TLDR: Corey Harrison left Pawn Stars in 2025 after 17 years, refusing to renew his contract and permanently moving to Tulum, Mexico. The departure followed his brother Adam’s fatal overdose, a DUI arrest, and growing frustration with playing the “23-year-old apprentice” role at age 41. He now runs a podcast and barbecue restaurant in Mexico.
It’s pretty amazing that Pawn Stars has stayed on for over 20 seasons, right? This is one of History Channel’s longest-running and most entertaining reality TV shows, not just because of the interesting business deals but because of the cast we’ve come to love so much.
We’d all agree that Pawn Stars wouldn’t be the same without the witty and hilarious Corey Harrison. He’d been there since the show started in 2009, and we watched him grow from a young guy to a businessman, husband, and dad. At some point, Corey lost a ton of weight and went missing from the show for a while, causing fans to speculate that he was sick, with some even saying he was dead.
But what really happened to Corey from Pawn Stars? The truth is way more complicated than anyone expected. In 2025, Corey walked away from the show completely, refused to renew his contract, and moved to Mexico. Here’s the whole story.
Corey Had Surgery After an Accident
The youngest son of Rick Harrison, owner of the famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, Richard Corey Harrison has been through a lot in his life.
Did you know he almost died in a serious motorcycle accident? That’s right. In 2014, Corey jumped off his fast-moving motorcycle to save himself from a crash. The accident happened while he was getting food and supplies for his own birthday party that his family had thrown for him. Harrison explained that the bike’s bottom fender mount cut loose, making the bike spin out of control.
True to his character, Corey actually returned to the party instead of going to the hospital. Eventually, he did get admitted to the ER and put through surgery, where he got two plates and eight screws for a broken hand.
Why Does Corey From Pawn Stars Look Sick?
We always knew Corey and his family friend, Austin Lee Russell, as the bigger guys on the show. So it was shocking when Corey took a break and came back a couple hundred pounds lighter.
Fans immediately commented on the drastic weight loss, saying Corey looked sick. When you lose a huge amount of weight, you can end up looking gaunt, and that was definitely the case for Corey. We were so used to seeing the bigger version of him that we assumed he must be sick when he lost all that weight.
Here’s what really happened. The reality TV star decided to lose weight through surgery three years after finding out he was pre-diabetic. Speaking to Good Morning America, he said, “I was driving home from the doctor’s office, freaked out about it. I saw the place where they do lap band surgeries, and I went in and asked what it took to have the surgery.”
Corey added, “I didn’t have money at the time. So, I put it on four credit cards and there you go.” The lap band helped him lose close to 200 pounds, going from his original weight of 400 pounds down to around 210. He told GMA that he felt way better at 31 than he did at 25, thanks to his weight loss.
Corey also changed his whole lifestyle. He could only eat four or five ounces of food at a time because of the lap band. “When you only have that much space, you don’t want to fill it with crap,” he said. He also started boxing, doing 12 rounds a day, five days a week. That’s an intense workout routine.
Corey wasn’t the only Pawn Stars cast member who lost weight. Chumlee was inspired by Corey’s transformation and managed to shed about 160 pounds through gastric sleeve surgery and diet changes.
Corey Became A Co-Owner of the Family Pawn Shop
If there’s one person who deserved a share of the famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, it had to be Corey. This guy had been working at the shop since he was nine years old alongside his grandfather and father. He knew the business inside and out.
In season 6 of Pawn Stars, Corey got a job offer somewhere else. Before deciding what to do, he asked his dad to give him some ownership in the pawn business. Corey asked for a 10 percent stake, but his dad offered 5 percent with room to grow in the future.
When Corey agreed to the five percent stake, he became a legal owner of the family’s popular business. It’s been years since that first offer, so his ownership has probably grown. He worked as the shop’s operations manager, overseeing over 30 employees.
Corey Got Arrested for DUI in 2023
On September 8, 2023, Corey was arrested by the Las Vegas police for DUI. It was a pretty bad look for someone who’d built his reputation as a smart businessman. An officer noticed Corey’s white Ford F-250 pickup truck swerving between the right lane and the bicycle lane near Main Street and Charleston Boulevard.
When the cop pulled him over, Corey was slow to stop and the officer had to use the public address system to get him to pull over. During the stop, the officer reported a strong smell of alcohol coming from the truck, and noted that Corey had bloodshot, watery, droopy eyes and a blank stare.
Corey’s defense was that he’d only had one drink seven hours earlier on a flight from Minneapolis, where he’d been filming for the Pawn Stars spinoff show. He claimed he failed the field sobriety test not because he was drunk, but because he had a severe infection in his right shin that messed up his balance. He called the test “Simon Says” and said it was designed to make people fail no matter what.
To make things more complicated, the breathalyzer machine at the Las Vegas city jail wasn’t working. They had to get a blood sample to test his blood alcohol level instead, which delayed his release. Corey was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and released eight hours later. He said he planned to fight back and hire aggressive lawyers, but the damage to his reputation was done.
Looking back, this arrest was probably a turning point. Las Vegas, once his home and kingdom, had become a place where he was under constant surveillance. The experience may have pushed him toward wanting to leave.
Corey Lost His Brother Adam to an Overdose
The worst thing that happened to the Harrison family was the death of Corey’s younger brother, Adam Harrison. While Corey and Rick were famous from the show, Adam had chosen to live a private life, working as a plumber and avoiding the Pawn Stars cameras.
In January 2024, Adam Harrison was found dead at age 39. The Clark County Coroner’s office ruled it an accidental overdose caused by fentanyl and methamphetamine toxicity. The presence of fentanyl, that super potent synthetic opioid, connects the Harrison family tragedy to the broader drug crisis that’s hit so many American families.
Rick Harrison posted a brief, heartbroken statement on Instagram: “You will always be in my heart! I love you Adam.” But for Corey, the loss was devastating. Adam was his brother, his contemporary, his link to life outside of fame.
Corey rarely spoke publicly about his grief, but in interviews about leaving the show, he mentioned the past few years being exceptionally rough. Continuing to film a reality show about haggling over old stuff probably felt pretty meaningless after losing his brother. The fact that Adam died just months after Corey’s own legal troubles with alcohol created a dark connection that likely made Corey want to completely change his life.
Corey Refused to Renew His Contract and Quit the Show
By 2025, everything had piled up. The DUI, his brother’s death, and 17 years of filming the same show finally led Corey to make a huge decision. When the History Channel wanted to renew everyone’s contracts for more seasons, Corey said no.
The network had plans for “Pawn Stars 2.0” and Rick was eager to keep going. But when they told Corey their plans, his response was blunt: “They told me what they are doing, and I said, ‘All right, cool. I’ll pack it up. I’m moving to Mexico. You guys have fun.'”
Corey’s main reason for quitting was that he was tired of playing a character. He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “At this stage of the game, we’re all playing a character on Pawn Stars. I can’t play another season of 41-year-old me pretending to be 23.”
That statement explains everything. The show needed him to stay the “son,” the apprentice learning from his dad. But in reality, he was a middle-aged businessman who’d been running the shop’s day-to-day operations for years. The show’s format couldn’t let him grow up without ruining the dynamic that fans expected. After 17 years and over 600 episodes, Corey was done pretending.
Corey Moved to Tulum, Mexico
Following the end of filming in June 2024 and his contract refusal, Corey permanently relocated to Tulum, Mexico. It’s about as far from Las Vegas as you can get in terms of vibe. Where Vegas is all neon lights, casinos, and cameras, Tulum offers beach life, freedom, and anonymity.
Corey described his new life simply: “No pawn counter. No crew. No History Channel cameras rollin’. Just me, life, and a whole lotta time to think about what the hell comes next.”
He’s made friends with local officials in Tulum, including the mayor and local cops. He even joked about the irony, saying, “I never thought I’d be hanging out with cops and politicians in Mexico.” This shows he’s trying to build a real life there, not just hiding out.
Corey also started a business. He’s developing a barbecue restaurant called “Big Hoss’s Smokin’ Joint.” He’s still using his famous nickname, which shows that while he rejected the show, he knows the “Big Hoss” brand has value. But this time, he’s the boss. No dad, no producers, no script.
Corey Started His Own Podcast
In July 2025, Corey launched “The Corey Harrison Show,” a podcast he records from his home in Tulum with former Pawn Stars producer Jairus Cobb. The podcast lets him control his own story for the first time ever. He doesn’t have to talk about the history of old items anymore. Instead, he covers life philosophy, politics, and whatever else he wants to discuss.
This is Corey presenting himself as a thinking adult with opinions, not just a guy appraising stuff on TV. The podcast gives him the freedom reality TV never did.
Is Corey From Pawn Stars Still Married?
Corey hasn’t been lucky in love. He’s been through two divorces in the past several years, which isn’t easy for anyone to deal with.
He was first married to his high school sweetheart, Charlene, in 2009, right when the show was taking off. They divorced in 2015 after only six years of marriage. The main reason wasn’t made public, but rumors suggested that Corey’s party lifestyle and crazy work schedule hurt their relationship.
Harrison got married again in 2017, this time to Korina. However, their marriage lasted just one year. They divorced in 2018, citing competitive work schedules. Korina was pregnant with Corey’s son during their divorce. They named their son Richard Benjamin Harrison, after Corey’s grandfather.
There have been rumors about Corey dating since then, but nothing confirmed. He posts different people on his social media, but he hasn’t publicly announced being in a serious relationship. His move to Mexico probably complicated his personal life even more, especially when it comes to spending time with his son who lives in the States.
Corey Didn’t Attend His Dad’s Wedding
The physical distance between Tulum and Las Vegas has created real emotional distance between Corey and his father Rick. On January 3, 2026, Rick Harrison married his fourth wife, Angie Polushkin, in a ceremony at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas. An Elvis impersonator officiated the wedding in true Vegas style.
But Corey wasn’t there. Neither was Chumlee. Representatives said Corey’s absence was because he lives in Mexico now, but let’s be real. A son missing his father’s wedding, especially when Rick’s granddaughter (Corey’s niece) was there as a witness, signals a serious rift in the family.
The split goes beyond just the wedding. Rick and Chumlee launched their own podcast called Pawn After Dark, recorded at the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. Corey wasn’t included. He launched his own competing podcast instead, which shows the Harrison media empire has basically split in two.
Corey’s comments about his father’s work ethic explain a lot about their divide. “My dad will work ’til the day he collapses. That’s just not me,” Corey said. This fundamental difference in how they view life and work is probably what’s really driving them apart. Rick wants to keep grinding and building wealth. Corey wants balance and a life outside of work.
Corey Lost His Grandfather
Corey Harrison’s grandpa, Richard ‘Old Man’ Harrison, was the family’s patriarch and founder of the pawn shop, which he started in 1989. Richard Harrison was a big part of Pawn Stars before passing away on June 25, 2018, at 77 from Parkinson’s Disease.
His death came as a shock because fans didn’t really know he was sick. He didn’t look sick at all on the show. Losing his grandfather was hard on Corey, but he kept working. Now, looking back, between losing his grandfather in 2018 and his brother in 2024, Corey has dealt with a lot of family tragedy in just a few years.
So Corey has been through it all. Motorcycle accidents, massive weight loss, becoming a co-owner, a DUI arrest, his brother’s death, two divorces, and the loss of his grandfather. By 2025, he’d had enough. He walked away from millions of dollars, from fame, and from his family’s business to start over in Mexico. Whether he stays there permanently or eventually comes back remains to be seen.
But for now, “Big Hoss” has left the building, and he’s not looking back.
