Host Kristen Keech To Leave JTV To Head Back East, Antonella Comes On Board

Our favorite host on JTV has given her notice, and we’ll miss her.

Kristen Keech, whose references to the Jersey shore and her roots in Pennsylvania have helped endear her to us, posted a video on Facebook tearfully explaining why she is leaving.

She has talked about her “Grammy,” being ill, and the many trips she has made from Knoxville to go back home to see her. Keech said she is tired of all the travel, and we hear that. She is also missing her family on the East Coast. Said she wants to see her nieces and nephews grow up.

So Keech’s last show is July 31.

We enjoy her. She’s gorgeous, down to earth, honest about some of her emotional issues, and pretty trustful about how she hawks the jewelry on JTV.

She loves her cats and dogs and horses, and that makes her tops in our book, as well.

Plenty of her fans lamented the fact that she is leaving.

Instead, we are getting former QVC host Antonella Nester. She was let go as a host on QVC, her husband was laid off, she was diagnosed with cancer and she and her husband sold their house to live on a board (an affordable option). We were very sympathetic when she posted videos about her health problems and other woes.

She is a very polarizing person. Some folks became suspicious and turned off by her, because of the way she acted in the videos. She made weird faces. She was apparently seen smoking, etc.

But then others still stand behind her and love her.

That’s how we originally felt, we were fans, and of course someone battling cancer is a terrible situation. But we gotta admit, after we continued watching the videos we just thought it was all too much.

Well, Nester is back to home shopping, coming on board, so to speak, on JTV with a show on Saturday nights live-streamed from her boat. Can’t wait.

Prayers For Ex-QVC Host Antonella Nester

Not a good week. Our friend from junior high passed away on Easter from breast cancer that had spread. She had bravely and optimistically survived for years, but her time came. Love ya Deb!

Now, we see ex-QVC host Antonella Nester today posted an update on her cancer situation.

Not the best news.

“Unfortunately, Onco results and Doc visit did not go well today,” she wrote. “Starting Chemo in May (good bye hair), then radiation, then pills. The Cancer is aggressive and on a molecular level. Could show up anywhere in the body, if it does, it’s untreatable. Huh? Anyway, that’s what the Doc said. Thanks for all your prayers!!!I love you!!Xo”

Let’s hope this situation does not turn out to be as bleak as it seems.

She lost her job. Her husband lost his job. They plan to live on a houseboat. Now this.

Why can’t we find a cure for cancer?

Ex-QVC Host Antonella Nester Diagnosed With Cancer

We’re sending good vibes, healing and light to former QVC host Antonella Nester. She’s facing some tough times.

We just watched a YouTube video where Nester says that she has been diagnosed with not only leukemia, but now also breast cancer. Her doctors say they are unrelated. But how would you like to get that double dose of bad news?

Nester, if you recall, was laid off by QVC abruptly last year, part of a group of employees swept out the door by the home shopping network. The pink slip was a shock to Nester.

We know the feeling. We had it roughly a decade go when we were laid off, for the first but not the only time in our career. It stinks.

We really have not been keeping up with Nester, but today we also watched a second video she had done. It turns out both she and her husband lost their jobs. And here’s a surprise: They couldn’t find other work. Nester said her husband unsuccessfully applied for 100 jobs. She suspects it’s age discrimination.

We don’t suspect it. We’d bet our life on it. Can’t tell you how may times we’ve seen it.

So she and her husband decided to retire, sell their house and live on a boat.

Now this cancer situation has happened.

Nester put up a brave front about the cancer, but admitted she’s scared. Of course.

All we can say is we wish her well and are praying hard for her. You should do the same.

QVC Laid Off 450 Employees in July Blood Bath

Praise be. It looks like QVC and HSN combined had a decent second quarter financially. Oh, and they laid off 450 employees, including some of our favorite hosts.

Revenue for QxH, which is the two home shopping channels combined, increased 7% to $2 billion compared with the year-ago period, Qurate Retail Group reported this week.

Buried in the press release, however, were the first solid numbers about how many people QVC pink-slipped last month, including folks like host Antonella Nestor. We’ve blogged about the layoffs but didn’t have a confirmed number on the total.

Qurate said it “took a variety of actions to simplify and streamline its operating structure as it accelerated its strategic plan and incorporated key operational learnings from its COVID response.”

So what did it do?

“This necessitated separating with approximately 450 team members in July, incurring $20 million of severance costs in the second quarter,” the heartless company said. “Qurate Retail also closed QVC customer contact centers in San Antonio, Texas, and Chesapeake, Virginia, and the Zulily customer contact center and digital studio in Gahanna, Ohio, as the businesses shifted to permanent work from home positions in those locations.”

There you have it.

Here’s what else Qurate’s fearless leader had to say.

“We generated strong growth in revenue, OIBDA, and free cash flow in the second quarter, with every business unit and geographic market achieving meaningful sales gains and significant new customer additions,” Qurate President and CEO Mike George said in a canned statement.

“Our agile teams responded to the ongoing shifts in consumer needs during this challenging time to deliver engaging and relevant experiences across our e-commerce, video and social platforms,” he said.

“While economic uncertainty remains, our recent results give us confidence that we can generate sustained growth by continued execution of our strategies to offer unique differentiated products and immersive and trusted shopping experiences across all the digital platforms relevant to today’s consumer, while keeping the health and well-being of our team members and communities our top priority.”

The parent company also addressed workplace changes stemming from the pandemic.

“Team members who can work from home will continue to do so, until at least early 2021, with some working from home permanently,” Qurate said. “Social distancing, mandatory mask requirements and stringent safety and sanitation protocols are in effect at all sites. Qurate Retail provided special pay and work from home allowances and continues to provide leave, medical and other benefits.”

QxH, which again is QVC and HSN, reported revenue growth in the home, electronics and beauty categories, which were partially offset by declines in apparel and jewelry.

Product margins decreased primarily due to category mix shifts and pricing and promotional offers early in the second quarter.

Gross margin decreased primarily due to higher fulfillment (warehouse and freight) costs mainly associated with COVID-related premium pay in its fulfillment centers, lower productivity due to COVID-related protocols, reduced pack factor and general freight rate increases.

These factors were partially offset by favorable customer returns.

Operating income and adjusted OIBDA margin were also impacted by $9 million of incremental severance expense, higher marketing expense and incentive compensation accruals, partially offset by favorable TV commissions.

QVC Pink Slipped Host Antonella, Among Others

Well, we now know some of the folks who got pink slips at QVC this week.

The list of hosts that were let go includes Antonella Nester, Gabrielle Kerr, Stacey Stauffer and Kristine Zell.

Some folks suggested that Courtney Cason was part of this blood bath, but we checked her Facebook page and she posted on June 10 that she was leaving. She had a baby a few weeks later.

The other hosts posted the news about their exits on FB.

Antonella blamed her departure on the transition of QVC2 to re-aired and previously recorded programming.

“Please know how very thankful I am for allowing me to spend time with you,” she wrote. “The last 18 years have been a dream come true for me and I owe it all to you.”

As of 5:30 p.m. Thursday, over 5,000 people had “liked” Antonella’s new FB page.

As we’ve said, we have been in their shoes, and it stinks. Good luck to all.

QVC Customer Survey: Is Host Antonella ‘Creepy’? Or Is Questionnaire Phony?

A brouhaha has been going on for days over a consumer research survey that QVC purportedly sent out to some customers, and questions it asked about hosts — Antonella Nester in particular.

But we’re suspicious, especially since the supposed survey spelled Antonella’s last name wrong, as “Nestor” instead of “Nester.”

Dang, we didn’t get the survey. But details about it was posted on the Facebook QVC & HSN Refreshing & New Fan Group page. Someone put a photo of the survey on FB, the part that had a photo of Antonella (before she went blond, which we don’t think is a good look on her) and asked a series of questions about her.

For example, one part says to check every word that applies to Antonella. The choice of words? Activist, Confident, Good Listener, Aggressive, Creepy and Handsome.

Creepy? Creepy?

At least that was what the screenshot on FB depicted. Maybe IT was doctored.

And there was also a part of the survey that asked “What are you (sic) feelings toward Antonella Nestor (sic)” from “Dislike a lot” to “Like a Lot.”

Antonella’s fans were outraged.

“Shocking to me.”

“Wow that is really shitty.”

“I’ve never ever received a survey from a retail business about an individual employee.”

“If this is really a survey from QVC they have really lost it.”

“I’m not really a fan BUT this is just plain rude and mean.”

Some people questioned whether the survey was legitimate and actually from QVC. On FB, people posted that the home shopping network and Antonella had confirmed the survey was was real.

But the fact that the word “creepy” was used in the survey set off our bull-shit detector. So did the sloppy spelling. You misspell the name of your own host? “You” instead of “your”?

The survey also apparently brought up Teresa Giudice of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” infamy. She had a cookbook. Is QVC considering her as a vendor, or a host? That also set off bells.

There was also chatter on FB about Antonella looking flustered and acting a little bit off some some shows. We’ve blogged about that before.

At some point, Antonella talked about the matter and said her behavior was medical-related, due to some “new meds.”

But we digress. If the survey in indeed legit, QVC needs to fire its consumer researchers, for bad spelling and plain stupidity with the wacky questions on this survey.

We Missed Christie Brinkley’s Debut Show On QVC, But Went To The Video

Christie had a lot of sellouts on QVC

We missed Christie Brinkley on QVC!

We got home shortly after 9:30 p.m. Sunday and tuned in to the Q to see the debut of Brinkley’s jewelry collection. But all we saw was the Ross Simon dude and host Antonella Nester. My sister even called to ask me what was going on, adding that my mother was watching Brinkley at that very moment.

We finally figured it out: My mother Ida had recorded the show on her DVR, and she was watching that, not the live QVC feed. Turns out most of Brinkley’s unique jewelry sold out early, and by the time we turned on QVC she was gone.

Anyway, we checked out Brinkley on the video on QVC.com. She’s the same age as us (and has the same birthday as Ida, Feb. 2) and look fantastic. She had a gorgeous turquoise one-shouldered dress on, and her long blonde hair was perfect.

Best of all, Brinkley is not just another celebrity just putting her moniker on a jewelry line.

Brinkley, warm and very sweet, explained that she started out as an art major, and painted and did photography before she got into modeling and became a superstar in that field.

She explained that nature is her inspiration, for items like the crystal quartz drop earrings that we coveted. Those earrings were inspired by the dew drops that Brinkley would see in her organic garden.

“I am so inspired by everything I see in nature,” Brinkley said. “I wanted to create jewelry that reminds you of the beauty of nature.”

QVC was giving the perfect opportunity to combine her love of nature, jewelry and art, she added. “I feel so lucky to do this.”

QVC May Be Pulling Jade From Its Inventory

Is QVC pulling the plug on jade?

That’s what it sounds like, if you take host Antonella Nester at her word. And her comments during a jewelry show last week had the QVC jewelry forum abuzz.

Last week Nester, who is the face of Italian Americans on QVC, presented a pretty carved green jade orchid enchancer. We saw the presentation, and Nester made a cryptic remark that QVC may not be bringing in more jade.

“She has one jade piece and every time they preview it she says that QVC doesn’t have a lot of jade in their inventory right now and they are not sure if they are getting any more jade in,” one woman posted on the jewelry forum.

Wrote a second poster, “A caller pressed her on it and asked why and she just said that QVC was protecting their customers.”

QVC viewers had a couple of theories about what was up. One poster said that jadeite is mined mainly in Myanmar, and that the U.S. does not trade with that nation. That trade ban also excludes Burmese rubies from coming into the country.

And yet another veteran poster said that there has been some question about the quality and authenticity of jade coming into the U.S., which may be why QVC is backing off carrying it.