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“Once those people start reaching out to us, we reach back out to them, get more information about their collections, more background on them and how long they’ve been collecting,� American Pickers casting associate producer Jasmina Joseph said. “From there, we ask for photos. The team goes through the collections and pick the best collections.�

After premiering in 2010, American Pickers has followed antique “picking� throughout the United States, with stars hunting through private collections of antiques to find valuable antiques.

The team at American Pickers will begin to finalize the collections chosen and coordinate travel in mid-February.

“We definitely urge people to send in (their information) as soon as possible so we can have proper time to review each collection and coordinate our travel,� Joseph said.

Over the past week, the American Pickers team has been receiving responses to its call for submissions.

“Our emails have basically been flooded with people sending in their collection, their contact information and pictures for us to look at,� Joseph said.

With so many submissions, the team behind American Pickers has to work to narrow them down.

“We look for things that we’ve never seen before,� Joseph said. “We look for items that are historical, items that are different. We also like an item that has a good story behind it, whether it’s a generational story, or (a story of) how they got it.�

A mixture of those elements leads the team to choose which collections to visit.

“There’s never a specific thing that the team is looking for,� Joseph said. “They’re always open to new things, things they’ve never seen on the show before, never laid eyes on before.�

Historical items can also be items that have been in a family for a long time.

“It can be an item that’s been in the family, that belonged to someone’s great-great-great-great grandparent,� Joseph said. “That, to us, is very historic. Giving us the background of that is always cool.�

Even after assessing the submissions, the team never knows exactly what they’ll find.

“Pictures can tell you so much until you’re actually there to see and dig through everything,� Joseph said.

The time that the American Pickers team will spend in Tennessee will depend on the amount of collections chosen.

“They rotate the states,� Joseph said. “We try to hit every state throughout the year, and that’s basically how they usually do it. There’s not a specific state that they go to more often. It’s just a rotation.�

The last time the show came to Tennessee was in 2021.

“Right now, we’re focusing all over Tennessee, not just in one specific area,� Joseph said. “We’re looking everywhere, in any type of city, town in Tennessee, whether it’s a small town or a big town. Anywhere in Tennessee, we’re interested. We’re looking for the best collection. Wherever that is in Tennessee, we will be traveling there.�