Twelve years ago, Bryan Knox had a notion to leave the corporate world and become an auctioneer.

Fast forward to today, and the Gardendale resident is a world champion at his craft, and — thanks to a cable television show — one of the best-known auctioneers in the country.

Knox is the auctioneer for “Real Deal,” a History Channel show in which everyday people bring in items which they think might be valuable. They first see a “dealer,” one of four buyers who makes an offer for the item.

The potential seller either takes the deal, or declines the offer and puts it up for auction. Think “Deal or No Deal,” but with antiques instead of models and suitcases.

When the seller decides to take a chance, Knox comes in. He takes up residence at Pressley Auctions in Santa Ana, Calif. which has been transformed into a television studio.

“They say any publicity is good publicity,” Knox said. “Fame is fleeting, and I don’t purport to be famous by any stretch of the imagination. But the notoriety is nice. It’s very humbling when people come up and say, ‘Hey, I saw you on TV.’”

Knox got the bug to enter the auction business when he visited an auto auction in Cullman back in 1999. They hired him as a ring man, who stands in the crowd and accepts bids, and got him started in training to be an auctioneer.

From there, he became the state’s rookie of the year, and in 2001 was Alabama’s auctioneer of the year. In 2007, he reached the pinnacle when he won the International Auctioneer Championship,  a competition that featured 75 contestants from around the world.

The championship led to the gig with “Real Deal,” in a roundabout way.

“The NAA put my performance on YouTube, still on there to this day. Six months or so later, I was contacted by Comedy Central, who wanted me to do a commercial for their ‘Blue Collar TV’ series. Over the years, I’ve been contacted several times because of that YouTube video, including for this show.”

In some cases, Knox knows what the dealers have offered for an item. “But the production company wanted to make sure the auction was real. In the normal course of an auction, I would know if there had been prior offers, if something had been on the market. But once the auctions began, it was ‘game on.’ The dealers were not allowed to bid on the items.”

Know said that sellers who gambled and went to auction got more than their original offer about 70 percent of the time.

On one episode, Knox was auctioning a restored antique taxi-company call box. As bidding seemed to stall, he went down into the audience to cajole a bidder’s husband into upping her bid. It didn’t work, but the item still sold for more than the dealer’s offer.

“One of my friends saw that and said, ‘Now that’s the Bryan I know!’” Knox said.

All of the televised auctions were taped over a single day.

“For 10 episodes, we had 50 items up for sale,” Knox said. “They [Zodiac Productions] flew me out Wednesday, introduced me to everyone, then had one auction for the show on Thursday,  and I was on my way back Friday morning.”

Which was important, because his wife Linda was undergoing treatment for breast cancer that day. Her prognosis is good as doctors caught the cancer early, Knox said.

The show just completed its first run. Knox is expecting to hear any day whether the show will be renewed for another run, and given the show’s encouraging ratings, he’s is expecting to be picked up again, which would complete a full season. He’s under contract for three years.

Knox owns BCK Enterprises, which handles auctions of all kinds. His real-estate business is brokered through Southern Homes Realty in Gardendale, where he maintains an office.

Knox, who serves on the board of directors of Alabama Teen Challenge, grew up in Fultondale. He and Linda have a 20-year-old daughter, Lindsey, who is a dental assistant in Gardendale.