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  • If you haven’t seen it, Undercover Boss is a long-running CBS reality show where a

  • high-ranking corporate officer dons a disguise to infiltrate their own business. While inside,

  • they work alongside their employees in an effort to reinvigorate their brand's identity

  • and see what’s really going on. Skeptics believe that many aspects of the show are

  • fake or exaggerated, but producers and most of the show’s participants insist otherwise.

  • We've uncovered the truth.

  • Bosses choose their aliases

  • Undercover Boss uses the genius tactic of pretending to be some sort of "win your own

  • franchise" game show, complete with a fake host. All of this is to prevent employees

  • from figuring out the real deal. Amazingly, few workers see through the flimsy facade.

  • Maybe it's because in every episode, the boss has to wear a disguise to avoid being recognized.

  • According to a TV.com interview with producer Eli Holzman, the bosses are allowed to choose

  • their disguises. These usually involve wigs, makeup, and fake facial hair that looks like

  • it was purchased at a post-Halloween clearance sale. This leads us to believe the businesses

  • either choose the most gullible employees possible. Or, they actually know what's going

  • on but play along in hopes of being generously rewarded later on.

  • Workplace scenarios aren’t completely staged

  • One of the biggest questions people ask is whether the bosseson-the-job scenarios

  • are completely staged. The answer is noand yes. According to Holzman, the show tries

  • to pick job scenarios that will look good on TV, but the bosses don't know exactly where

  • they're going to go. “They don't know exactly with whom they're going to work, because we

  • want them to have an authentic experience." Sometimes, that even includes getting fired

  • by the employees.

  • "I have to, ya know, let you go."

  • "Just for that?"

  • "Ya."

  • Though the Emmy-winning series conducts recon of employees and workplaces to look for potentially

  • juicy opportunities, the resulting footage can still be pretty spontaneous. Bosses

  • covers have been blown:

  • "You look like the President of Fatburger."

  • And there have been more than a few occasions when a boss broke cover to fire someone on

  • the spot. A particularly awful Boston Market employee named Ronnie was immediately canned

  • after this awful admission:

  • "I literally hate customers more than anything in the entire world."

  • Which was only slightly more terrible than this one:

  • "I'm like the Kim Kardashian of Boston Market. It's great. So..."

  • A worker at a Retro Fitness had such a terrible attitude that she eventually started dropping

  • f-bombs in front of the incognito CEO, effectively tendering her accidental resignation. Does

  • the show stage some of this stuff? Sure, but the consequences can be all too real.

  • Employees are carefully selected

  • Fans of the show will recognize that chosen employees often have some type of hidden similarity

  • to their boss. Both may have a family member coping with a similar illness, or have fallen

  • behind on their mortgage. While these coincidences aren't the specific reason employees are selected,

  • Holzman admits that theyre picky. The show will always choose the most interesting employees

  • to make it to air, whether their stories make you laugh or cry. Or just mad:

  • "I'm an ***hole. I'm a ****head. I'm harsh. I'm over the top. Fear equals respect. You're

  • gonna have to rule with an iron fist man."

  • The takeaway here: If you and your coworker are the best burger flippers in the kitchen,

  • make sure that he or she isn't secretly a war hero or stand-up comedian before Undercover

  • Boss shows up. And if they are, learn some really good jokes.

  • "Flying is simple. I am a flotation device."

  • Companies actually use the lessons they learn

  • Any time a terrible employee is featured on the show, you can count on the boss to talk

  • about creating some new type of training program. Audiences love to watch a branch manager geek

  • out on his staff, but is it just lip service?

  • Some companies have actually taken positive steps to drive change, such as providing a

  • financial incentive for employees to improve. Checkers CEO Rick Silva started giving bonuses

  • directly to employees on the front lines, and not just the branch managers. Dan DiZio,

  • CEO of Philly Pretzel Company, discovered a popular product after uncovering a rogue

  • franchise that was selling an unsanctioned pepperoni pretzel roll. DiZio wasn't pleased

  • with the free-wheeling franchise, but he also took its transgression as a sign he'd lost

  • touch.

  • Not every boss is thrilled

  • Some of the undercover bigwigs found their TV experience to be pretty rough. Steve Joyce,

  • CEO of Choice Hotels International, felt exploited by the show's producers. Joyce told The Wall

  • Street Journal that, "...they look for something personal to torture you with. For me, my mom

  • had died from Parkinson's a few years before. And I hadn't really dealt with it. So every

  • chance they got they brought that up.”

  • Joyce also felt the show made it look like he didn't know what it actually took to do

  • the job, despite the fact that he had worked his way up through the ranks. "They deliberately

  • sabotage you so you don't do well and you look stupid," he said. "They had me cleaning

  • the pool in Orlando in late June at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. It was like 110 degrees."

  • Joyce did say the experience forced him to confront his pent-up emotions regarding his

  • mother's death in a positive way, saying, "My mother made me promise to always have

  • a place for the family to get together for vacations. I bought a beach place two weeks

  • after that show." We're not sure that buying extra houses is a coping mechanism available

  • to everyone, though.

  • There are dozens of international spinoffs

  • Like a lot of American television, Undercover Boss started in the UK. Then it crossed the

  • pond to become a beefed-up version of the concept, which will never die so long as the

  • networks can still extract money from it. This is why CBS, TLC, and Oprah's OWN Network

  • have all carried the U.S. version of the show. Theyve also aired Undercover Boss: Abroad,

  • which features some of the many international versions of the programs.

  • One particularly memorable episode from our usually congenial northern neighbors, featured

  • Canadian CEO Rick Smiciklas breaking character and, well...

  • "No not come on! Employees come first! You are disrespectful to the brand, and you know

  • what, I'm gonna come in and I'm gonna make it right."

  • The Huffington Post asked Smiciklas how producers felt about him blowing the show's cover. "They

  • told me to! I said I can't go in there, I have a crazy temper. I don't need an assault

  • charge."

  • Despite the film crew’s instigation, no assault charges were issued and Smiciklas

  • said his business is doing better than ever thanks to the show.

  • Not the breast intentions

  • The most beloved part of every Undercover Boss episode is the ending. The head honcho

  • reveals his true identity and starts making it rain with cash, vacations, and college

  • tuition payments for deserving employees. It's a tearjerker every time, even if it is

  • a cheap emotional trick.

  • The reward concept seems straightforward, but CEO Doug Guller of Bikinis, a Hooters-style

  • bar and grill, didn’t really get the drift. As a reward, Guller offered one employee

  • uh...

  • "Am I getting a free pair of boobies today?"

  • "Is that what you want?"

  • "Yesss, I want a full C."

  • But only if she stayed with the company for six more months, and was a “rockstar”.

  • He also fired an employee for not wanting to wear a bikini on international TV.

  • Wow. Even for reality TV, that's sleazy with an extra side of sleaze.

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  • you just saw. And leave us a comment to let us know which Undercover Boss moment is your

  • favorite...

If you haven’t seen it, Undercover Boss is a long-running CBS reality show where a

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