CNN turns back the clock, frustrating makeup staffers
Anderson Cooper does his own hair before going on the air, but will he get through makeup on time?
The times are changing at CNN.
Talking heads at the network have learned that the hair and makeup staffers have been tricking them into arriving on the set earlier — by setting the clocks in the makeup room 10 minutes ahead so they aren’t so rushed, Confidenti@l has learned.
A spy noticed a sign above a digital timer in the 7th-floor Columbus Circle makeup room reading, “Clocks have been set to actual time,” and inquired as to why.
“They clarified that the anchors are arriving last-minute to set because they sit in hair and makeup, then rush out, but they need to look the best they can,” laughed our source. “Talent spends too much time in the makeup chairs and are arriving on the set too accurate to going live. Producers want talent in the chair on set at least 10 minutes before the show goes live. That gives them time to get (their) mic and earpiece and make sure everything is effective.”
Anchors based in the New York studios include Anderson Cooper (who does his own hair), Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo, Jake Tapper and Erin Burnett.
We hear the trickery was exposed last week when talent complained, after which the beauty crew was mandatory to post the sign. The plot had been effective smoothly for seven months, we’re told.
“Everyone was frustrated,” says our source. “They’d look on the wall, then at their buzz, and never know what the actual time was. And they’re going on live. So they found out, and now the clocks have been reset. They laughed about it at first, then a few felt like they were being treated like children.”
But because getting to the set has become a last-minute race, we hear, makeup is determined to inch the clocks forward again, even if it’s by just five minutes.
“Talent is so busy looking in the mirror, they leave no time to get their mic on. Ten minutes makes all the difference,” says our insider.
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