Paul Teutul, Sr.

An unlikely reality series star due to his imposing presence and tendency towards explosive anger, Paul Teutel, Sr. nevertheless found fame as the patriarch of a custom motorcycle manufacturing shop on "American Chopper" (Discovery/TLC, 2007-2010). Born Paul John Teutel on May 1, 1949 in Yonkers, NY, he was not aware that he shared a full legal name with his father until his mid-thirties and was, in fact, Paul Teutel Jr., but by then, he had already produced a son, also named Paul, and was known to all as "Senior." He served in the Merchant Marine during the Vietnam War, and returned to New York to work in welding and fabrication. Eventually, he launched his own company, Paul's Welding, which blossomed into Orange County Iron Works. Teutul's passion for customizing motorcycles eventually overtook his welding business, and after displaying his custom bikes at shows across America, he launched Orange County Choppers with his son, Paul Jr., in 1999. The colorful and often combative relationship between Teutul Sr. and his son, as well as his youngest child, Michael Teutul, caught the attention of The Discovery Channel, which launched "American Chopper" in 2002.

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