Demi reveals 'X Factor' favorite

By Deanna Barnert

Special to MSN TV

National Geographic's "Bid& Destroy" takes viewers on the job with Danley Demolition, but this ain't your average demo crew. Some teams jump straight onto their excavators after bidding on and landing a tear down; while others wait to plan it all out. But before putting on their hardhats, however,these treasure hunters pillage for what's been left behind. MSN TV climbed into an excavator with huntsman Brian the Cowboy Gurry to get the story on "Bid& Destroy,"which premieredWednesday, Oct. 10.

If you think tearing crap down for a living is a good time, "Bid and Destroy" proves you right.

Bing: More about Nat Geo| 'Bid & Destroy'

"There's always some project we're looking forward to, believe it or not," Gurry told MSN TV. "[The guys filming us] get a kick out of how much we enjoy every day. They're looking at us going, 'Every day you're just as excited. This is sort of the same thing as the last one,' but it's not. The rules are different. The danger's different. The hunt is different."

For Gurry, the hunt is what it's all about, especially after a bidding war heats up. To land a job, Danley often drops to a price that doesn't even cover costs.

"We look at buildings and think, ! 'It's a lot of steel, it's a lot of copper and nobody's picked through anything: I'll go dirt low if I have to,' and we have," Gurry revealed. "Because we know there's $200,000 worth of scrap inside, never mind the crap that I'll find - and I'll always find something."

Gurry is a master hunter, braving ferocious odors and ramshackle conditions to uncover the goods. "I've fallen through floors, but I bounce," he said, shrugging off the danger.

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The most common booty is guns, cash and jewelry. The crew found a $7000 coin in an upcoming episode, once happened upon a safe full of $40,000 watches and even landed a plane, which is now parked outside of their massive warehouse.

"The coolest thing is we find a lot of cars and motorcycles," Gurry added. "We recently found a 79 Maverick in a garage that has about 19,000 miles on it, with the title, keys in hand, the whole 9 yards. I was driving it the other day."

Treasure is not always easily found or even recognizable, but Gurry knows his business. After he and his sidekick Eric raced the clock in the Oct. 10 premiere, he landed a pretty penny for a tiny, disgusting collectible teddy bear found nestled amid a pile of toilets. He also scored with a set of salt and peppershakers he'd almost left behind.

The real treasure on "Bid &Destroy," however, is the fabulously dysfunctional Danley crew.

"Just a team full! of misfi! t toys," Gunny bragged. "Everybody does everything. I can drive a tractor-trailer. We can get in a bobcat. Nobody just does one thing, because it works better that way. When you're talking to a guy about tearing something down, there's no one in a tie going, 'I think that should come down within a day.' We're talking the same language and they know we can take it down."

That doesn't mean each player doesn't have his or her own role. Owner Lee Danley and Brian team up for the bidding, often butting heads along the way. Demo is all about the bottom line for Lee, so he wants to take every job and at times, he can get a bit salty.

"Lee's beautiful," Gurry raved. "I tell him all the time, 'Just stay behind the scenes today. I can tell you're not with us.'"

Lee's daughter Gina isn't exactly a softy, herself.

"She can run everything, and she could beat the crap out of me, to boot," Gurry shared. "She's the safety inspector of the company. A little crazy at times, but they all are."

Gurry's nephew Eric gets in on the treasure hunting and some of the heavy lifting, all the while trading digs with Gurry.

"As much as I hate him on a daily basis, he's just a good kid," Gurry sniffed. "I'm trying to train him. It's not working, but he is fun to have there."

When it's finally time to tear things down, it's usually Kip or Jimmy in the excavators. They may get teased for their backwoods style, but these two are armed with serious wrecking skills.

"It's almost a competition between them," Gurry said. "It's an adult playground. On a Friday afternoon, just for shits and giggles, we have them picking up a wine glass and putting it on top of a tire. We wouldn't want the cameras on for some of the stuff we do. They like to do it and it's also great training."

Gurry and National Geographic took MSN TV to Las Vegas' Dig This, where we got to play behind the wheel of an excavator and a bulldozer. While our tire pyramid was pretty impressive, the idea of picking up a wineglas! s seems a! bsurd. We also needed a hot bath to recover.

Destruction is hard work. The machines are monsters and Danley Demo regularly takes on tight permits, daunting structural issues and uptight neighbors, to name a few hurtles. In the second episode of the back-to-back premiere, for example, they toppled a 16-story smokestack that could have fallen in any direction.

"If it had gone the other way, we'd be screwed," Gurry admitted. "We'd be building them a building! But part of the business is you can't walk away. Every job is a little tougher than the last and we don't always agree on how to do things, but we have the equipment, experience and everything we need - and we're grossly over-insured. You have to be."

Amid the demolition drama, it's no surprise these guys sometimes lose their patience. The cameras catch it all.

"There's plenty of times I wish the camera wasn't there," Gurry said. "Fighting with a town official once, I was just out of my shit. I turned around and was like, 'Oh, you're rolling on that? That's not good.' Whatever. It's real life."

"Bid & Destroy'airs Wednesdaysat 9:00 and 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on National Geographic.