Tonight on CBS their Emmy award winning reality show, Undercover Boss continues for an all new Sunday February 15, season 6 episode 12 called “Peavey Electronics,” and we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode, Courtland Gray, COO of Peavey Electronics, works undercover at his audio company.
On the last episode, Gigi Butler, Founder and CEO of Gigi’s Cupcakes, America’s largest cupcake franchise, hoped to discover that her company had the proper ingredients to keep rising to the top. While undercover, the Cupcake Queen crumbled under the pressure of decorating a cake and spiraled out of control when an employee failed to top cupcakes with Gigi’s signature swirl. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the CBS synopsis, “Courtland Gray, COO of Peavey Electronics, goes undercover to see what keeps his audio empire rocking, on UNDERCOVER BOSS, Sunday, Feb. 15 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Also, the company makes a shocking announcement after filming the episode that changes two employees’ lives.”
The show airs tonight at 8pm on CBS and we will be live blogging all the details. So don’t forget to come back and refresh your screen often for live updates.
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
On #UndercoverBoss, we’re with Courtland Gray of Peavey Electronics, a large audio equipment manufacturer. It was founded in 1965 by Hartley Peavey. All the top bands of the 60s through the 90s have used their gear. Courtland is the CEO of the company and has been with the company since 2001. The founder is his step-father and he says working with your parents can be challenging. His mom is the VP of the company.
Court says working with Hartley is great but sometimes they butt heads. Hartley tells him to go do it but to not spend much money. Hartley says his dad owned a music shop and he started out by building his own guitar. From there, he started building gear but says he got kicked out of the band after he made it all. From there, he just focused on building music equipment. Over the last decade, they’ve had to close some factories and move them overseas.
They are down to one major manufacturing facility and Court says Americans no longer seem to care if they buy a product that’s made in America. He lives in a little house that’s in the middle of an industrial property. He has cats, horses and even beehives. He enjoys beekeeping as a hobby and says it’s inspirational. He says if the company operated like a beehive, they’d be much more successful. He tells his parents he wants to find out what’s going on in their factory and locations.
Hartley says everyone would know who he is and Court says he’s going in as a washed up 80s rock star and his step-dad says that’s not a disguise. Hartley says it seems far out. Court wants him to go along. Hartley wants Court to take over the reins of the company soon so he can go work on his bucket list. They put a long dark wig on Court and then trim it up. He has a beard growing that he usually doesn’t have to help pull off the disguise. They also go with dark contacts.
He looks enough different to likely get away with it. He heads to their Hollywood showroom to work with sales and tech support. He heads in and asks for Ajay. The showroom has a stage so bands can try the gear. Ajay thinks Kyle looks just like him. He says they’re having a show later and needs to set up the guitars and amps. Ajay gets him started and then tells him how the company got started in Hartley’s garage.
Ajay is nervous that he’ll scratch some guitars then tells him to clean off all the fingerprints he left on the display. Court says he has a band and used to play. Ajay says he composes guitar numbers but says in India, people think you can’t earn a living with music. Ajay plays him a song he composed for Mother’s Day and says the proceeds are going to a bunch of international charities. Court says it’s a great song. He was surprised to see such a talent working in the store.
Court thinks it’s a great project. He asks Ajay what he would do if he went back to India. Ajay says he came for college but his Visa ends in November and he doesn’t want to get shipped back to India. They get everything set up and Court says the concerts are important to expose the bands to their gear. The band shows up and starts warming up. Court hears a buzz and they try to correct it. The band is annoyed that the sound is off and says they trusted the Peavey equipment.
Court says this is embarrassing and wonders why his guys can’t get the sound right. He asks why he can’t hear the singer and one of the guy says that’s just a Peavey mic. Court says word will get out that Peavey isn’t a good band. He’s so frustrated that he walks out and says he wants to go home and have a drink. Next he goes to Meridian, Mississippi at their main manufacturing facility. He’s asked Hartley to be a part of this stage of Undercover Boss.
Hartley waits outside in an RV and they set it up so Hartley can watch on a camera and he can talk to Court using an earpiece. Hartley says it’s all going to be – woe is me from the employees. Court goes in to work at the circuit board facility. He asks for Teresa. She says she’s worked there for 24 years and tests and repairs boards. Hartley tells him to scratch his nose if he can hear him. He does. Teresa says they have just 73 seconds to test each board.
Court asks if that’s enough time and she says it’s really not. She pops the boards in and shows him how to attached the cables. Teresa tells him to try it and he chooses a board. He tries to plug it in but is struggling and says he feels like Mr Magoo. Hartley talks in his ear and says he’ll offer him just $4.25 an hour for his work. He gets a spark and makes it smoke when he doesn’t attach it right and she says he fried it. Teresa says he would not be her first choice for a hire.
It took him 12 minutes to do what she did in 73 seconds. Hartley says to ask how long it usually take her. She says it usually takes her longer than her 73 seconds but can do it in one to two minutes. Court says the amount of time isn’t attainable and the manual process is really inefficient. She says she started on the assembly line then got her Associates in electronics. Court asks what’s next. She says she wants to go back to school to be a manufacturing engineer.
She next takes him to a soldering station and shows him how to solder on a board. Court asks about the company and she says she came to Peavey after she turned 18. He asks if she’s met Hartley and she says he talks to some of the supervisor and wishes there was better communication between management and employees. She talks about them cutting back hours longer than they promised. She says after you’re there 20 years you did get an extra week vacation then cut that out and also cut out company barbecues and education assistance.
She says health insurance goes up every year and says she hasn’t had a raise in eight years. She says everything is headed to China. Court sees the lack of communication is an issue. She says she could come in tomorrow and the doors could be shut.
Hartley says this is what he needs to hear. Teresa introduces her husband who also does the same job. Another employee talks about the downsizing. Teresa says she just wishes they would fill them in on what’s happening. She says she is grateful that Hartley has kept the place open and says she wants to get a motor home and travel. Court sits down with Hartley and says Teresa had a lot of issues. They agree they need to improve communications.
They discuss that the managers aren’t keeping employees in the loop and they may not be keeping the managers in the loop enough. He goes back to work with the cabinet assembly workers at the plant the next day. Court is concerned with morale. He goes to work with Michael, the lead assembler. Hartley tells him to ask some questions about the job. Michael says he makes 13 cabinets and hour and has been there six years. He says he likes working there and was homeless when he started there.
Court starts trying to assemble one and Hartley says he’s not using enough glue. His step dad laughs and says Michael isn’t impressed with him. He put it together upside down and Hartley just cackles in his ear. Court says we need a bigger hammer and Michael remembers Court said something like that to him when he was in the factory. He gets suspicious that it may be Court. He excuses himself and goes to the bathroom. Then he goes and tells another guy that he thinks it’s Courtland.
Hartley overhears and tells Court that Michael has made him. He tells him to try and get it under control. Michael comes back and criticizes his work. Hartley tells him to just tell him. Court says he knows he’s on to him and says they’re shooting Undercover Boos. Court is #Busted. Michael tells him how he figured it out and asks him to keep the secret for him. He tells Michael he did a great job and wishes he had an army of him.
Michael says he hopes he’s not just saying that because he busted him. They head outside to chat and Michael says he put his heart and soul into his job and says he even met his wife at Peavey. Michael says everyone is talking about how the plant will be shut down in a year. Michael says they lost 30% of their income because of cutbacks. Michael says he’s not paying on his student loans and his mom lives with them and has dementia.
Michael says he knows they had to do what they had to do and says he put his two weeks notice in today because he got an offer for a better job and has to think about his family. Michael says he’s glad they got to talk and shakes his hand. Court checks into his hotel and pulls off his disguise. He says this has been a bigger challenge than he thought it would be and says there is a lot of misinformation out there and there’s a lot they need to worry about.
He drinks a beer and broods. It’s time for the #BossReveal. He shaves and puts on a nice jacket to meet with his employees and asks how “Kyle” his alter ego did. Then he tells them he was Kyle and they’re on Undercover Boss. Ajay asks to see some ID. He asks Ajay about the failed live show. Court says he’s sending AJ to a Joe Satriani camp and also says he’s going to get Ajay his green card and will cover the legal costs. He says he’s a talent and a good employees.
He also offers to give him $20k of studio equipment. Ajay says he has no word for what he’s offering. He says he doesn’t even know how to react and thanks him. Ajay says he never thought someone else would believe in him so much. Teresa is next and Court says she did a great job. He tells her they need to improve on the process and she says she’s just glad he’s not going to fire him. She says the last couple of months there have been the worst in her 24 years there.
Court says they had a program where they were paying for continuing education and when they pulled it, she had to drop out. He says he’s going to pay for her to pay off her old schooling and give her $10k to work on her advanced degree. He says the vacation cutback was something they had to do and says he’s going to give she and her husband that third week off and gives them $10k to take an RV vacation like she wants. She’s happy and teary.
Court says he can pay $10k toward her son’s tuition and she says she feels like she’s dreaming. She says she feels much more appreciated now. Next is Michael who says he didn’t mean to bust him. He asks if he can make a counter-offer to keep Michael at the company. He offers him $10k toward his student loans then $5k to start a college fund for his kids. He then gives him $15k to help take care of his mom and Michael is floored. The poor guy starts crying and says it’s life changing.
Four months later, Peavey lays off more employees. They decided they can’t keep on with the majority of their US-made projects. They relocated people and gave them as much notice as possible. Teresa says they got a 60 day notice that the doors would close and that Court and Hartley neither one showed up and she feels like they were done wrong. Michael is frustrated that he missed out the job he had lined up. He says they offered him a skeleton crew job and says they ruined his shot.
Teresa says her husband still has a job but she doesn’t and says she feels like she deserves better. Court says they had to do it for the greater good of the business. We see a note that the company is still trying to make good on the promises they made to Ajay, Michael and Teresa. Wow – the company owners came out looking like jerks. It seems like they had to know they were going to shut down that plant and to talk Michael out of taking a job to support his family to stay while they shut down is crappy. #WorstBossEver
THE END!
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