Millionnaire incognito

Just finished Season 1, and my first impression is that Glenn Stearns is a freaking GENIUS, and a great guy!! He may be the first rich guy that found a way to beautifully bridge the world of the super wealthy with the world of everyday common folk in a really beautiful, relatable, touching and more importantly lasting way. That's very interesting, educational and inspiring to watch. And at the end it just leaves you feeling optimistic for the future.

I don't think I can praise this show enough. It's so good! I'm kinda shocked of how little popularity it has. I only found out about it because Chris D'Elia joked about it on his podcast yesterday. And the premise of the show sounded too interesting to ignore.

The show also uses its own popularity to promote the MacGuffin of the story in a proactive way. Again it's just genius.

I give a standing ovation to everyone involved with the show.

Great job!

If a visible cameraman is following you of course people are going to say yes to most of your requests. He has a phone, a truck, gas and some cash. I'd say he's better off than some people I know who have none of those things. But it's still an interesting idea for a show.

However appealing the notion that the "American Dream" remains strong, particularly to North American audiences, "Undercover Billionaire" feels completely fabricated, unauthentic and seriously flawed on numerous occasions.

Who manages to sleep (and survive?) in a car wearing only the slimmest of winter jackets when the temperature outside is less than 30 degrees F.? Who runs a car engine for hours without running out of fuel?

Glenn rented an apartment and signed 2 leases for restaurant premises. He would have had to provide personal identification in each situation, thus disclosing his name. The same would have applied for using the small development business centre.

Glenn wouldn't have been able to buy a house and get a mortgage using a false identity, which would have been criminal. Obtaining a mortgage without disclosing one's real name is also fraudulent and any mortgage company would have required personal information disclosing who he really is and his net worth. The later would have made obtaining a mortgage very easy, but I'm very dubious about the very short amount of time it took to buy the house considering the legal and mortgage documentation required. Why didn't he carry out a survey that would have identified the mould problem is another question mark for me, especially when he states that he is an experienced property owner.

If the Underdog BBQ business was incorporated, he would have had to disclose his personal information to someone at some point in time, especially if he ended up being an officer of that company.

Glenn is seen signing cheques ... Was that with a fake signature and thus fraudulent?

And, what about the alcohol license for the restaurant. How did this happen so quickly?

One of the members of the Underdog BBQ team tells a colleague of hers that his research skills on the Internet are poor because he wasn't able to find out who Glenn was. Surprise, surprise! It took me 3 minutes to find a lot about Gleen using a few basic search words in Google and 3 different approaches (each excluding "Underdog" and "BBQ", and one excluding "TV show"). Glenn's personal website was very easy to find.

Glenn is clearly very experienced in business, articulated, structured, well-spoken, charismatic and at ease in front of the camera which, combined, are not traits of your average person.

I find it strange that some of the participants where willing to put their livelihoods and jobs on the line for Glenn, without knowing or at least hoping that there was an opportunity lurking in the background.

Finally, being followed by a camera crew and production staff usually gives a hint to people that something is not normal.

In short, despite its feel-good factor and interesting key learning points about starting and running a business, "Undercover Billionaire" feels fake, unrealistic and completely manipulated to prove a point. In that, it's more a dream than the American Dream.

I first heard about this billionaire, when he was worth about $100 million, back in the early 2000s. He was living in Orange County CA, building company. I remember hearing his wife say that on their first date, as he was telling her a story about his past, she all of a sudden knew that he was the man she was going to spend her life with. So happy to see that they have been married for 16-years now. I recall that she was a news reporter working in L.A. To help her deal with the rush hour drive, he hired her a personal driver to make the daily commute.

Now about the show. Not much happens in the first episode with regards to seeing him build a business. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this is not like other business reality shows in that the entire season takes us through this one billionaires journey rather than a new store, new billionaire each week.

Even though he states several times, that he has a cover story about why their are cameras following him around, I have to assume that in reality, some if not most of the people in the town, knew right away that all was not as it was presented to them. Let's face it, when was the last time someone made a reality show about a homeless man trying to find a job and create a life in a small town? That's basically the cover story he and the show are claiming to be selling to the small town community.

I plan to DVR the entire season not just because I am an entrepreneur but also because I happen to like the guy as I had a very good impression, reading about him and seeing a video of him in the early 2000s, seeing his home and his wedding that he had in his Newport Beach backyard.

So far this is an unbelievable process. Flipping $3000 cars for almost $10G, with a car wash. OK, not likely but Could happen, I guess. Obtaining a construction loan on the house with a fake name and background and no income IS NOT going to happen. Unless he had help from the network, at a minimum it's fraud and the show does not explain this impossibility. He wants to flip for $80K. Again, not likely and also how will he get the cash for the profits with fake ID and background. Since this is a lynch pin of the show it's already foolish. Without explaining the mortgage loan, the concept falls apart. Even a no docs mortgage requires a credit score... More Fraud?