How do you hide a 6-foot-6 man in plain sight?

Chuck Hodes/CBS | courtesy photo Churchill Downs COO Bill Carstanjen donned work clothes for an episode of “Undercover Boss” filmed at Calder Race Course and Arlington Park.		Chuck Hodes/CBS | courtesy photo Churchill Downs COO Bill Carstanjen attempted playing the bugle “Call to the Post.”

“I can tend to stand out in a crowd,” said Bill Carstanjen, Churchill Downs Inc. Chief Operating Officer, who went incognito last fall to film an episode of the CBS hit reality show “Undercover Boss” and worked – unrecognized – alongside his employees.

“I wore contacts and I didn’t shave for a couple weeks, and as it so happens, I had a really short haircut coming out of the summer, so I looked a little bit different than the last time any of the team members had seen me.”

The slight changes in appearance helped Carstanjen blend in, as viewers will discover when they tune in to watch the episode at 9 p.m. Sunday.

“What I found to be really, really interesting is that when you meet somebody out of the context under which you’re used to seeing them, you often don’t recognize them,” he said. “I had the experience over and over again where I walked right by team members that I’ve been in meetings with, that I actually knew pretty well, but because I was wearing casual clothes or work clothes and because I looked different … they never really gave me a second look.” 

Carstanjen, on the other hand, gave his company a complete inspection while undercover at the corporation’s Calder Casino & Race Course near Miami and Arlington Park near Chicago. For 10 days, Carstanjen performed in a variety of roles, from writing press releases and mucking stalls to attempting the bugle call, a task which he said was his least successful. Additional footage, in which he was undisguised, was also filmed at Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville.

“Going into the show, I certainly had a bit of the fear of the unknown. But truthfully, I wasn’t very apprehensive about it because I’m really proud of the company. And I’m really proud of our employees. So I felt a real sense of confidence that there’d be a lot to take pride in,” Carstanjen said.
 

The experience was emotional, he admitted, particularly because of the personal, economic, family and health challenges some of the employees faced.

“These are folks that, to the very last person, have a huge amount of passion and a huge pride in their jobs and working at Churchill Downs, but their lives are a lot more complicated than that,” he said. “I’m really proud to be a part of the company, but I was really proud to work with these folks and get the chance to know them and hear their stories and hear their experiences unfiltered by them having to be concerned about the fact that I sit in a corner office somewhere.”

Carstanjen said he learned that “there are plenty of things to improve on. There are plenty of things that we’ll work hard to address.” In fact, Churchill will introduce a “walk a mile in their shoes” type of program so that managers can experience what their employees do, minus the undercover aspect he endured.

On Sunday, Carstanjen will gather at Churchill Downs with family, friends and employees to view the episode.

“We’ll watch it together and have some fun at my expense,” he cracked, before getting serious. “This show really isn’t about me, and I wouldn’t have participated in it if it had been. I’m there to piece together the story of Churchill Downs, and I’m proud of that story.”
Overall, the journey was “fantastic,” he added.

“It was definitely tiring and challenging … but when it’s done, you look back and say, boy oh boy, that was a life-changing, tremendous experience.”

Contact writer Angie Fenton at ­TheDish@voice-tribune.com or 551-2698.

“Undercover Boss”

Airs: 9 p.m. Sunday on CBS.

Lowdown: The hit CBS reality series follows high-level executives as they slip anonymously into the rank and file of their companies and examine the inner workings of their companies. Previous episodes have featured Waste Management President and COO Larry O’Donnell, 7-Eleven President and CEO Joseph M. DePinto, Hooters President and CEO Coby G. Brooks and White Castle Owner/Executive Board Member Dave Rife.