The BEST episodes of The Real Hustle
Every episode of The Real Hustle ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Real Hustle!
The Real Hustle is a BBC television series made by Objective Productions and written by Alexis Conran and Paul Wilson. The show demonstrates confidence and magic tricks, distraction scams and proposition bets performed on members of the public by Conran and Wilson with "sexy swindler" Jessica-Jane Clement. From series 10, entitled "New Recruits", Jazz Lintott and Polly Parsons joined the hustlers.
#3 - Celebrity Chancers, Episode 10
Season 11 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/30/2012
Even the very best con artists make mistakes sometimes and this episode exposes what happens when scams go wrong. Guest hustlers, boxer Joe Calzaghe, and EastEnders star, Sid Owen, get involved in a crazy con set in the world of vintage stamps that turns out to be the strangest scam in the history of the Real Hustle.
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#8 - Episode 7
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 9/10/2007
The hustlers make up an event, hire a band, then steal their equipment; sell fake tickets for a club night in Ibiza; demonstrate a fairground pendulum game that is physically impossible to win; and deliver empty parcels, cash on delivery, to unsuspecting small businesses. The proposition bet involves balancing a glass on top of three glasses and three knives.
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#9 - Episode 11
Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 10/8/2007
The hustlers dress up as security guards, turn up at a shop which is expecting its weekly cash takings to be collected, and walk off with the loot; pose as the legitimate owners of sunloungers and collect rental fees from holidaymakers on the beach; man a rigged fun fair stall where people try and throw a ball into a basket; and pretend to be strangers and secretly collude in order to win a poker tournament. The proposition bet is to move an egg from one glass to another without touching it and without moving the glasses.
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#10 - Las Vegas, Episode 7
Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/17/2008
Paul, with the help of Alex, cons a father and daughter into buying a device that can predict the numbers drawn on a live lottery, Alex hustles a pool player out of his cash and Jess uses her charms to distract a barman, allowing Paul to empty the contents of the bar's slot machine.
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#12 - High Stakes, Episode 3
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/23/2008
Described as the "most common scam in the world", the 419 scam is demonstrated; Jess persuades someone to hand over his car keys as security while he does her a favour by taking what he thinks is £7000 of her money to a money exchange (The Unfair Exchange); and JK and Joel are challenged to get four eggs into four glasses in one move (Celebrity Con Games).
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#13 - High Stakes, Episode 4
Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/30/2008
Alex poses as a talented but shy mathematician to convince people to invest in a Blackjack system; Jess steals some items from a shop by hiding them in a pregnancy dress (Bun in the Oven); and Alex beats a horse ridden by Tara Palmer-Tomkinson in a slalom race on foot (Celebrity Con Games).
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#14 - High Stakes, Episode 6
Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/13/2008
The team sets up their own art gallery to sell fake art by a famous artist (Picture Perfect); Alex and Paul demonstrate ways people can steal handbags (The Handbag Hustles); and Chico is challenged to a string game with balloons with the promise that Jess will have to take her clothes off if he succeeds (Celebrity Con Games).
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#15 - High Stakes, Episode 7
Season 6 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/20/2008
The hustlers trick two marks with an elaborate version of the Black Money Scam; Paul sets up a dodgy bureau de change (Currency Exchange Cons); and Steve Backley is challenged to a distance throwing challenge (Celebrity Con Games).
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#16 - High Stakes, Episode 10
Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/11/2008
A pair of marks are tricked into thinking they are buying the discs from the 2007 UK child benefit data scandal in the hope of gaining an award (The Go-between); a carefully constructed paper form ensures that companies still pay for a cancelled service (The Cancellation Con); and basketball player Steve Bucknall is challenged to a free throw competition with Alex (Celebrity Con Games).
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#17 - On Holiday, Episode 3
Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 6/4/2009
Alex demonstrates social compliance by posing as a police officer to take some tourists' passports (The Passport Cool-Out); Christian O'Connell is challenged by Alex to lift a table without touching it (Celebrity Con Games); the hustlers install fake car parking signs to get people to pay by text message (The Seaside Parking Swindle); Jess challenges some people in a bar to make a knot in a tie without letting go of the ends (Proposition Bets); and Alex clones swipe-card keys in a hotel to later walk off with guests' possessions (The Swipe).
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#18 - Episode 6
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 9/3/2007
The gang pull off an escrow scan by pretending to be a trustworthy pub landlord; manage to persuade a couple to give them £200 for some worthless vouchers in the pretense of a prize draw; sell overpriced goods (for example, 100 nails described as "100 metal coat hangers") without technically lying; and use skillful sleight-of-hand techniques to beat the Blackjack table. The probability bet involves drinking a shot of rum without spilling a drop.
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#19 - Episode 12
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 10/15/2007
The gang hire some expensive jewelry for a fake photo shoot, which comes accompanied by security guards, and walk out with it via a hidden door behind a changing curtain; and con some holidaymakers into believing they need to pay a fine for speeding. The proposition bet involves throwing a glass of beer in someone's face. The episode ends with a recap of some of the cons from this series.
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#20 - Episode 9
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/2/2006
The gang clamp someone's car and take a bribe to take it off, they show us how simple it is to sell non-organic produce as organic with a price rise, and Paul shows us how easy it is to con the public out of their cash in an origami scam that leaves you with half a £10 note.
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#21 - Episode 10
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 10/1/2007
Paul takes full advantage of a hotel's services (and room contents) using nothing more than an air of authority (Fake Doctor); a lure of big money for little work puts an unquestioning member of the public in a difficult position (Reshipping Scam); the Proposition Bet is that a coin can't be removed from beneath two balanced matches; the Cover The Spot fairground game is shown to be harder than it looks; and the team walk off with the personal belongings of a cafe's customers in less than 3 minutes, under the pretense of storing them in a cloakroom (Get Yer Coat).
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#22 - Las Vegas, Episode 1
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/12/2008
The gang decide it's time to hit Las Vegas in this latest series. The gang take $80,000 worth of jewellery with the help of disguise, Jess shows you how to double your money and they show you how Casino staff can steal your chips while playing.
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#23 - High Stakes, Episode 5
Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/6/2008
Paul reprises his role as a fake doctor to convince marks to bet at a fake betting shop run by the team (The Wire); Alex shoplifts by using a mark's open bag as a diversion (The False Alarm); and Dick and Dom challenge Jess to a game of strength (Celebrity Con Games).
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#24 - High Stakes, Episode 8
Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/27/2008
Paul becomes Maurice the Psychic to scam unsuspecting believers into parting with their savings (The Psychic); Jess spends an evening as a barmaid to demonstrate some Cocktail Cons; and Scott Mills is challenged in a blindfold guessing game (Celebrity Con Games).
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#25 - High Stakes, Episode 9
Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/4/2008
The team pose as antiques experts and manage to sell a couple their own statuette back to them (Double Take); Alex and Paul successfully perform a variant of phishing, except in the real-life environment of a shopping-centre instead of online (Stake-out Scam); and Aldo Zilli is challenged to break an egg with a frying pan (Celebrity Con Games).
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