Salvage Hunters star who 'lost everything' spent childhood 'scouring local tips'
Salvage Hunters host Drew Pritchard built his career on transforming trash into treasure, a skill which appears to be rooted in a childhood necessity.
Drew Pritchard, the charismatic star of Quest TV’s Salvage Hunters, has made a career out of turning one man's trash into another's treasure.
But many fans will be surprised to learn that his knack for salvage hunting was born from a childhood necessity. Growing up in rural Wales, the 54-year-old honed his skills by scouring local tips in an effort to find anything of value.
The star took home everything from push bikes to car badges in order to give them a new lease of life and make a profit. Now, the broadcaster has lifted the lid on his childhood in an interview with Kate Beavis Home Style.
He told her: “From the age of around eight, I was scouring local tips – which there are a lot of in rural Wales – for anything that people had thrown away but especially push bikes and car badges."
It's fair to say these explorations weren't just child's play; they were a means of survival and the beginning of a lifelong passion. Drew's fascination with DIY ultimately turned into a professional pursuit, and he hasn't looked back since.
His adventures in the salvage world are now broadcast to an eager audience on Salvage Hunters, where he and his team travel across the UK in search of hidden gems in stately homes, forgotten barns, and other salvage dealers.
The show, which returns to our screens on Wednesday, September 30, promises to deliver not just the excitement of the hunt but also the joy of restoration. Viewers can look forward to learning how Drew's team restores each found item to maximize its profit, a process that has captivated audiences for years.
Drew's approach to salvaging is deeply personal, focusing on pieces that resonate with his own taste, whether they hold commercial value or not. He explained: "I just decided to concentrate on selling pieces I loved, that reflected my own taste, whether commercial or not".
Behind the scenes, Drew's team is as passionate about the pursuit as he is, with his newest employee being with him for a year and the longest serving for thirteen years. The upcoming series of the hit show is touted to be the most fun yet, with Drew highlighting some of the adventures that await. He teased that the new show will be full of "fun! and lots of it".
He gushed: "This was the most fun series to film so far. Particular highlights for me was the shoot in Germany and Northern Ireland – we bought fantastic amounts of great pieces with some mega finds amongst them!"
One memorable highlight across the shows history that Drew fondly recalls involved a transaction with nobility in a fairy-tale setting. He revealed: "A highlight for me was standing in the roof of a fairy-tale, Bavarian Castle in Germany buying bronze swan lights from a Count and a Baron. They sold almost immediately!"
While Drew has found many treasures over the years, there remains one elusive item on his wish list—a piece of furniture designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
As for the life-size Elvis figure that became an icon of the show, Drew reveals: “No, we donated it to a hospice so that they could raise much needed funds."
