Photo by Monty Brinton/CBS, courtesy of Build-A-Bear Workshop
Sharon Price John, donning a wig, works a stuffing machine on "Undercover Boss."
Sharon Price John, president and chief executive officer of Build-A-Bear Workshop, will appear on an upcoming episode of CBS' hit reality show Undercover Boss.
The show follows high-level, corporate executives who are anonymously thrown into the lowest-level jobs within their companies. The December 21 episode—the premiere of the eighth season—will follow John as she works undercover in various Build-A-Bear stores around the country.
Undercover Boss reached out to Build-A-Bear (founded in St. Louis in 1997) earlier this year. John tells SLM she was initially hesitant about appearing on the show.
"I was just apprehensive about being that person," she says. "I always go in the stores. It wasn't anything about participating in different jobs at Build-A-Bear. I was looking forward to that, because I do that anyway. Once we started to talk about it more... we believed I might have some 'a-ha' moments or insights that ultimately could help us evolve the business and the brand."
Photo by Monty Brinton/CBS, courtesy of Build-A-Bear Workshop
"So I put on a wig," she says with a laugh.
Filming took place in October. John filmed for about a week (she wasn't allowed to disclose filming locations just yet) and visited multiple stores in a short amount of time. She would work a full day being someone else and continue her CEO duties at night.
"There's an intensity to it," John says of the experience. "But I think that's a part of what allows it to be as special as it is. You get in the zone, and you do get removed from the everyday. It's that multiple-day process that I think allows you to ultimately get to the insights that some of these CEO's—and I too—get to."
In one of John's scenes, as revealed in the episode's preview, she works a birthday party. John says she was amazed at the other employees' ability to simultaneously build bears efficiently and entertain the children with jokes and questions.
When it came time for John to operate a stuffing machine of her own, it wasn't so simple.
"It's hard to do," she says with a laugh. "That fluff is coming out at top speed."
Sharon Price John's episode of Undercover Boss will air December 21 at 7 p.m. on CBS.
