The Real Hustle

Celebrity Hustler Nihal joins the team to help pull off a complex scam. Duration: 01:58 Series 11: Celebrity Chancers, Episode 3
Celebrity Hustler Sam Faiers joins the team to help pull off a complex scam. Duration: 01:25 Series 11: Celebrity Chancers, Episode 2
Shane Lynch joins the Real Hustle team Duration: 01:13 Series 11: Celebrity Chancers, Episode 1
Actress Adele Silva joins the hustlers Duration: 01:21 Series 10: New Recruits, Episode 10
Jazz poses as a courier... Duration: 01:29 Series 10: New Recruits, Episode 9
The hustlers steal a TV right under the mark's nose Duration: 01:28 Series 10: New Recruits, Episode 8

Real Hustle archive

Check out the tricks, scams and cons from previous series.
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Meet the team
New recruit: Polly Parsons

Polly Parsons is 24 and was born in Bristol. As a child Polly loved all the usual activities such as dancing singing, horse-riding and hockey. She attended a sacred heart convent primary school and an all-girls secondary school Redland High School for girls. At 16 she made a big move and started her residential course at the Elmhurst School of Performing Arts in Camberley where she attained A levels in Art, Drama and Dance and of course a much coveted diploma in Performing Arts.

Polly now lives in north London and when not working as a presenter or model Polly enjoys bikram yoga, painting and traveling making sure her 3 dogs Frank, Lulu and Coco are well looked after!
New recruit: Jazz Lintott

From the age of 13 Jazz started acting with the National Youth Theatre and was lucky enough to be involved in various productions with them, including some great plays with Matt Smith (Dr.Who) Reece Ritchie and many more. At 18, Jazz decided to go to Ravensbourne film school to study film making and production.

After a year Jazz went to work at as an 2nd Assistant Director for Drama at The BBC. He then went on to work for MTV and Channel 4 as a sound man. However, his passion was acting so following this, he went to Italia Conti and completed their 3 year straight acting course. In the last year Jazz was nominated for the award of Best Actor in a competition between all the drama schools. For Jazz, this experience was crucial, as he gained an agent, a lead part in an NBC film and Kevin Spacey spotted him and selected him to take part in a workshop.
Paul Wilson

Born in Cyprus, raised in Singapore and Scotland, Paul attended Art School but dropped out at 18 to join the British Army Intelligence Corps.

By 20 he had left the Army due to injury and was living in London working as a magician and street entertainer during the day, and a casino hustler at night.

Paul then worked as a computer programmer for some of Europe’s largest financial companies, where he learnt some of the tricks of the computer hacker. His knowledge of computers helped him develop an ingenious (but illegal) system for predicting where a roulette ball would land.

He now works on the right side of the law as a security consultant for Las Vegas casinos to catch con-artists. He was also “cheating consultant” for the Sylvester Stallone movie Shade and he worked on the new film, Smokin’ Aces.

Paul says: "If I really had the larceny to use the skills I've learned over the years I'd probably be rich, famous or dead. Probably all three."
The Real Hustle's new recruits

BBC Three blog: The Real Hustle's new recruits
Jessica-Jane Clement

Fortunately for Jessica-Jane, she knows how to spot the kind of man who thinks he's on to a good thing.

JJ was born in Sheffield in 1985 and appeared in American Playboy aged 18. She has modelled extensively and has been in Sky One's Dream Team.

Despite only being in her 20s, she has vast experience of conning. Her specialty is ensnaring men and twisting them around her little finger!

She says: “Hustlers know people - they know how people think and why they make certain choices. An attractive woman who seems sweet and innocent can be the deadliest of hustlers, because people will naturally let their guard down around her. Which is their mistake...”
Alexis Conran

Alexis was born in Paris and grew up with his family in Greece, where he came into contact with gambling at an early age. One of his relatives was a conman involved mainly in card games where newcomers would be fleeced for their cash.

It was when Alexis was working on an American feature film that he was asked to join some of the actors in a high stakes poker game... and a whole new career that he had never anticipated was set in motion.

It was during that game that he noticed one of the players cheating by stacking the deck before the deal. He didn’t want to make a big fuss, so he decided to use his card skills to make it impossible for the cheat to win. The trickster couldn’t accuse him of cheating because he knew that he had been rumbled.

Ever since then, Alexis has been obsessed by cons and cheats. His magic shows became exhibitions in fraud, cons, dice, casino and card cheating.

In 2003, he was a member of the DynamicFX team which advised the writers and actors on the hit BBC series Hustle. His extensive knowledge of hustling, pickpockets and con artists gave the show an authenticity that didn’t go un-noticed.