Choice Hotel's Undercover Boss Sweats the Hospitality Business

Steve Joyce is by no means a mama's boy, but he couldn't help thinking of his mother when the CEO of Choice Hotels International went undercover. "Mom spent her entire life helping other people, both personally and professionally, and she taught me to do the same" he said. "When I worked with some of our employees, saw what they'd been through and what they were still doing for others, I realized I wasn't living up to the standards my mother set for me."

And so begins the second season of the Emmy-nominated 'Undercover Boss,' The story employees were told this season was that Joyce and another contestant were competing for the same job for a reality TV show. To hide his identity, Joyce shaved the mustache he'd had since he was a teenager, moussed his hair, wore strange clothes selected for him by a dress-down wardrobe specialist, and tried his hand at some of the most grueling tasks in the hotel industry. He admits it wasn't pretty. "I sweat a lot," he confessed.