Victoria Principal and the Tradition of the Surprise Infomercial Pop-In

In the current infomercial for her Reclaim skin care products, Victoria Principal wheels a cheesy RV around the country, which is dubbed the “Reclaim Mobile Salon.” Principal then uses this behemoth to surprise women with makeovers using her Reclaim products. (By the way, one of the products in the Reclaim line is called the “EyeMazing® Eye Serum”—which has to be one of the most absurd names ever given to an infomercial product.)

As one unsuspecting woman is filming her testimonial for the infomercial, Victoria Principal and host Jules Asner sneak up on the lady, who nearly suffers a stroke when she realizes that the person looming silently behind her is indeed the one-time star of Dallas and the creator of the Principal Secrets skin care line.

This is not the first time that the surprise pop-in has been used on an infomercial.

The infomercials for Tony Horton’s Power 90 and Michael Thurmond’s 6 Week Body Makeover both feature scenes in which a group of users are gathered together in a room, each giving their testimonial about how wonderful the products are, when suddenly and unexpectedly the gurus who saved their lives enter the room and are greeted with many tears and much adulation.

Another memorable use of the celebrity infomercial pop-in occurred during one of the Richard Simmons infomercials. In this infomercial he would sneak up on various women who had lost weight using his products. During a scene in a supermarket, Simmons pretends to absent-mindedly bump his shopping cart into the cart of one of his fans. And before the lady can shout out, “Watch where you’re goin’, numbnuts!” she recognizes the fey fitness guru and responds with the recondite emotional outburst.

Probably the best known, and perhaps strangest, surprise pop-in came during the infomercial for Lori Davis hair products, hosted by Cher in the 1980s. In this infomercial Lori Davis, Cher, and a group of Cher’s friends are sitting on a sofa when suddenly actor Ted Danson pops in for about 20 seconds, eliciting delightful squeals from the ladies. Danson never mentions the hair care products and no one ever tells us whether or not he was ever a Lori Davis customer.