Storage Warsstar Brandi Passante has been on the series for years, and after some reinvention in her personal life,she’s ready to take on another season of male-dominated auctions with ease. Throughout her time onStorage Wars,viewers have gotten to know Brandiin a variety of ways. While she began her time on the show with a partner, Jarrod Schulz, after things ended between the pair, Brandi continued with the show in a whole new capacity. While viewers were familiar with Brandi’s personality within a duo, it was very different, but ultimately refreshing, to see her working independently.
Over the years,Brandi’s expertise and charisma have solidified her status as a central figure in the storage auction scene. Following her split in 2018, which wasn’t publicly acknowledged until 2021, Brandi embarked on a solo journey both personally and professionally. She returned toStorage Warsindependently, enthusiastic about her new chapter. Ready to navigate the auctions on her own terms,Brandi proved she was a forceto be reckoned with. The transition from working as a pair to working on her own allowed her to showcase her individual strengths and further establish her identity separate from her past partnership.
Storage Warsseason 16, premiering on June 7 at 9 p.m. EDT on A&E, will see Brandi continuing her independent endeavors in the auction world. While viewers can anticipate seeing her determination as she tackles new challenges and uncovers hidden treasures, that’s nothing new for those who have been watching her for years. As a pro, Brandi has always been a hard worker and a quick thinker. Viewers will get to see more from Brandi this season, andshe chatted with Screen Rant about what she’s learned as well as what’s to come this season onStorage Wars.
Screen Rant: You are one of the longest-running members of theStorage Warscast. Fans got to know you as a pair, but watching you solo has been really rewarding. How has going at it alone really changed your approach or your strategy?
Brandi Passante: I definitely have to be, you know, a lot tougher because it’s a predominantly male-dominated, you know, business. But, it’s a good thing, you know, to learn to play with the big boys.
Screen Rant: I can imagine it’s a little daunting, but probably a lot of fun. You were mentioning being in a male-dominated space. I was going to ask you, what’s your best approach to really making sure that you get seen and heard when you’re, you know, just you’re surrounded by all these guys?
Brandi: You know, I mean, I kind of just gauge the climate, you know, at every option that I approach. And, you know, I attempt to, you know, do different things, you know, like a misdirection. How can I distract? How can I, you know, be discreet and get my bids in? You know, it’s different every time, but like I said, you just have to have that thick skin and that element of strength and, you know, be a little tougher than you normally would have to in any other element.
Brandi’s Looking Forward To Viewers Seeing More Of The Casts' Hijinks
The Show Is Moving To Hour-Long Episodes
AlthoughStorage Warshas always been a 22-minute series,the upcoming season is changing things up and debuting an hour-long format. With Brandi and the rest of the cast appearing on screen for longer stretches of time, viewers are going to gain more insights into who they are as people and what they’re doing as they move through the show. For Brandi, it can be tough to appear on the series, but the new format may make way for even more of an understanding in to who she is today.
Screen Rant: I love that. It’s always great to watch. Your life has changed a lot since we met you in the very beginning. What’s been the highlight thus far of your time onStorage Wars?
Brandi: You know, I mean, I do enjoy doing the show. It’s been such a wild experience that I just didn’t see for myself. It’s, you know, it can be very rewarding. I call it kind of a blessing and a curse, you know. The same element is a little tough for me, but, you know, I’ve managed to power through. [laughs] I have therapy, you know.
Screen Rant: What’s something about the behind the scenes elements that viewers might be surprised by? Obviously, we see a lot on screen, but I’m sure there’s a lot more that goes on that we do not see.
Brandi: I mean, it takes much longer. I think everyone thinks that we shoot one episode in a day, and it takes quite some time to shoot an episode. And, you know, I mean, there’s a very large crew behind the scenes there. It takes so much longer than you would think, you know, to, if I was just at an auction, they go quite quick. But, you know, filming it, you know, takes so much more time.
Screen Rant: In terms of the upcoming season, you guys are expanding, the show is expanding in length. Do you think we’ll get to see a little bit more of that process with the hour-long format, or are there just more auctions in general?
Brandi: I think that, honestly, because it’s an hour-long platform now, you get to see a little more, you know, not necessarily behind the scenes, but fun elements of us, you know, and that’s kind of the things that we had to cut out before because it just wasn’t relevant to the 22 minutes that it would air. You know, we do a lot more fun hijinks this season.
Screen Rant: Incredible. I’m excited to see it! I spoke to Kenny [Crossley] the other day and he wanted me to ask you who your favorite person on the show is.
Brandi: [laughs] Oh yeah, he is. He is one of my favorite humans in the world. He is just a just a lovely spirit. He’s such a great human.
Screen Rant: In terms of your relationships on the show, your working relationships - other than Kenny, do you feel like you have those solid bonds with anyone else?
Brandi: You know, Barry [Weiss] and I have become very close over the years. He’s a little bit of a pain sometimes, you know, he can be difficult to kind of work with, but like herding cats, you know, but it’s just like one cat, you know. But he’s also really, really a great individual to me. You know, me and Laura [Dotson] have been around, you know, since the beginning with me. I like, you know, Ivy [Calvin] and his boys. They’re really nice humans. Lisa [Delarios] is great, she’s funny. At this point, you know, I think it’s, you know, widely known who I like and who I don’t.
Screen Rant: We love the honesty. In terms of getting into auctions, do you have any piece of advice that you would give someone just getting started?
Brandi: You know, honestly, I always just say, don’t do it [laughs]. It’s not an easy job. And I think, you know, the show makes it look like it’s, you know, glamorous and then a get rich quick kind of scheme and that it’s easy and it’s just so, so not easy. It is backbreaking work. You know, it’s like moving day. Every day you have to move everything that is in those units out. You have to clean it up, you know, and sometimes it’s dirty, and it’s disgusting, and there’s critters…you have to take the trash that you can’t sell to the dump, and you have to find, you know, somewhere to store all of these items, and find outlets to sell some of the more obscure items. You have to find appraisers. I mean, it’s a lot of work. People don’t really anticipate that over the years, you’re going to fail, you know, over and over and over again. It’s a learning process. It’s not easy at all, but it can be rewarding, obviously, if you keep doing it.
Screen Rant: Absolutely - and lastly, is there anything you can tease about this season that you found to be fun or memorable?
Brandi: You know, we got to go to an estate sale this season for one of the episodes, and I’d actually never gone to one. Honestly, it was so much fun and I won big, so, obviously, it was much more fun for me [laughs], but it was just like a different thing for us to do and I really enjoyed it.
Storage Warsseason 16 premieres on Saturday, June 7 at 9 p.m. EDT on A&E.
