Clocking the Anchors at CNN

The New York Daily News says that CNN Anchors discovered 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.

A spy noticed a sign above a digital clock in the 7th-floor Columbus Circle makeup room reading, “Clocks have been set to actual time,” and inquired as to why.

“They explained 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 close 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 working.”

We hear the trickery was exposed last week when talent complained, after which the beauty crew was forced to post the sign. The plan had been working smoothly for seven months, we’re told.

“Everyone was frustrated,” says our source. “They’d look on the wall, then at their phone, 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.