''Undercover Billionaire'' is an American

reality television series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

that is broadcast on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

. The show premiered on August 6, 2019 and the final episode of the first season aired September 24, 2019. The show follows billionaire

Glenn Stearns Glenn Bryant Stearns (born 1963) is an American businessman, and the founder of Stearns Lending. He is the star of the Discovery Channel's show Undercover Billionaire, and subsequent founder of Underdog BBQ in Erie, Pennsylvania. Early life Stea ...

, founder of

Stearns Lending Stearns Lending, LLC is one of the American wholesale, retail and correspondent lender. Stearns is one of the largest mortgage lenders in the US , Stearns was the fifth-largest privately held lender nationwide. Overview Glenn Stearns founded ...

, as he attempts to start a million-dollar business in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

over the course of 90 days, starting with only $100, a car and a tank of gas. The series follows Stearns as he identifies his target business, puts a crew together to help him, builds his initial $100 stake sufficiently to fund a

startup company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

, and opens a barbecue restaurant named ''Underdog BBQ''. The presence of a

film crew was explained by saying that they were trailing him for a documentary about building a small business from scratch. A TV special titled ''Undercover Billionaire: Return To Erie'' premiered on August 18, 2020. A second season premiered on January 6, 2021. Season 2 features three self-styled successful entrepreneurs (Grant Cardone, Monique Idlett-Mosley and Elaine Culotti) who go undercover in three different cities and attempt to start a business with a "valuation of $1 million dollars" in 90 days- the same challenge that Glenn Stearns competed. A continuation of Glenn Stearns' work in Erie, called ''Undercover Billionaire: Comeback City'' also aired in alongside Season 2 and debuted in its entirety on

Discovery Plus Discovery+ (pronounced "Discovery Plus"; stylized as discovery+) is an American streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The service focuses on Factual television, factual programming drawn from the libraries of Discovery's main channe ...

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2019)

Special (2020)

Season 2 (2021)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
2019 American television series debuts Discovery Channel original programming Films shot in Erie, Pennsylvania