Ex Ideal World Employee - Ask away! Anything

[TimeForTheTruth]

Ok this is soo cool i have some questions please

1. How do IW feel when some of there big brands jump ship to QVc ( easiyo, lenovo, Prai skincare)
2. Why did simon Illes leave ? ( he seemed really up himself on air is he really like that )
3. Many the beauty expert , why did she leave ? She was really gd on air and has since been seen on QVC
4.What is Howard like off air ? He really puts me off watching tbh
5. Spill the beans on Loen , Denice and andy seems they mayb a bit of a nitmare off air.
6 Ellis what really went on there ?

Thankyou

1: I can only speak from the departments I worked with. I worked as a floor manager, looking after guests/presenters, running the shows, prepping demos and running the studio. This is all the television side of things, and to be honest, it does not affect us at all losing a brand to QVC. We are there as we enjoy tv, not shopping tv rivalry.
2. Simon Iles was a really guy and I am shocked that he comes across that way on TV. He has perfected his art very well and is a very well sought after guest to have with a brand. I assure you that everything you see that he does looks slick, but what goes on out of camera shot is a lot of hard work and most would not be able to cope with.
3. I never met the beauty expert who i presume is Mary.
4. Howard is very much the same as on air, but toned down. He would do anything for anyone and you can actually have a very serious conversation with him. He is very supportive towards people starting out in television and will give anybody a hand to progress their career via his contacts. Believe it or not he is very well connected. Howard takes Ideal World for what it is, fun.
5. Loen and Andy very much keep themselves to themselves in regards to the backstage crew and rely mostly on producers. However Loen likes the support of a floor manager and to know that the floor manager has the show under control.
6. Ellis, as mentioned in a previous post.. Honestly, you now know as much about it as 90% of the whole of the staff at Ideal World.

 

[TimeForTheTruth]

I was watching a show before a week or so before the thread appeared with Loen and Paul and I thought she was quite cutting and rude to him, infact it was abit uncomfortable to watch and had it not been the end of the show I would definately have turned off. I really like Loen but I have found her to be getting out of control lately and acts really stupid like she did the other night when on with Janet. Don't the producer/directors pull them in at times like this and also why does Howard feel the need to flash money around like he's on some market stall.

Firstly, the money thing! Everybody absolutely hates it, and agrees with you that it makes it look like a market stall pitch. Ideal world have "development producers" which come up with things such as demos for products and think of ways to enhance the sale of the product. This idea is a way of "physically showing the saving". It is not something producer/directers or presenters like.
Loen can get carried away and doesn't take somethings at least half as serious as they should be at times and does go too far. Producers can only do so much whilst they are on air. If the presenter is out of control and doesn't listen, that's what happens.

 

[TimeForTheTruth]

Why did you leave Ideal World?

A few simple reasons I am afraid.
More money, a better television job, more chance of progression, better hours etc.

Floor managers work 6:30am-7pm, or 1:30pm-2am.

I loved the job, the people and even started to love the channel, but I was never going to become rich there unfortunately.

 

[scbu]

1: I can only speak from the departments I worked with. I worked as a floor manager, looking after guests/presenters, running the shows, prepping demos and running the studio. This is all the television side of things, and to be honest, it does not affect us at all losing a brand to QVC. We are there as we enjoy tv, not shopping tv rivalry.
2. Simon Iles was a really guy and I am shocked that he comes across that way on TV. He has perfected his art very well and is a very well sought after guest to have with a brand. I assure you that everything you see that he does looks slick, but what goes on out of camera shot is a lot of hard work and most would not be able to cope with.
3. I never met the beauty expert who i presume is Mary.
4. Howard is very much the same as on air, but toned down. He would do anything for anyone and you can actually have a very serious conversation with him. He is very supportive towards people starting out in television and will give anybody a hand to progress their career via his contacts. Believe it or not he is very well connected. Howard takes Ideal World for what it is, fun.
5. Loen and Andy very much keep themselves to themselves in regards to the backstage crew and rely mostly on producers. However Loen likes the support of a floor manager and to know that the floor manager has the show under control.
6. Ellis, as mentioned in a previous post.. Honestly, you now know as much about it as 90% of the whole of the staff at Ideal World.

It was mandy i ment , she was small with brown hair , always wore the white salon outfit

 

[vampyre]

Joanne is very demanding as a presenter in regards to wanting everything perfect, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. There's just a time and a place, and on-air is not that time. I can not comment on producers feelings towards presenters as I have never spoken to them about it. On-air producers are 100% in charge of the show, however much it may seem like they are not. Some of it is play-acting, and when it's not, you can be sure the producers will always have the last word off air. I agree it's unprofessional, and some presenters need to realise the right time to say certain things isn't on air. For example, if a floor manager drops something, a professional will ignore it and seamlessly carry on, but many at ideal world find it highly amusing to say "ooops, our floor manager just dropped a knife! oh sorry, didnt you realise we were doing a live show here?". The behaviour of presenters goes way past producers authority however.

Thank you for the response. Joanne is very, very far from perfect herself in a variety of ways so I do think her exacting standards are a bit high handed.
I don't like people being criticised when they can't answer back on air.
I'm sure she's very popular up there but I don't know how producers, floor managers etc., cope with Leonie :grin:

 

[scbu]

Thanks for answering me i have a few more hope u dont mine lol

1. Are the presenters and staff aware how bad there customers find the call centre , Half the time they barely speak english and i no this puts a lot of people off ordering from IW.
2. The new presenter Jackie is not coming across very well at all and i wonder how long she will last there and any thoughts on her?
3. Which presenters dont like working on craft?
4. Which presenters get on well and socialise off screen with each other ? if any
5.rate the presenters in ordering starting with the best in ur opinion to the worst ?

So glad debbie is nice off screen she is one of the best presenters they have

Many thanks

 

[TimeForTheTruth]

Thank you for the response. Joanne is very, very far from perfect herself in a variety of ways so I do think her exacting standards are a bit high handed.
I don't like people being criticised when they can't answer back on air.
I'm sure she's very popular up there but I don't know how producers, floor managers etc., cope with Leonie :grin:

Haha, you'd be surprised. Leonie is a very controlled "loose cannon". Bringing things back to professional television ettiquette... A producer rules the show, the format, presenter, the gallery etc. The floor manager rules health and safety and anything on the studio floor. Floor managers also have the capability to talk into the presenters ear piece. Leonie looks like a "free for all loose cannon" but I assure you she isn't. If i wasn't happy with something I just said "no leonie, stop", and she would. For those of you that don't understand the workings of television, that kind of "command" isn't deemed as being rude. Sentences are given without any reason and are kept short so that everyone can clearly be understood. If it is said over "talkback" (the communication system whilst on air), then it is taken that it needs to happen, nobody questions it (in the perfect situation with professional teams).

Leonie actually takes her job off-air very seriously. She goes through the craft counters of products before the show and gets to know as much as possible and spends time learning about the guests and the company. How she appears on air is there to make the whole show seem improvised and fun. Remember, everyone likes watching out takes, and they seem even funnier when they are live..

 

[TimeForTheTruth]

Thanks for answering me i have a few more hope u dont mine lol

1. Are the presenters and staff aware how bad there customers find the call centre , Half the time they barely speak english and i no this puts a lot of people off ordering from IW.
2. The new presenter Jackie is not coming across very well at all and i wonder how long she will last there and any thoughts on her?
3. Which presenters dont like working on craft?
4. Which presenters get on well and socialise off screen with each other ? if any
5.rate the presenters in ordering starting with the best in ur opinion to the worst ?

So glad debbie is nice off screen she is one of the best presenters they have

Many thanks

1. Of course presenters and staff are aware. We are humans afterall. But phone calling is not where things are going. The web is free and easy and queueless.
2. Jaquie came from a very different background, interviewing A-List celebrities and working on ITV, she has amazing credentials. I didn't work with her long enough to comment.
3. I will not comment on specifics
4. I have no idea
5. I wont be doing this.

 

[scbu]

Sorry is this comes across rude coz i dont mean it to but why are u on here then ? you started this thread by listing questions we can ask yet when we ask then u dont give any specific information or say ur no commenting on it ? So far everything uve said could have been sourced online or made up?

 

[TimeForTheTruth]

Sorry is this comes across rude coz i dont mean it to but why are u on here then ? you started this thread by listing questions we can ask yet when we ask then u dont give any specific information or say ur no commenting on it ? So far everything uve said could have been sourced online or made up?

I said in many posts I have come on here not to slate or defend Ideal world but to put certain facts straight.
I have seen so many things on here stating things that arent true.

The type of things are,

derek belcher uses a different engine to the models you are sold on handy products,
bissel demos are faked
presenters choosing to pressure sell to you.
Presenters being instructed to lose weight by management
Lies about stock levels and business of a call centre
the secrets behind how demos are made or ideal world is produced.


Unfortunately I am not going to come on here and say "Loen Love is a useless presenter and I find her awful as a person and she is rude to everyone". Even if it was true, that's not why I am on here.

 

[scbu]

No u came on here listing questions for example why have presnters left and why are some not on craft much , yet u cant give any specific information . Elliss was on IW from the begining yet she suddenly decided to leave with out so much as a gdbye to the views that had surported her over the many years , either Elliss really didnt care about views or she was forced out. Saying she mutually left sounds like the offcial line rather than the truth , yes u may not no the exact reason but course people are gonna ask why she left. I like loen as a presenter , but if she was an awful person and rude to everyone then id expect u to say as ur name is Time for the Truth so ur contridiciting urself. Anyway thankyou for answering wot i asked

 

[vampyre]

Haha, you'd be surprised. Leonie is a very controlled "loose cannon". Bringing things back to professional television ettiquette... A producer rules the show, the format, presenter, the gallery etc. The floor manager rules health and safety and anything on the studio floor. Floor managers also have the capability to talk into the presenters ear piece. Leonie looks like a "free for all loose cannon" but I assure you she isn't. If i wasn't happy with something I just said "no leonie, stop", and she would. For those of you that don't understand the workings of television, that kind of "command" isn't deemed as being rude. Sentences are given without any reason and are kept short so that everyone can clearly be understood. If it is said over "talkback" (the communication system whilst on air), then it is taken that it needs to happen, nobody questions it (in the perfect situation with professional teams).

Leonie actually takes her job off-air very seriously. She goes through the craft counters of products before the show and gets to know as much as possible and spends time learning about the guests and the company. How she appears on air is there to make the whole show seem improvised and fun. Remember, everyone likes watching out takes, and they seem even funnier when they are live..

I didn't know that I'm utterly irritated by most things going wrong except the few real spectaculars of Jill Franks on QVC (tipping up a dish just out of the oven with her bare hands, spitting food out on air etc.).

Thanks for the insight, makes JVM sound even worse though.

 

[TimeForTheTruth]

No u came on here listing questions for example why have presnters left and why are some not on craft much , yet u cant give any specific information . Elliss was on IW from the begining yet she suddenly decided to leave with out so much as a gdbye to the views that had surported her over the many years , either Elliss really didnt care about views or she was forced out. Saying she mutually left sounds like the offcial line rather than the truth , yes u may not no the exact reason but course people are gonna ask why she left. I like loen as a presenter , but if she was an awful person and rude to everyone then id expect u to say as ur name is Time for the Truth so ur contridiciting urself. Anyway thankyou for answering wot i asked

I answered in a previous post why some presenters arent on craft as much.
You can come to your own conclusions as to why Ellis didn't have a goodbye. Nobody at IW knows, but its safe to assume it wasn't on good terms, however mutual it was.
I clearly stated that I am not here to slate IW or its staff, and I will not do it. I want to give the truth on things people speculated about, such as the demos and how real they are, and the reason behind annoyances such as constant stock updates and pressure sales, and why the POTD seems to always be the same every week or so. I did not sign up here to enter into malicious or negative press of the presenters.

 

[Autumn]

I answered in a previous post why some presenters arent on craft as much.
You can come to your own conclusions as to why Ellis didn't have a goodbye. Nobody at IW knows, but its safe to assume it wasn't on good terms, however mutual it was.
I clearly stated that I am not here to slate IW or its staff, and I will not do it. I want to give the truth on things people speculated about, such as the demos and how real they are, and the reason behind annoyances such as constant stock updates and pressure sales, and why the POTD seems to always be the same every week or so. I did not sign up here to enter into malicious or negative press of the presenters.

So Ellis was only back for around 10days which means she didnt even work out her notice seems like IW had already decided she was getting the boot then

 

[RonnieG]

Are the presenters paid by the number of times they say "literally", "I love the fact that" or "all the double yous"?

 

[Jazzydrury]

On ideal world earlier, they had a Tablet Computer Show, howard said the management and crew, at top of hour thought there would be enough stock for the whole hour, but by 5 past the hour they had gone to 90% stock sold out, by 17 minutes past the hour, it had sold out, then they bought out a While Stock Lasts, which they assumed they would have stock for weeks and 40% had gone by end of hour

 

[TimeForTheTruth]

On ideal world earlier, they had a Tablet Computer Show, howard said the management and crew, at top of hour thought there would be enough stock for the whole hour, but by 5 past the hour they had gone to 90% stock sold out, by 17 minutes past the hour, it had sold out, then they bought out a While Stock Lasts, which they assumed they would have stock for weeks and 40% had gone by end of hour

Contrary to many people's cynical thoughts and rightly so, ideal world can't and don't lie about stock updates. But sales are driven by these stock updates. Just think though, you're given a percentage, never an amount of units... They may well have 10 units, sell 9. Then "wow!! 90% of the stock has gone!". Trick of the trade
This isn't always the case but its one technique used. They aren't lying. Ideal world are very closely monitored by ASA and can't lie about stock updates.
Hope this helps.

 

[TimeForTheTruth]

Are the presenters paid by the number of times they say "literally", "I love the fact that" or "all the double yous"?

In reply to this. Try describing a product for a minute, using different words. Then try doing that 60 times, and still never repeating a word. Then have 20 shows with 20 products a week, and think of a different set of words for each product and version if that show. It's impossible.

 

[OscarFelixJake]

Thanks for coming on here and answering questions TimeForTheTruth, I think you have acted professionally and displayed a significant amount of personal integrity by not denigrating Ideal World's staff and presenters. I have found all the background info very interesting.

Cheers

 

[sheepdog]

I agree, enjoyed this thread. Though I must say, whatever happens between the presenters and management is purely their business and contractual obligations means they don't have to give reasons to the public. Remember the television world is a rather small and crowded place and they have to fight for their jobs and reputations a lot more than the general public have to.