Paul Teutul, Sr.

The series quickly became one of the network's most popular shows, and its loyal audience followed the series when it moved to Discovery's sister network TLC in 2007. Teutul was soon featured on various television talk shows and series, as well as in the feature "Wild Hogs" (2007). He also shrewdly parlayed his growing popularity through a pair of video games based on the show, as well as a compilation reel of his best physical brawls with Paul, Jr. and scenes of him beating on various cars and walls. In 2008, "American Chopper" imploded when the long-simmering tensions between the Teutuls resulted in Sr. dismissing Jr. from the company he helped to build. A number of protracted legal disputes followed in the wake of the firing, with both sides accusing each other of financial mishandlings. TLC officially canceled "American Chopper" in 2010, but shrewdly utilized the familial bad blood for a new program, "American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior" (TLC/Discovery, 2009-13), which pitted Paul Jr.'s new company, Paul Jr. Designs, against Sr.'s Orange County Iron Works. In 2011 Teutul received several negative press items, including a report that he had received steroids from a Florida dentist convicted of illegally distributing the drugs. He was also forced to counter reports in the press that Orange County Iron Works had failed to pay its property taxes, and had gone into insolvency. In October of that year, Teutul, Sr. was named as a contestant on the fifth installment of "Celebrity Apprentice" (NBC, 2004-). By Paul Gaita