The Newcastle-based CEO of well known car company Bristol Street Motors got disguised to fool his workforce on Undercover Big Boss.
Having been a huge hit over in America, the format has now been picked up for the UK by ITV and follows a group of chief execs and company bosses as they swap their power suits for overalls and go in disguise to work on their very own shop floors, to see what really goes on behind closed doors.
With 149 dealerships across the UK and over 6,000 employees, Bristol Street Motors sell one car to Brits every four minutes.
READ MORE: Ruth Langsford forced to 'hide in room' as protestors storm studio
When the pandemic hit, CEO Robert Forrester was forced to close his dealerships and furlough the workforce.
However, he also decided to take a massive gamble, whilst other businesses were downsizing, he saw an opportunity to become the biggest and best automotive dealer in the UK and purchased 30 new dealerships.
To find out exactly what goes on behind the scenes in his company, Robert had a radical image overhaul to pose as history lecturer Tom Gough, who is looking for a career change, post pandemic.
Emotions run high as he speaks to one employee who was left humiliated by a colleague on the shop floor, leading to Robert wanting to actual reveal his true identity.
On the eve of Undercover Big Boss going out on ITV, Robert appeared on This Morning, live from Newcastle, to talk to hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford about his appearance on the programme, which will also feature head honchos from the likes of Pickfords and the Euro Foods Group.
And, looking dramatically different to his invented alias, Robert admitted that the moment he saw one of his staff reduced to tears was "the trickiest moment," to film.
The suited and booted CEO added: "He was clearly quite emotional. He was actually a really talented sales guy and we had to think quite quick how we were going to handle that."
When asked by Eamonn if he took "much persuading," to be on Undercover Big Boss, Robert, who grew a real beard for the role, hastily replied: "Not really. I'm used to travelling to dealerships all the time, but with lockdown I hadn't been in dealerships as much.
"I really wanted to get in, meet the people and even better undercover so you can really see what's going on.
"I jumped at the chance I thought it was a fantastic opportunity."
Robert, who was forced to confess that he didn't manage to sell a car as Tom, also revealed that his appearance on Undercover Big Boss led to a two hour board meeting, where he went through his findings from each day.
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