Paul Teutul Jr. starred on American Chopper with “Paulie” and his father, Paul Sr., building custom choppers together. After his time on the reality show, he started his own business, Paul Jr. Designs. Today, Paul Jr. Designs continues to thrive, producing custom bikes for a variety of individual and corporate clients. The Build is his first book.
“It remains humorous to me that after ten years of appearing
on a reality television show, the question I am most often asked, by far, is
whether what happened on our show was, well, real. But then again, the dynamic
that made “American Chopper” a global phenomenon did appear unreal, prompting
the two to three million viewers tuning in on Monday nights to hope – even pray
– that the volatile relationship between my father and me was too bad to be
true.
The premise of the show was simple: a father and son work
together to build custom motorcycles.
“American Chopper” worked because the bikes and our relationship were jaw dropping. For 10 seasons and 233 one-hour episodes, my father and I were often a train wreck that proved equally as difficult to turn away from as to watch. And yes, it was real. In fact, I believe that because of my relationship with my father, “American Chopper” not only was the most real reality show, but it was the first true reality show that didn’t involve surviving on an island.
“American Chopper” worked because the bikes and our relationship were jaw dropping. For 10 seasons and 233 one-hour episodes, my father and I were often a train wreck that proved equally as difficult to turn away from as to watch. And yes, it was real. In fact, I believe that because of my relationship with my father, “American Chopper” not only was the most real reality show, but it was the first true reality show that didn’t involve surviving on an island.
Paul Teutul Jr. riding one of his custom choppers
The arguments, shouting matches, door slamming, and wall
punching were no different from my life growing up with my father, working for
him in the steel business, and then building custom bikes together. The only
difference with “American Chopper” was that there were cameras around,
recording our blowups for the world to see.
I have learned that there are many people with stories
similar to mine – people who are part of, or are directly impacted by, an
abnormal relationship. I have nodded in understanding while listening to fans
of our show describe their relationships gone bad. I have even talked with one
man who might have had a worse relationship with his father than I did with
mine.
Those conversations are one reason I decided to write The
Build. I have been married to Rachael for seven years now, and our strong
relationship is one my parents did not have. Our son, Hudson, is almost three
years old, and our father-son dynamic will be the complete opposite of what I
grew up with. I have faith that will be the case… because of my faith. And when
the opportunity arose to write a book about choppers, my family, and my faith,
I said, “I’ve got to do this.”
Seeing my relationship with my father play out on a reality
show for ten years was difficult because our society tends to keep such
problems hidden. It has been difficult to detail in this book my bad
experiences with my father because he is my dad, and I love him – I have long
desired to have a normal relationship with him.
But I kept it real on “American Chopper,” and I am keeping
it real in this book, because I know there are too many others who will nod in
understanding as they read my story. I’ve always liked having my freedom, and
since the show ended, I have been able to make my own schedule for building
bikes while also spending time with Rachael and, of course, Hudson. From my
early teens until I was almost forty, I’d estimate that I worked two lifetimes’
worth of hours.
The way our show ended with big ratings for the second live build-off leads me to believe there is equity there for another show. Part of me asks, why would you want to do that again? But barely in my forties, I believe I’m in the prime of my creativity.”
SOURCE: Paul Jr. Designs
