Was ‘Pawn Stars’ Chumlee Hospitalized for Coronavirus?

When Pawn Stars veteran Chumlee was hospitalized earlier this month in Las Vegas, he said on Instagram Live that it was “probably” coronavirus. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

The 37-year-old went to the hospital after suffering severe abdominal pain and trouble breathing, according to The Blast.

He explained that he was at work when he began feeling sick. His boss, Rick Harrison, forced him to go to the hospital. “Rick made me come, I didn’t want to go. I was at work when it happened. Trust me, I did not want to be here,” Chumlee said.

As it turns out, his test results all came back negative. On Instagram Live, Chumlee shared, “So far all tests are good.” Later, he added, “I think it looks like I just need to poop.”

Chumlee Had Gastric Sleeve Surgery in 2018

This isn’t the first time Chumlee has visited the hospital for something gastric-related. In 2018, he had gastric sleeve surgery.

According to TV Shows Ace, the surgery helped him lose 114 pounds.

Prior to getting the surgery, The Blast quotes the reality star as saying, “I’ve been down, I’ve been up, I’ve been down, I’ve been up. So, when you need a little help to stay down, this is where you come… I’ve already lost 38 lbs on my pre-op diet. They recommend you do it for a couple of weeks, but I’ve been doing it for about five or six weeks now. So that’s going to make my goal to get to 200 lbs a lot better, a lot easier.”

Chumlee, whose real name is Austin Lee Russell, first started working at the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop five years before the first season started filming. He learned about the store through Corey Harrison, who was his childhood friend. These days, his areas of expertise include pinball machines, sneakers, and video games.

During his interview with the Review-Journal, he spoke about how he was cast on Pawn Stars to begin with. He shared, “They were making a short episode and we had about 12 employees at the time… They went through everybody, saying, ‘All right, who’s going to be our fourth member?’ I didn’t watch too much TV, but I decided I’d go watch some TV, some reality shows, and I kind of realized what was missing was the funny part of the show, the whipping boy is what I called it at the time. Someone they could make fun of and laugh with.”

Fortunately, Chumlee’s research paid off, and he nabbed a spot on the series.

He Operates His Own Business These Days

When Chumlee isn’t spending time in the hospital, he is either busy filming or operating his own side business, Chumlee’s Candy. The store was opened in May 2017 and is directly across the street from the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop.

Chumlee tells the Review Journal, “For nostalgia candy, in the summer, I cannot keep candy cigarettes and bubble-gum cigarettes on the shelves. People come in and buy as many as can fit in their hands. They want to buy a whole box, and we have boxes in the back. I can’t order enough of them.”

Pawn Stars airs Fridays at 9pm ET/PT.

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