Image Credit: CBSCBS today announced the next four company chiefs who have signed up to participate in this season’s Undercover Boss, which will bow Sept. 26 before moving to its regular time period on Oct. 3. They are NASCAR’s Senior VP Steve Phelps; DirecTV Chairman Mike White; Chiquita Brands Chairman Fernando Aguirre, and Great Wolf Resorts Chairman Kimberly K. Schaefer.
Air dates will be announced later. “We’re thrilled with this season’s new batch of bosses,” said Stephen Lambert, creator/executive producer of Undercover Boss in a statement. “The companies are some of the best known brands in corporate America, and clearly — with the likes of NASCAR, Chiquita, DirecTV and Great Wolf Resorts — we’ve got an interesting blend of industries.”
After its first season on CBS, Undercover Boss was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program.
Idea. I see that you have NASCAR scheduled for one of your shows, so I thought it might be a good idea to ask Robert Niblock (with his 11 million plus income) to do a segment.
Give him a chance to redeem himself.
@EW – stop using the word “bow”, viewers aren’t friggen gods ok? Try a more relevant word such as “premiere”…
Totally agree. Very strange choice of words.
DirecTV, I’d like to talk to that guy. DirecTV has the worst customer service I ever encountered. Took me 4 months and 7 long phone calls to get a simple issue resolved. They started charging me for “Free 3 month” Stars and Showtime in the 2nd month. They also didn’t put my discounts through for the 1st month. DirecTV is EVIL. Never again!!!
Oh totally agree JJ! I have hung up on DirecTV more times than I can count, they are complete idiots. I’ve had something wrong with my receiver for months and I simply haven’t called about it because I don’t want to deal with DirecTVs CS!
I have to respectfully DISAGREE. I love, Love, LOVE DirecTV!! I’ve had nothing but fantastic service from them and I’m very much looking forward to seeing that episode.
The show seems very one-note and superficial and veers dangerously close to being an hour-long commercial for the companies involved. It would be better if the bosses spent days with their lackeys instead of hours. The fact that the employees are being recorded has to bias their behavior. Give them a few days to ‘forget’ about the cameras and the truth will come out. The show is not believable in its current format.
Agreed. I dislike this show much the same way I dislike Extreme Home Makeover. It seems so contrived and fake and the producers are trying so hard to make this show “pull on the heartstrings” that is comes off as, like you said, superficial.
After reading this artical, I had a good laugh. From my point of view, Ethics means nothing to Mr. Robert Nibkock.
I e-mailed him because, at the store that I was working at, I had a Return to Manufacturer verbally attack me and threaten me with harssment charges. I was afraid of a physical confrontation and reported my concern to the AlertLIne, as directed in my Employee manual.I had to explain why I was in fear of my safety and certain facts were revealed: The Return to Manufacturer was daing a vendor and the HR Manager’s father works at Home Depot. Ethical?
After an investigation through EthicsPoint, I was told that my concerns were unfounded. Sad, I thought Loss Prevention was part of my job and I was guarteed a safe place to work. Lowes’ does state a zero tolerance for harassment.
I will let you decide for yourself wheater or not Robert Niblock cares about Ethics.
Um… Did I miss the part of this post that had anything to do with Ethics or Robert Nibkock?
With the success of the first season, how were they able to “dupe” the “regular employees” that they weren’t on “Undercover Boss?”
They aren’t exactly the best and the brightest of the bunch. A beard and glasses is enough to fool most of these people.
“These people”? racist.
Racist? Really, if I recall there were more white people being hoodwinked than anything else.
I only saw the premiere last year, but I have heard so many good things about the show that I am really looking forward to the new season. The Direct TV guy should be real interesting.
Lowe’s is a sponsor of the NASCAR #48 car and Robert Niblock has been accussed of caring more about NASCAR than he is with Lowe’s Home Center’s.
If he spent as much time in one of the stores as he did with people in NASCAR, maybe he would get a better understanding of the problems that face the future of Lowe’s.
I accidentally found this show while googling my home town…I watched the 7-11 episode, as it featured both towns I grew up in. Very smart idea for a reality show!
My experience with Directv is that it has the worst customer service than any company Ive ever dealt with. Ive had nightmare after nightmare dealing with their staff – all of whom lie repeatedly. Their customer service and tech support pple either lie or are grossly misinformed. Their sales reps lie lie lie to get you to sign up. Its been horrendous. Id like to invite Mike White to my house to see the nightmares Ive had with Directv since Ive tried emailing him several times without any responses. Come see how the technicians tell you not to report them for being late cuz theyll get penalized yet they have 5 hour installation jobs and are booked for 2-3 jobs within a 4 hour window. I HATE DIRECTV…Mike White, call me and I’ll show you whats really going on in your company- how your employees have repeatedly lied to me and show you first hand the damage theyve done to my house. Of course the show will be a puff promotional piece produced to make Directv look great – like an informercial!
I am a directv tech and trust me you dont know the half of it. Its not Directv it is the fact the use HSPs, contracting companies that get paid by the job. So the hsp will take the route that directv sends them and add 3 jobs to it. Again the things you call lies are a total lack of comunication between Directv and Hsp. If you tell Customer service rep you need a certain thing done during install they have no idea if the HSP will charge for you for it the hsp is not allowed to charge for some things that does not stop thems so some do some dont. There are some lucky people that live in certain areas that do not have a contracting company do all service.That would be the poster that had a great experiance. I could go on for hours about the problem but I can tell you honstly its not Directv its the HSP
Any chance they could get BP?
As an employee at a Great Wolf Lodge, I am looking forward to seeing that one even though I never watch this show. I hope they make the big boss do a variety of the jobs there – especially in housekeeping (my area). As a college student, I’ve worked a lot of menial minimum wage jobs, and one of my biggest complaints is how disconnected the management seems from the everyday goings on of the workers. I hope this show can do at least something to help bridge a little of that gap.
directv controls the hsp’s so they are directly involved in what the hsp does. but i can tell u this show will not tell the truth.