With only days left until The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the famous talk show host has revealed why there is a secret tunnel under her stage.
As the final episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show approaches after 19 years, the talk show host has revealed how she’s managed to conquer a lot of celebrity fears.
A tunnel was actually built under the stage for the purpose of enabling producers to jump in and scare off DeGeneres’ big-name guests.
Executive Producer Andy Lasner, in a segment giving a behind-the-scenes look at “Anatomy of Fear,” said celebrity guests have always enjoyed being scared on the show.
“The celebrities got on the phone with our producers and said, ‘Why didn’t Elaine ever try to scare me?'” said Lasner, who has been with the show since it first aired in 2003. “
They are always grateful for that. They always love her. Their favorite video for next time they come is When You Scared Me.
“There was never a bad feeling about this horror.”
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DeGeneres, 64, announced in May last year that it was ending the series following toxic workplace allegations, including sexual misconduct.
An internal Warner Bros investigation after months of negative press led to the firing of top producers Ed Glavin, Kevin Leman and Jonathan Norman in mid-2020.
The final episode has already been filmed and will air on May 26.
Evolution of “Ellen’s Panic”
In the early years, Ellen DeGeneres started bullying Andy Lasner.
Then she moved on to the celebrities, where she would hide in their dressing room bathroom and jump out. It was always captured with hidden cameras and was shown in the show.
One of the most memorable scares was when DeGeneres jumped at a young Taylor Swift on Halloween in 2009, causing the singer to fall to the ground screaming.
It’s just my way of welcoming people and making them feel good,” DeGeneres said in the horror segment on the show last week.
“I don’t want them to think it’s some kind of formal situation. It’s just a comfortable place where you can feel intimidated.”
The team then moved on to scaring celebrities while they were on air, with producers – often in costume – sneaking behind guests during an interview.
The next step was to build a “horror table”.
modern family Actor Eric Stonestreet was his first victim in September 2014.
A producer dressed as a clown jumped off the table between Stonestreet and DeGeneres’ chairs on stage as Stonestreet was mid-sentence.
In a plan to turn things around to be able to intimidate actress Sarah Paulson, the team built a tunnel.
Reflecting on this moment, Executive Producer Cory Balint said, “I had to climb the ladder, through these rocks and dirt, then up the ladder and then up into the box.
“So (she) removed the top of the box to show there was no one in the box and then closed it again.”
A clip of Paulson was included in the clip confirming that she found the show’s fear funny.
“I’m already watching it and I think it’s funny,” she said. “I’m Eileen in the sense that in my younger life, I spent a lot of time scaring people so I understand why she’d do it.”
