadshow told them not to talk to other people about what they had brought, but her sister did it anyway.
Ellie, known as swamp_ghoul on TikTok, told viewers that when her great-grandmother died, she left a painting for her mother.
He discovered that a couple had brought an etching by Dutch graphic artist Maurits Cornelis Escher, which was supposedly valued at an “impressive” $20,000.
Ellie claimed that the couple were “snooty” and that although their assessment was nothing to “make fun of”, she was going to make fun of them.
When it was her family’s turn, she said she and her mother were convinced that the Antiques Roadshow team specifically flew the appraiser from New Mexico just because of the painting they brought. Ellie said the appraiser apparently started out calm and collected but then became more frantic and excited as time went on.
Ellie even revealed that the sound technician on set was apparently flirting with her mother.
He also said the Antiques Roadshow team told them to never tell people where they lived, especially until the item they brought was out of the house.
On her TikTok, she finally gave a spoiler, even though the episode had not aired yet, and said that the item her mother brought was a Sam Gilliam painting from the 1970s valued at a whopping $150,000.
Sam Gilliam was an American painter and sculptor specializing in abstract art and art education.
He was born in Mississippi, grew up in Kentucky, and spent his adult life in Washington, DC.
Gilliam died in 2022, but is remembered in the art world for his iconic, large, color-dyed canvases that he draped and suspended from walls and ceilings in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
DailyMail.com has contacted Antiques Roadshow for comment.
Ellie’s mother and sister took the painting to Antiques Roadshow, the American television show that “travels the country in search of America’s hidden treasures” to appraise the item.
Ellie said the Antiques Roadshow team told them to never tell people where they lived, especially until the item they brought was out of the house. Pictured: Guests excited to receive an appraisal of their treasures.
Last month, an Antiques Roadshow guest was shocked when told the appraised value of her grandmother-in-law’s iconic 1910s pearl and diamond necklace.
The unique necklace, which the woman and her husband inherited after her grandmother died at the age of 102, was presented to appraiser Gloria Lieberman on the show.
The guest was then told that despite losing two of her pearls, each valued at $5,000, the necklace was currently worth a staggering $200,000.
Lieberman also advised the guest to re-string the necklace at a Tiffany’s store and to “wear it sometimes to enjoy its beauty,” but mostly save it for important occasions.
