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The Real Hustle
Alex and Jess rob a hotel room by posing as hotel employees; Jess and Paul pretend to be from a film crew, ask a mark if they can rent his car as a prop, and drive off right in front of him; Jess wins a proposition bet using three full and three empty shot glasses, then scams herself a free beauty session; the hustlers head to Ibiza to fool holidaymakers into parting with their money for some worthless purses.
Alex and Jess empty a house by faking a security survey and a prize draw; in Ibiza, the team sell fake jewels; Paul wins a proposition bet involving money and your third finger; Alex swaps the padlock from a fitness club attender and clears out his locker; and the hustlers sell bogus miracle fat-busting products.
The hustlers sell a fake device which supposedly adds credit to an Oyster Card; cheat in 3 card brag by marking cards and using reflections; win a proposition bet trying to knock a 10p piece off your forehead; demonstrate pickpocketing using distraction techniques; and use police costumes to sell advertising in a fake magazine.
The hustlers pass counterfeit cash by previously handing shops a pen that supposedly detects counterfeit notes; demonstrate scams that a bartender can pull; get people to hand over their bank details in applying for a gym that will never be built; and show you how hustlers can cheat at the card game Gin. The proposition bet involves balancing a wine glass upright over a further two wine glasses, while none of them touch.
The gang sell a car but keep a spare set of keys to steal it back (The Boomerang); install a fake cash machine to duplicate the cards and PINs of unsuspecting passers-by (The Cash Machine Con); win a proposition bet involving listing words without the letters A, B, C, J, K and M; go undercover as recruitment consultants but the only thing they're making a career out of is identity theft (The Recruitment Scam); and demonstrate electronic devices to help beat the casino (Casino Gambling Devices).
The gang pull off an escrow scan by pretending to be a trustworthy pub landlord; manage to persuade a couple to give them £200 for some worthless vouchers in the pretense of a prize draw; sell overpriced goods (for example, 100 nails described as "100 metal coat hangers") without technically lying; and use skillful sleight-of-hand techniques to beat the Blackjack table. The probability bet involves drinking a shot of rum without spilling a drop.
The hustlers make up an event, hire a band, then steal their equipment; sell fake tickets for a club night in Ibiza; demonstrate a fairground pendulum game that is physically impossible to win; and deliver empty parcels, cash on delivery, to unsuspecting small businesses. The proposition bet involves balancing a glass on top of three glasses and three knives.
The gang rely on the goodwill of hotel owners towards (fake) VIP guests to make them pay for worthless deliveries; play Three-card Monte to hustle some holidaymakers; park a 'broken down' refrigerated delivery van in a residential street and need to sell its contents quickly, but sell empty boxes instead; and sell dolls' house furniture to people who assume it is the full size thing on an Internet auction site. The proposition bet involves separating two glasses without touching them.
The hustlers fool a white van man into thinking he has hit a pedestrian and get him to pay for her "damaged" laptop (The Flop); rip-off some holidaymakers with what looks like a very cheap exchange rate but sell them blank paper instead of cash (Exchange Rate Rip-Off); demonstrate an unfair fairground game involving throwing hoops over clothes pegs (Peg A Prize) and drive off an expensive car with a fake hotel valet parking slip (Valet Steal). The Proposition Bet involves drinking from a sherry glass (placed upside down in a larger brandy glass) without touching it with your hands.
Paul takes full advantage of a hotel's services (and room contents) using nothing more than an air of authority (Fake Doctor); a lure of big money for little work puts an unquestioning member of the public in a difficult position (Reshipping Scam); the Proposition Bet is that a coin can't be removed from beneath two balanced matches; the Cover The Spot fairground game is shown to be harder than it looks; and the team walk off with the personal belongings of a cafe's customers in less than 3 minutes, under the pretense of storing them in a cloakroom (Get Yer Coat).
The hustlers dress up as security guards, turn up at a shop which is expecting its weekly cash takings to be collected, and walk off with the loot; pose as the legitimate owners of sunloungers and collect rental fees from holidaymakers on the beach; man a rigged fun fair stall where people try and throw a ball into a basket; and pretend to be strangers and secretly collude in order to win a poker tournament. The proposition bet is to move an egg from one glass to another without touching it and without moving the glasses.
The gang hire some expensive jewelry for a fake photo shoot, which comes accompanied by security guards, and walk out with it via a hidden door behind a changing curtain; and con some holidaymakers into believing they need to pay a fine for speeding. The proposition bet involves throwing a glass of beer in someone's face. The episode ends with a recap of some of the cons from this series.
