Meet HSN Rock God Jay King’s Wife, We Think

HSN rock god Jay King — jewelry vendor, globe trotter and bush pilot — is celebrating his 18th anniversary on the home shopping network. He has the Today’s Special for Monday, but enough about that.

We’ve always wondered what Jay’s wife looks like, and HSN host Shivan Sarna answered that question. On Sunday she posted a photo of her and a beaming Jay standing next to a pretty blonde woman, who we believe is the Missus. They all have huge smiles.

Jay King, Shivan Sarna and Mrs. King

Jay has been pretty quiet about his private life, but for some reason was chatty about it late Sunday night. He mentioned that his son was 12 when he first started appearing on HSN, and he added that he had a daughter.

We’ve been watching Jay for many years, and never heard him mention having any kids.

Jay also said that his wife is British and is a very formidable woman. Anyway, Jay is on heavy rotation on HSN Monday.

Former HSN Apparel Vendor Terry Lewis Has Surfaced On Facebook

We finally found former HSN vendor Terry Lewis — on Facebook.

Lewis’s name popped up Wednesday on our Facebook page because we have some friends in common, and we e-mailed her asking what she was up to and if her devoted HSN fans could buy her clothing line anyplace anymore.

Lewis, a former HSN host whose own line, Classic Luxuries, was discontinued on the No. 2 home shopping network, e-mailed us back but didn’t spill the beans about what she is up to.

“You may ask your friends to identify themselves as customers and I will friend them,” Lewis wrote us. “I am only now joining facebook…Far too busy before. Thanks for your support.”

That was it.

Like us, Lewis was reluctant to join Facebook.

“All of my friends and family who see this are gonna say Oh my God she did it,” Lewis says on her page. “I said I’d never join a social networking site. Here I go… My line was ‘why hide behind a computer’?

She only has about 20 friends so far, but they include HSN hosts Colleen Lopez, Chris Scanlon, Shivan Sarna and ShopNBC vendor and former HSN host Judy Crowell.

Prior to the Facebook connection, we were going to call a phone number we had found for Lewis’s company, which was based in Tampa.

But Lewis’s Facebook profile says she is now in Greenwood, S.C.

Gained Weight Or Pregnant? What’s Up With Heftier QVC Hosts Like Jacque Gonzales, and HSN’s Connie Craig-Carroll and Shivan Sarna?

What’s one of the most-asked question from our Web site viewers? It’s whether specific QVC and HSN hosts are pregnant.

In the past week or so there have been numerous variations of the inquiry, regarding QVC’s Jill Bauer, Jane Treacy and Jacque Gonzales; and HSN’s Shivan Sarna, Lynn Murphy, Connie Craig-Carroll and Suzanne Runyan.

We wish we had the answer to your question, but we don’t. We’ve already blogged and said that these hosts have gained a lot of weight in the past few months. They can’t all be pregnant.

Jacque Gonzales

Next thing you know people will be asking if QVC’s David Venable, who has packed on a few pounds after taking over the cooking beat, is in the family way.

Neck-in-neck with the pregnancy question is what happened to Pam McCoy and Wes McCoy at ShopNBC. Cost-cutting, my friends, cost-cutting.

Unlike Other Hosts (You There Lisa?), HSN’s Shivan Sarna Swears She Bought Three Sets Of The Today’s Special Pearl Necklaces

Shivan Sarna

Has a certain HSN host been reading our Homeshoppingista blog? We think Shivan Sarna may have taken a peek. Here’s why.

We’ve done several blogs on QVC host Lisa Robertson’s claim in nearly every show that she plans to buy an item, or more, that she is presenting. We started keeping track during the Stephen Dweck premiere. If she’s telling the truth, she must have one hell of a big jewelry box and closet.

On QVC rival HSN Saturday morning, Sarna was doing a presentation on the network’s Today’s Special, a set of four freshwater pearl necklaces for $100.

Sarna told viewers that certain online forums, we think that’s how she phrased it, had made comments about home shopping hosts claiming to own or wanting to buy merchandise they are presenting. Could it be our blog she was referencing?

Sarna said that she had been wearing a sample of the pearl necklaces for several weeks, and that last night, “I bought three sets myself.”

OK Sarna, we’ll take your word for it. But we’re still not believing Lisa.

We enjoy Sarna on HSN. She offers minimal hype, and she is a rockhound like us, but a trained one. She is a graduate gemologist from the Gemological Institute of America, which is apparently not an easy credential to get.

But we’re not feeling that HSN SV. We have some pearls, but we really love gemstones. Our birthstone is the diamond, and we have a smattering of those, but we often wear crystal quartz, white topaz, white zircon and white sapphire as substitutes.

We always wear natural gemstones, no cubic zirconia. We believe in those wacky New Age notions that gems and rocks have different powers and energies, so we want the real McCoy (we’re not talking about Wes or Pam) next to our skin.

We have a quartz crystal from Scottsdale, Ariz., next to our bed. And like every vortex-seeking chucklehead, we’ve been to the red-rock wonderland Sedona (now sadly overdeveloped) about a dozen times.

And this actually is not all that crazy, after all. Don’t radios and other electronic equipment use quartz to transmit energy? We’re just saying.

HSN Why, Why Are You Selling Tacky ‘Faux’ Furs And Running Cheesy Holiday Promos?

This is definitely a chick discussion, but we love fake furs. Our closet has four fake fur coats, and that’s after donating three other ones last year to a coat drive and giving another one to our sister. Fake furs are really warm and fun.

So it’s with some dismay that we have to report that the “faux” fur apparel being sold on HSN Wednesday by designer Stefani Greenfield is not up to snuff. And to add insult to injury, the pieces are expensive.

Some fake furs really try to emulate real fur, and other fake furs are just fun and are not trying to look “real.”

We have an imitation mink coat that looks so real it draws dirty looks, we presume from animal lovers. And over the years we got dozens of compliments from friends and strangers on the obviously fake leopard coat that we gave to my little sis Karen last year.

The stuff in Greenfield’s Curations line is obviously not trying to look like real fur, but it looks bulky and cheap. But it’s not cheap.

Greenfield’s faux fur jacket is going for $200. A vest is $150. A headband goes for $30; a hat $40; and a weekend bag and belted-vest are both priced at $150.

We don’t care that the October issue of InStyle magazine is offering a discount on one of Greenfield’s vests.

And while we’re kvetching, HSN ought to be ashamed of the tacky, low-rent holiday promo spot it’s airing that features Bill Green, Colleen Lopez, Shivan Sarna and Lynn Murphy. They are seen clowning around, throwing Christmas gifts at each other. Is it supposed to be campy? Not working. We cringe every time we see it.

That spot gives home shopping channels a bad name. Its lack of sophistication perpetuates every stereotype there is about home shopping networks. Why bring in high-end jewelry designers like Dallas Prince, Carol Brodie and Me & Ro and then run a promo like this?

Whoever produced it should be shot, and not with a camera.