‘Ellen’ Audience Member Says Her Visit Was ‘Humiliating’

An audience member on the "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" is speaking about how she said she was treated backstage by producers after appearing on a segment called "Make It Rain," in which guests are drenched after answering trivia questions. Dana Dimatteo said she was thrilled to be picked out of the audience, but was left wet and shivering by producers. She said she was shocked what producers told her before the segment, "you can't be smarter or funnier than Ellen. She's the comedian — not you.” #InsideEdition

[DanG]

If you’ve been a “comedian” your whole life and you’re afraid random audience member will upstage you, maybe you’re just not funny...

[michael]

this explains why Ellen was being rude to Sofia Vergara on the show. Sofia's humour was completely outshining Ellen

[sirensmelody]

My grandpa owned a comedy club in the late 80s early 90s, he told me about several different people who he met and got to have the privilege of having them at his Club to perform. He told me a wonderful story about Robin Williams but the story that stuck out to me the most was his story about Ellen. He said that she was 'unbearably annoying' and demanding she was up-and-coming and brand-new to the comedy scene and she made demands for her waiting room so my grampa told her straight to her face before she got on that she 'better be funny'

[kathyjones]

Two years later she has no show. I love when people get what they deserve.

[coloradorocky]

“Be kind to everyone”

Start with yourself, Ellen.

[mitheboss]

i hate when people use the excuse “i’m human i’m not perfect” when they mess up

[marywallace]

Fifteen years ago I was able to get 4 tickets to the Ellen Show for April 25, which was Jim and mine's 25th wedding anniversary. With several others, he, our daughter and I waited in an outdoor holding area and was told that someone would come to explain where we should go next. We were approached by a staffer and asked some questions about spending part of our special day at the Ellen Show. Everyone around us could overhear our conversation and responded that Ellen must be going to acknowledge us, maybe even invite us to come on stage with her. At 65 I was still gullible enough to imagine how great it would be to have my favorite comedienne sharing our anniversary, how memorable it would be. After a while we were led to another area, a roofed one this time, to wait for another long hour. Our son in law arrived and the four of us waited with the crowd for yet another hour or so. Finally we were ushered into the auditorium, already crowded with what appeared to be college students that had obviously not waited like the rest of us. I was led to the seat where (I was told) Ellen's mom always sat. Some of those who had heard me earlier talking to the staffer gave me big smiles and thumbs up. To be honest I was quite nervous about the possibility of meeting Ellen.
But nothing at all happened. About the only thing I remember now was that Ellen was wearing a white suit, her main guest was Roseanne (whom I also liked a lot back then) and that Ellen had other guests, some plumbers maybe (?), and with time to spare she even sat for an interview with someone at the end of her show. I do recall thinking that was all rather odd.
In the years following I continued to watch Ellen, even taped shows so that I could watch them later. Then for some reason I lost interest, maybe because of the over-the-top give-aways she held during the Christmas season. Now that I am 81, I can look back and laugh at how silly I was, and can better understand how young people get caught up in hero worship regarding celebrities. The experience did not ruin our anniversary, far from it. However, now and then I think fleetingly about that day and wonder what it might've felt like to hear Ellen say "Happy 25th Anniversary".

[kylielynne]

I was in the audience of her show in summer of 2019! She was pretty rude to the staff walking with her before segments were taped
It was a little disappointing! And the way everyone is staged in certain seats based on appearances is super messed up! It was definitely a let down to see how one of my favorite shows was actually made

[Connor-fjrc]

“Don’t be funnier than Ellen.” That’s a pretty low bar there.

[jobuchner]

she loves to humiliate her audience members and it's crazy how far they let her go with the abuse to get a gift.

[hammeredseb]

She knows exactly what she's doing & has been doing the entire time.

[andwhataboutit]

When I was younger my Quran teacher told us that we shouldn’t obsess over anything or anyone including books, movies, singers, actors etc. at the time I thought she was being dramatic but I understand her now

[iancunn]

She only “apologized” because she got caught.

[stefanpodpieraMathTips]

I dont believe Ellen that she feels sorry. More like im sorry it got leaked. If she is really sorry, she has had the last 15 years to fix it.

[robertrenfrow]

Idolizing a human being is a foolish thing to do!

[sandyworkman]

I've noticed that she does that, especially when she's competing in one of her games. Not only does she hate to lose, she's kinda mean and will make the guest look silly or downright stupid. I noticed how mean she was years ago.

[jackier]

“Don’t be funnier than Ellen”
That’s gonna be hard considering she’s not that funny to begin with

[emilycrouse]

Does anyone remember Ellen calling out an audience member who took too many gifts off the gift table? She humiliated the guest by have a stool brought out and putting the member on the “dunce stool”. I stopped watching her after that.

[annavillanueva]

That’s so true! I went there in 2009 to see Ellen in person but she never greeted the audience. She just sat on the couch without even saying hi to us. What a terrible experience. considering that I went there during the 12 days of giveaways, I didn’t get anything at all not even a smile from her.

[roshnipatel]

She didn’t interact with the audience when cameras weren’t rolling? Damn... can’t she at least pretend to be nice to people who made her rich and famous?