'Undercover Boss' Doesn't Cut the Mustard at His Own Company
This humbling moment from Undercover Boss has been making the rounds on social media recently, reminding viewers that all jobs require skill and practice. The scene comes from the Season 3 finale back in 2012, when MasTec CEO Jose Mas went undercover on a crew replacing power lines. He couldn't stay undercover for long, however, as foreman Hugh quickly decided that Mas couldn't safely operate a backhoe.
Mas is the CEO of MasTec, a Florida-based engineering and construction company that builds and maintains infrastructure involved in telecommunication and energy distribution. He had been the CEO for about five years when he went undercover on reality TV, and it looks like it had been a while since he had operated any heavy machinery at that point. The clip circulating right now shows him posing as a new guy on a work crew that is upgrading power lines, and he fails to impress Hugh. After he struggles to drive a ground rod into the dirt by hand, Hugh offers him a chance to drive the backhoe instead.
As you can see in the clip, Hugh has his doubts even before Mas climbs up into the cab. He emphasizes all the safety precautions in place on the job site and reminds Mas to be weary of nearby obstacles. Once the truck is running, Hugh watches closely as Mas struggles to make it work as intended.
"I don't think you're ready for this yet," Hugh says candidly after just a few moments. Mas accepts this assessment awkwardly and climbs out of the cab. Throughout the episode, he faced plenty of other dangers and was clearly surprised by what his workers dealt with on a day-to-day basis.
Mas met with Hugh later in the episode after it had been revealed that he was the CEO in disguise. He praised Hugh's competence with such a wide variety of jobs and thanked him for his years of hard work. Mas offered Hugh and his family a free stay at Mas' vacation home in the Bahamas to thank him for putting up with this social experiment.
After that, Mas gave Hugh a gift of $25,000 to thank him for all the wake-up calls he gave him on the job. The episode had plenty of other twists and turns and at least three other cathartic meetings to close out Mas' conversations. Today, Mas is still the CEO of MasTec and his company has only grown in size and scope in the years since.
Undercover Boss is streaming now on Paramount+. The show appears to be trending right now because it was recently added to Dabl – a streaming platform that can be subscribed to on its own or as an add-on to other services. It's unclear whether another season of the show is coming any time soon.