Undercover Boss is an incredibly popular CBS reality show featuring CEOs or other high-ranking
executives donning disguises to work at the lowest levels in their organization, all in
an effort to become better bosses — and make the workplace a better place.
With eight seasons and more than 100 episodes, there's plenty of trivia out there about the
show and it's masked managers, but the show's biggest fans have likely heard it all before.
So here's some obscure Undercover Boss facts for the die-hards.
Undercover inspiration
It was while watching the real-life PR disaster of the opening of British Airways Terminal
5 at Heathrow Airport in London in 2008 that British reality TV producer Stephen Lambert
had a brilliant idea.
According to Lambert's book, Undercover Boss: Inside the TV Phenomenon That Is Changing
Bosses and Employees Everywhere, the kernel of the concept for the show came from British
Airways head honcho Willie Walsh's response to a reporter's question about whether he'd
suffered traveling inconveniences using the very airline he runs.
He responded, "I can't because people in BA recognize me."
That simple truth led Lambert to pitch the idea to Channel 4, and the first series aired
in 2009.
Lambert and executive producer Eli Holzman were then able to bring the show to CBS in
2010 and make it the American reality TV juggernaut it is today, with one interesting difference:
in the British version, after the emotional one-on-ones, the boss never reveals the ruse
in front of the entire company via a celebratory screening of clips from the episode.
Holzman says he thought Americans would want a "big celebration," and the companies involved
have confirmed that to be true.
Super start
The show's biggest fans know it's been a smash since the very beginning: The first episode
of Undercover Boss in 2010 followed Super Bowl 44, giving it the best possible lead-in.
And while many shows have still failed in the spot, Undercover Boss thrived, retaining
an astounding 38.6 million viewers for its debut.
"One word, and that's just, 'Unbelievable.'"
Even after it moved to its regular 9PM Sunday night slot, it still averaged 17 million viewers
per episode in its first season, making it the most popular new show of the 2009-2010
television season.
Mayor gets mired
Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto found himself at the center of a controversy that he categorized
as "sublime ridiculousness" when County Controller Chelsa Wagner refused to release taxpayer
funds to a tourist organization that offered to donate some of the prize money awarded
to the city workers featured on the show.
"You're going to be getting a check for $20,000 for the down payment, and the ability to purchase."
"Oh my God.
Oh my G —"
Prior to his episode, Mayor Peduto promised that no public funds would go towards the
prizes, but then VisitPittsburgh, an organization "largely funded with taxpayer dollars," agreed
to donate $50,000 of "the $155,000 he pledged to help four needy workers."
This prompted Wagner to withhold all taxpayer funds from VisitPittsburgh, sparking a mini
controversy that died down a week later when VisitPittsburgh clarified that their donations
came from their general fund, which is "a mix of public and private dollars."
Wagner released the funds, but vowed further action if it could be proven that tax dollars
were in fact used.
Peduto had this to say on the matter: "Some people want to use this as an opportunity
as a battering ram.
I think it's the first time that any politician has ever been accused for lining someone else's
pockets."
Undercover aftermath
One year after house-flipper-turned-seminar-guru Armando Montelongo's episode aired, over 150
former students of his seminars filed a class action lawsuit against him.
Their suit alleges that the former Flip This House host's seminar course, which purports
to instruct people on how to get paid to flip houses, is a lie, and their widespread promotion
of that lie violates federal racketeering laws.
Among the accusations are bizarre claims that Montelongo "studied a film about 'mind control
cults,' and used it to develop his programs, and that advanced programs costing participants
up to $54,000 are nothing more than schemes to get participants to keep buying additional
seminar products.
Montelongo has refuted the allegations, telling InTouch Weekly that the participants in the
lawsuit are people who "decided that continuous hard work is not for them."
He also claims that some of them have started rival seminars and are "colluding to come
together to try to bring down No. 1."
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