Has Gems TV made a big mistake? You decide

mr tom said:

It's 'nice' to see that NOTHING about this man has changed.

except he is managing to manipulate jewellery fans who probably don't know as much about jewellery as they would like to.

Though maybe they enjoy being told a bullsh#t story about the item, so they can relay said bullsh#t story to others.

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Far be it from me to defend Mr Peter Simon but from what i've seen of Gems TV each product seems to almost sell itself. Merchandise literally flies out, whoever is hosting.

So I can't say for sure if he's deliberately setting out to hoodwink anyone (it's hard to see why he'd have to) but rather that he's merely displaying his glaring limitations as a host and 20 year 'Jewellery Expert'. The only thing he can do to fill his airtime is gurn, roll his tongue in the side of his cheek, jump up and down and (rather creepily for me) refer to gemstones as 'her' and 'she', all accompanied by tales that are a complete and utter slew of silage.

I never, ever thought i'd say this when I heard he was joining Gems TV but, to my eye, he actually seems worse than ever. And given the grief hole that he used to inhabit that's quite an achievement :mysmilie_59:

There must be a severe shortage of jewellery presenters around, if the likes of him got the gig.

Mommabear said:

There must be a severe shortage of jewellery presenters around, if the likes of him got the gig.

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But it appears that anyone could possibly succeed on Gems TV, certainly from a sales figure point of view. From what i've seen almost every item sells, and sells very quickly.

Maybe they see him as a guilty pleasure, a novelty? The bosses must know that the items will likely sell anyway, despite the drivel he comes out with so maybe they just don't care?

He's definitely shifting stock, loads of it.

Wirral70 said:

But it appears that anyone could possibly succeed on Gems TV, certainly from a sales figure point of view. From what i've seen almost every item sells, and sells very quickly.

Maybe they see him as a guilty pleasure, a novelty? The bosses must know that the items will likely sell anyway, despite the drivel he comes out with so maybe they just don't care?

He's definitely shifting stock, loads of it.

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Yeah I'm sure you're right Wirral. They do sell loads and it is quality stuff. He just doesn't seem to fit right. Like you say, he's a novelty 'act' :mysmilie_19:

Mommabear said:

Yeah I'm sure you're right Wirral. They do sell loads and it is quality stuff. He just doesn't seem to fit right. Like you say, he's a novelty 'act' :mysmilie_19:

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His repetitive stories really seem to stick out like a sore thumb on Gems TV because all he is selling is jewellery. He had to mix it up on Bid because they had a positive cavalcade of tatty products he could attach a yarn to but it's so obvious that he's just saying the same complete jibberish when selling a multitude of different stones.

'She' has a dual personality
The rarest of the gemstones
Kick off your Stilettos
You've got the shoes, you've got the dress

He just seems to churn the same crap out, sale after sale, regardless of the piece in question. It's funny though, and he's having no problem selling out :mysmilie_59:

Wirral70 said:

He just seems to churn the same crap out, sale after sale, regardless of the piece in question. It's funny though, and he's having no problem selling out :mysmilie_59:

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As long as he doesn't offend the ASA/Ofcom (or Gems TV viewers) too much, he'll most likely be there for a long time because the items were flying out the door when I was watching. Strange thing was that he didn't have that sales effect on Bid so the late night Gems audience must be perfect for him :mysmilie_59:

Wirral70 said:

But it appears that anyone could possibly succeed on Gems TV, certainly from a sales figure point of view. From what i've seen almost every item sells, and sells very quickly.

Maybe they see him as a guilty pleasure, a novelty? The bosses must know that the items will likely sell anyway, despite the drivel he comes out with so maybe they just don't care?

He's definitely shifting stock, loads of it.

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To be honest, I said to my mum on Monday night that things seemed to be going slower.

Last night, there was a very noticeable period where sales were actually quite slow.

That is HIGHLY unusual for Gems. As you've said, stock sells easily and its almost guaranteed that stock will shift no matter who presents. I think we could present on there and still successfully shift stock.

However, I feel there's definitely been a slow down over the past couple of days - and two weeks on from presenting with Gems, he's still getting complaints - both on the Gemporia page and Steve Bennett's own personal page.

I think viewers may be turning off when he's on.

His gibberish and poor man's Larry Grayson routines may have worked on Bid - but I think his wacky style of presenting is very out of place on Gems - and it's not going down too well. Not only that, but Jim Brooman (or Andy Bowman as Peter Simon called him last week....) was a very popular presenter (coincidentally, because people like his calm sales approach and the way he seems genuine - the exact opposite of Peter Simon) and judging by a few comments I've read on the Gemporia page, a few people are disappointed that he's moved back to 3am until 7am and Peter Simon has taken over the 11pm slot.

In a way, I hope his sales figures do drop - because that's the only way he's going to be out of the door. People can complain all they like, but if he sells stock and makes the company money, then he'll keep his job.

WifeSlashGoddess said:

To be honest, I said to my mum on Monday night that things seemed to be going slower.

Last night, there was a very noticeable period where sales were actually quite slow.

That is HIGHLY unusual for Gems. As you've said, stock sells easily and its almost guaranteed that stock will shift no matter who presents. I think we could present on there and still successfully shift stock.

However, I feel there's definitely been a slow down over the past couple of days - and two weeks on from presenting with Gems, he's still getting complaints - both on the Gemporia page and Steve Bennett's own personal page.

I think viewers may be turning off when he's on.

His gibberish and poor man's Larry Grayson routines may have worked on Bid - but I think his wacky style of presenting is very out of place on Gems - and it's not going down too well. Not only that, but Jim Brooman (or Andy Bowman as Peter Simon called him last week....) was a very popular presenter (coincidentally, because people like his calm sales approach and the way he seems genuine - the exact opposite of Peter Simon) and judging by a few comments I've read on the Gemporia page, a few people are disappointed that he's moved back to 3am until 7am and Peter Simon has taken over the 11pm slot.

In a way, I hope his sales figures do drop - because that's the only way he's going to be out of the door. People can complain all they like, but if he sells stock and makes the company money, then he'll keep his job.

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Bid was such a different environment to Gems TV wasn't it, what with the constant pacey music and the floor space that he used to full effect. His drivel kind of went hand in hand with the over the top presentation. And he not only had his jewellery to sell but he also had his handbags, his clothes, his fragrances, allsorts. Peter had a different type of story for each category of tatt, nobody could tell a tale like him (well, perhaps Schlocko came a close second).

But now it's just jewellery. More than one stone cannot possibly be 'the rarest of the gems' and as for blooming split personalities?

Hopefully he'll create some new spiel although he's not really noted for his originality :mysmilie_59:

Wirral70 said:

Bid was such a different environment to Gems TV wasn't it, what with the constant pacey music and the floor space that he used to full effect. His drivel kind of went hand in hand with the over the top presentation. And he not only had his jewellery to sell but he also had his handbags, his clothes, his fragrances, allsorts. Peter had a different type of story for each category of tatt, nobody could tell a tale like him (well, perhaps Schlocko came a close second).

But now it's just jewellery. More than one stone cannot possibly be 'the rarest of the gems' and as for blooming split personalities?

Hopefully he'll create some new spiel although he's not really noted for his originality :mysmilie_59:

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Definately. The other thing with Bid is that they had the assistants to help break things up a bit. Rather than having to continually waffle, they could have a conversation with the assistant - or let the assistant have their 30 seconds of speech. The music and general messing about also diverted some of the attention - plus, as you say, he could have a different story for every product.

On Gems, he's really struggling in my opinion. The focus is entirely on the presenter - and no matter what item of jewellery he sells, it's the same spiel - "You've got the shoes, you've got the dress. You can wear it to the ball room. You can where it to work", etc.

Not only that, but the clientelle are completely different. With no disrespect to Bid customers, but most of the products were tat - and you only had to see some of the comments customers left on their FB page to see that many were rather bizarre characters. I suspect many were the lazy, "Jim Royle" type too. Lets face it, if people are stupid or lazy enough and prepared to pay £8 for postage on a watering can that can be picked up for a fiver from your local bargain homeware store, then they're not the sharpest tools in the box. Gems have something for everyone. They have the cheap (but still good quality) rings - they also have the expensive, high-end Lorique rings that will appeal to a completely different clientelle and, dare I say it, upper class than many Bid TV customers.

I'm not sure about you at ome, but if I had £3500 to spend on a ring, watching Peter Simon singing "Kumbayah My Lord", wriggling on top of a table, shaking his pants and talking about Our Bets decolitaire isn't going to give me have much confidence into parting with my money.

After two weeks, its now becoming very noticeable that he has the same description for almost everything - and I think that, plus his corny lame "comedy" act, is why sales seemed to be a bit slower on Monday and Tuesday night.

Toril said:

It looks as though he's wearing bicycle clips in that clip. If he is, and my eyes weren't deceiving me, then why?

Answers on a postcard please. :wink:

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He's wearing bicycle clips because like any other Luvvie he prepares for his 'throwing a fit on the floor' piece and doesn't want his trouser bottoms to fall up his legs and thus reveal sock tops and hairy legs.

No doubt he was all a gush about it in the Gallery later "Darling, did you see me? I rehearsed it all night in front of my full length mirror! Did you see the bicycle clips? That's an old trick that dear, dear Larry taught me..." :mysmilie_14:

Peter Simon is best placed at Jewellery maker.

This is because he still has that mentality he had whilst hosting whacky gameshows during childrens tv slots. The creativity aspect on jewellery maker might suit him

Selling big ticket items, and serious items of jewellery do not.

This is because he is so sincere about the product, its almost sentimental - but we all know its hype, and chances are when the on air light goes off, he might joke 'this is all c*ap stuff really' in the style of Gerald Ratner about his Ratner Jeweller group (now the Signet group)

Its just a job, and he gets paid.