MERIDIAN, Miss— CBS’s hit show Undercover Boss featured Peavey Electronics, and the outcome wasn’t pretty.
Undercover Boss sends company presidents, owners, and other administrators down to the front lines of the operation to see how the processes work and what the employees think about the company. Those employees believe another reality show is being taped, so they are unaware of the actual situation. At the end of the show, usually, those employees are rewarded or assisted with money, scholarships, vacations, etc.
“Unfortunately there were some untruths,” says Peavey Electronics COO Courtland Gray, “and some things got to social media that were just not the case.”
Not only did the show uncover some communication issues within the company, the four month check up portion of the show caught Peavey in the middle of laying off 82 employees and cutting some product.
Some of the social media speculation was that the employees featured on the show did not receive any of the promised rewards.
“Everyone got their rewards,” says Gray. In a response letter to the show on the Peavey website, Gray says one of the employees, Ajay, is still working with Immigration to get everything taken care of with his VISA so he can remain in the states. Ajay was on a VISA to the United States during taping of the show. His reward was that Gray would help cover the costs of extending his stay in America.
The employees were interviewed again after the plant announced layoffs. Theresa, one of the employees, told the CBS crew that she was told they were shutting the doors to the plant.
“We are still manufacturing out of that plant,” says Gray, “and Theresa’s husband still works with us.”
Here’s the full interview with Courtland Gray, including not just bits from the show, but personal life backlash as well:
You can read the Peavey rebuttal letter on their website here.
