‘Storage Wars’ star: Phoemela Baranda a tough contender in ‘Car Wars’

Jarrod Schulz

Storage Wars” star Jarrod Schulz didn’t exactly know what he was in for when he was chosen to be one of the competitors in “Celebrity Car Wars,” where he is pitted against five other drivers, among them Filipino model-TV host Phoemela Baranda.

“I honestly had no idea what to expect,” Schulz told the Inquirer in a phone interview. “It isn’t shown here in the United States, so I didn’t get to see a lot of Season 1. I only saw highlights and clips. To prepare, I just ate a lot of rice and chicken before I left, so I’d be ready for the Philippines.”

Schulz, a regular of “Storage Wars” since 2010, coowns a store that sells second-hand items with girlfriend and series mainstay Brandi Passante, and has started his own clothing line.

“Celebrity Car Wars” airs Mondays, 9:55 p.m. on History.

Excerpts from the interview:

Phoemela Baranda

How would you describe the sense of freedom that the show gave you? The great thing about doing “Celebrity Car Wars” is that, while everything is a competition, there aren’t a lot of rules. Just figure out how to get to the finish line or the goal first! So [I was] as creative as I could be to solve a problem and win.

How competitive was it behind the scenes? We got along well, off-camera. We’d go out, get dinner. We’d talk after the show. But as soon as the competition [started], it was all business.

How would you assess your competitor, Phoemela? She’s a very strong competitor. When you watch the show, you can see what we were and weren’t good at. She’s from there, so she was comfortable with a lot of the challenges that we had, because some of [them involved] interacting with the people in the Philippines, [where most] people speak English. She was comfortable in that atmosphere, which gave her an advantage in some of the challenges.

What was it about the show that appealed to you? I was at the History Con [in the Philippines] last year, and I saw some highlights from the show last season. It was basically about driving cars, driving fast, crashing into stuff—things that I’m really good at!

Describe the show’s entertainment value. There were so many moments… Viewers will see where [participants] succeeded and failed. And one of the more memorable things for me was the freedom to really do whatever it was that I could think of. If I saw a wall and wanted to run into it, I just ran into it!