With so many shows out there, it’s not easy to keep up with what reality TV has to offer nowadays. Nonetheless, what made “Misfit Garage” catch our attention from the start, is the fact we already knew some of its cast members prior to its premiere in late 2014.
Although most people’s main interest to watch the show was the Fire Up Garage’s skillful car restorations, it’s undeniable that the many dramas the cast faced on an everyday basis kept a certain part of the audience glued to their TV screens.
While these problematic situations seemed to be strategically set up for ratings sake, the fact that many cast members left the show, including Fire Up Garage’s founder Jordan Butler, hint that things off-camera weren’t very peaceful.
So what happened to Jordan? Why did he leave the show and what is he doing now? Were things off-screen that difficult for the show’s cast or was it all planned? Keep with us to know it!
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Why Jordan Left The Show?
Reality TV shows normally keep the same basic cast throughout the years, but this is evidently not the case with “Misfit Garage”.
Jordan Butler’s exit from the show surely came as a surprise, though. He had been one of the Fired Up Garage’s founders and his presence in “Misfit Garage” was well appreciated by the audience. Nonetheless, at the start of the show’s fourth season in 2016, Jordan left due to being uncomfortable with the business’ future.
At the time, Fired Up Garage had already lost one its investing partners, Scot McMillan and Jordan was the next one to go. As it turns out, he hadn’t agreed with Fired Up Garage’s new location opening, as well as the joining of more business partners.
Anyway, Jordan leaving in such a dramatic way made everyone suspect his exit was caused by more serious reasons than shown on screen.
While this was never confirmed or denied, in 2017 Jordan admitted on his Facebook page that he went through some ‘bulls**t with Fired Up’ and even mocked his former Gas Monkey Garage’s boss Richard Rawlings for losing a fan poll for his show “Fast N’ Loud”, hinting that whatever happened with his former co-workers had been indeed serious.
What Is Jordan Doing Now?
During his time in “Misfit Garage”, Jordan Butler had been regularly active on his official Facebook fan page. However, following his exit from the show, he disappeared from the map altogether.
There’s no way of knowing if Jordan continued in the car fixing business. As he affirmed prior to the start of his social media hiatus, leaving Fired Up Garage left him unable to keep up working on cars for some time. It was his ten-year-old son’s insistence on fixing a truck which apparently renewed his will not to leave behind his passion, but it’s unknown if that ever went anywhere.
Though it’s unknown if Jordan owns a car shop nowadays, it’s interesting that the following months after his resignation, he continually promoted the merchandise sold by “Misfit Garage” back then. It’s uncertain if this meant he still owned some rights in the business, but along with everything else regarding this topic, no one ever bothered to explain.
What Is “Misfit Garage”?
Besides being a car-centered show, there’s a good reason why “Misfit Garage” is considered the first spin-off from the “Fast N’ Loud” series. From the first season, it was evident that Fired Up Garage’s goal wasn’t only to take its staff members’ work to the next level in creativeness and skill-wise, but to be a hard competitor against Richard Rawlings’ business.
Both Jordan Butler and Tom Smith had been working for Rawlings’ Gas Monkey Garage until being fired in early 2014. The general interest surrounding their exit from the shop and “Fast N’ Loud” altogether was the main reason Pilgrim Studios and Discovery gave them another chance on TV not long afterwards.
Eventually, Scot McMillan and Thomas Weeks ended up joining the then newly-created Fired Up Garage as investors and mechanics.
According to Smith, the initial idea for the shop’s name came from a toolbox sign he made in the 1980s, which read as “F&U Auto Service”. Leaving it like that was just not fitting for TV, but by coming up with Fired Up Garage instead, preserved some of the original name’s charm. Nonetheless, giving an identity to the business wasn’t nearly as challenging as fixing and customizing street rods with the limited budgeting and a less than stable work staff they had, which were common factors in all “Misfit Garage”s sixth aired seasons.
Why Was Jordan Fired From Gas Monkey Garage?
Admittedly, “Fast N’ Loud” had been known for showcasing a fair number of dramatic situations involving its staff, and even some car owners.
However, even considering the fact that Jordan Butler or Tom Smith had been pretty popular with the audience, they hadn’t been the center of attention in such a negative way until Richard Rawlings fired them after a very heated argument.
Following reports, Jordan and Tom allowed a fan diagnosed with cystic fibrosis to pose beside Rawlings’ Rolls-Royce for a pic. Despite their good intentions, an unnamed Gas Monkey Garage manager didn’t take their actions too kindly. After some arguing and swear words thrown from both sides, the argument resulted in the two mechanics’ firing.
According to Rawlings, his reasoning for cutting off Jordan and Tom wasn’t caused solely by that incident, but by the duo’s apparent constant problematic attitude. Anyway, late that year both men declared in an episode of “Misfit Garage” that their firing had been unreasonably handled. While Jordan lamented being fired from a job for the first time in his life.
RT if you think this is the best build to come out of Fired Up. #MisfitGarage pic.twitter.com/3hhOfodYfM
— Misfit Garage (@misfitgarage) August 9, 2018
And the seemingly unfair situation, Tom said it had been ‘the best thing’ to happen to him, as it evidently pushed him to launch his own business.
Was “Misfit Garage” Real?
Reality television could be equally as entertaining as it’s misleading. It’s not rare to find ourselves pointing out how peculiarly convenient or unnecessarily over the top some scenes in our favorite reality shows’ are.
While this doesn’t necessarily reduce the general’s audience interest in these series, it’s normal that the genuineness of shows such as “Misfit Garage” is often questioned. For starters, the incident that resulted in the firing of Jordan Butler and Tom Smith, is widely considered to have been taken out of proportion intentionally to create the new show. It doesn’t help the case that Richard Rawlings produced a couple of “Misfit Garage” episodes, and even made several guest appearances in it.
Though Richard’s presence in the show was meant to indicate the supposed latent animosity between him and his former employers, it resulted in people believing the whole situation was staged.
Despite how much those details brought the series’ reality into question, there are other things with which “Misfit Garage” can be trusted. For example, Fired Up Garage’s legitimacy as a business is completely verifiable. As well, the many farewells from the staff we saw from “Misfit Garage” cast members throughout the years were completely real, even if sometimes the show made these look more dramatic than they actually were.
Where Is The Cast Now?
Despite how debated Jordan Butler’s exit from “Misfit Garage” was, he wasn’t the only cast member the show’s audience was flabbergasted to see leaving. As it follows, here are some of the most memorable “Misfit Garage” members who unfortunately left the show.
Scot McMillan
While many people knew about him for appearing in “Fast N’ Loud” for years, in “Misfit Garage” Scot McMillan split his time between being a mechanic and one of Fired Up Garage’s original investors.
Nonetheless, things didn’t go as planned for McMillan, despite his initial enthusiasm. After being in the show for barely a couple of years, he left Fired Up Garage to focus on his own business – Scot Rods Garage – which he had founded in 2011. Not getting along with his co-workers was a determining factor for his departure, but it’s relieving to see his business is doing well nowadays, despite his past disagreements with his former co-workers.
Kevin Clark
Despite not being one of the shop’s founders, Kevin Clark became an important part of “Misfit Garage”s cast in no time.
As it’s known, one of the reasons which pushed Jordan Butler to leave the show was his uncomfortable partnership with Clark, but it seemed that things didn’t go smoothly even after Butler’s departure. Admitting that he’d been tired of the drama in the Fired Up Garage and his own will to move on, Clark ended up leaving the show as well.
Despite the fact that he still lists his job as a Fired Up Garage’s electrocutioner on his personal Facebook, it’s not clear where exactly he’s working nowadays.
John Klump
As well as his fellow cast members, John Klump wasn’t too pleased with the way things worked in Fired Up Garage. Although at the end he never left, the possibility of abandoning the shop was always open due to the drama, and for often being tasked with repairing cars in less than ideal conditions.
The latest thing we know about Klump is that he started his own business, Radical Restorations in Texas. Unfortunately, he hasn’t updated his social media since 2018.
Tom Smith
Judging by the fact that his Facebook fan page has over 200,000 fans, it’s not too far-fetched to say that Tom Smith is the best known face out of all “Misfit Garage” cast members.
It’s not surprising though; besides being the chief mechanic, Smith’s career as a comedian has taken him to perform on many stages around the US.
New @misfitgarage tonight and it's weight day for Tom. Time to settle a bet in one hour. Think Tom lost the weight? #misfitgarage pic.twitter.com/opGzPYmlk0
— Richard Ray Rawlings (@RRRawlings) July 19, 2018
While his career in the entertainment world is still rising, he currently still owns Fired Up Garage.
How Profitable Was It?
Knowing how suspicious-looking the show was when it comes to its apparent lack of authenticity, it’s not hard to imagine viewers questioning other details “Misfit Garage” might not have been especially sincere about.
While it’s not unusual to find theories on the internet which affirm “Misfit Garage” is a marketing strategy on Richard Rawlings’ side, or that Fired Up Garage is presumably one of his many businesses, financial information about the show is actually more easily comparable. For starters, it’s assumed the show is profitable enough to provide the shop’s staff with more money than that coming from their mechanic projects.
Apparently, main cast members such as Jordan Butler earned over $20,000 per episode, while Tom Smith’s salary from the show might have been well over that.
For his part, it’s presumed Rawlings made about $22,000 per show’s appearance, which is indeed a lot for someone who was supposedly hated by the cast.
Though these aforementioned salaries from “Misfit Garage”s cast are undeniably good, they’re not as good as that which stars from more popular shows make. Anyway, if compared to the couple hundred dollars in earnings every car work provided the business with, then it’s not surprising to see why many of Fired Up Garage’s staff stayed in the show for a long while, despite how supposedly difficult to endure their work environment was.
Why “Misfit Garage” Ended?
After being on air for several years and gathering a huge audience, it’s simply shocking to see that “Misfit Garage” wasn’t renewed following the end of the sixth season in 2018. What’s worse is that neither the series’ production company Pilgrim Studios, or Discovery bothered to explain what happened to it.
While no official statement regarding the show’s future was ever made, fans theorize the sudden and unexpected hiatus taken by the series could be due to low ratings. As well, others suspect that the many dramatic situations involving the show, which included accusations of faking jobs and staging scenes, in addition to the many people who left “Misfit Garage” on bad terms, could have pushed the network to cut it off.
Whatever happened, fans are so hopeful the show will return that they have gone as far as to start an online petition to renew it.
On its part, it’s relieving to see Fired Up Garage is still active, as seen on Tom Smith’s Facebook fan page’s posts. While this doesn’t mean that the probabilities of the show returning are any higher, no one can fault us for thinking that as long as the business is still active, not all hopes for “Misfit Garage” are yet lost.
