"Living Well with Montel" infomerical features Sylvia Browne selling a $200 blender

Questioninggeller · 11th October 2009, 10:27 AM

I just caught a Montel Williams informercial featuring Sylvia Browne in which they try to sell a $200.00 blender. I only saw the end of it. As per the advertisement:

Quote:

The Healthmaster is not a typical blender. This unit is designed to do 31 kitchen jobs in one. The Healthmaster will make everything from hot soups to cold ice cream in one step.

According to Browne's IMDB listing:

Quote:

Appeared in an infomercial, hosted by Montel Williams and Forbes Riley, for Montel's Living Well "Health Master" food emulsifier.

http://www.montelwilliams.com has some video. I haven't watched all of them, but there are some he sells the blender and maybe Browne is on them.

ExMinister · 11th October 2009, 10:51 AM

Can we take this as a good sign, having to resort to selling food emulsifiers?

Or do we have to wait until she has to dress up in a chicken suit and promote chicken wings on some street corner to breathe a sigh of relief? *

* No offense to people who dress in chicken suits to promote chicken wings. At least it's an honest living, which is more than can be said for psychic con artists.

Marduk · 11th October 2009, 11:07 AM

how the hell can a machine be an emulsifier, its not going to work long term is it

Ralph · 11th October 2009, 11:29 AM

I can do 31 different kitchen jobs with a fork....which costs quite a bit less than $200.

Anyway--it's never about the money.

Kel · 11th October 2009, 12:40 PM

I thought ShamWow was as annoying as it could get

Olowkow · 12th October 2009, 10:43 AM

I tried to find out what people who bought this thought of it.
http://www.asseenontvchallenge.com/d.../health-master

Mixed reviews. 2 horsepower? Holy cow! Hard to believe? That's over 1000 watts! My chain saw is only about 1200 watts.

But the motor has a "limited" 100 year warranty.

That to me is a red flag. What are the limitations? It is a brush motor for crying out loud! I'm guessing the brushes are not guaranteed. It's noisy, so they say, so that means the bearings will be toast in no time.
Apparently this is a knock off of the much more expensive VitaMix, ($400??) which people seem to swear by. This reminds me of the vacuum cleaner hype, and the Kirby workhorse.
I bought a blender at a garage sale 20 years ago for $5.00. It has been working ever since.

Cleon · 12th October 2009, 11:47 AM

Billy Mays is rolling in his grave.

(With the new Grave-O-Matic (tm), of course.)

BenBurch · 12th October 2009, 12:01 PM

My late Mom had one of these; http://www.vita-mix.com

Was every bit as good as they say, though overpriced. I'd certainly buy one of these rather than anything Montel and Sylvia had anything to do with.

Derwoods · 12th October 2009, 02:00 PM

wild guess but I bet the warranty is for replacement of the blender and all you pay is shipping and handling.. which not so surprisingly will cover the real cost of the blender plus a tidy little profit.

JoeTheJuggler · 12th October 2009, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by Cleon

Billy Mays is rolling in his grave.

(With the new Grave-O-Matic (tm), of course.)

And if he were dead, Ron Popeil would be rolling over in his grave at the upstart antics of Billy Mays. (And I'm pretty sure "Grave-o-Matic" is already copyrighted by Ronco.)

jasonpatterson · 12th October 2009, 08:14 PM

And Vince from the ShamWow! commercial is biting his tongue over the whole thing... or maybe that's a hooker biting his tongue again.

Jackalgirl · 12th October 2009, 10:33 PM

Love this quote from the website Olowkow cited:

Quote:

The Health Master is designed to liquify the whole fruit or vegetable so that you get all of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber from every part of the plant such as the skin & seeds. The regular juicer, extracts the juice, but leaves behind the fiber, skin, seeds, which contain a lot of nutrients.

Don't the seeds of at least one fruit (apple) contain cyanide? I know, I know, "small amounts", but are we really supposed to be chewing up the seeds? This does not really seem to be a bonus to me.

CurtC · 12th October 2009, 10:57 PM

Originally Posted by BenBurch

My late Mom had one of these; http://www.vita-mix.com

Was every bit as good as they say, though overpriced. I'd certainly buy one of these rather than anything Montel and Sylvia had anything to do with.

My wife has a VitaMix. She uses it every single day. Each morning she takes a bunch of vegetables, mixes in some fruit, brewed tea, canned pumpkin, and god knows what else, blends it up, then literally holds her nose and drinks it.

jasonpatterson · 12th October 2009, 11:37 PM

Originally Posted by Jackalgirl

Don't the seeds of at least one fruit (apple) contain cyanide? I know, I know, "small amounts", but are we really supposed to be chewing up the seeds? This does not really seem to be a bonus to me.

Lots of fruit seeds are poisonous to one degree or another (peach pits and wild cherry stones are particularly well known as being toxic.) In the case of apple seeds, you pretty much just don't worry about it unless you make a habit of eating the seeds. In the case of apple cider, they don't bother to core or peel the apples or filter the final product (that would give you apple juice) and the whole fruit is ground and pressed, so you definitely do get seed juice (whatever amount of seed juice there actually is) in the cider.

I can't seem to find any reliable data on the quantity of seed you'd need to eat to get sick. It ranges from the absurdly large (pounds of seeds a day, according to one site) to the absurdly small (kids and dogs supposedly being poisoned by eating a few seeds.) Amygdalin (the poison in question) is actually packaged and sold as an herbal chemotherapy agent (They call it vitamin B17, which is just messed up) though nobody gives quantities in their dosages. It's supposedly popular in Mexico for that purpose, according to the National Cancer Institute. I know that my daughters (2 and 3 years old) regularly eat apple seeds by accident. They have not shown any signs of cyanide poisoning.

In any case, I agree, it's not a bonus, but then again, the audience is a group of people who trust Montel Williams and Sylvia Browne to produce quality kitchenware and offer sound nutritional advice...

redlite · 12th October 2009, 11:38 PM

If I could get the winning lotto numbers, my horoscope and a message from beyond plus a juicy beverage, well, I'd have to say that would be worth $200.00!

BenBurch · 13th October 2009, 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by CurtC

My wife has a VitaMix. She uses it every single day. Each morning she takes a bunch of vegetables, mixes in some fruit, brewed tea, canned pumpkin, and god knows what else, blends it up, then literally holds her nose and drinks it.

Well, you can absolutely make stuff that is nothing like that with it! Pretty good stuff, too. Strawberries+bananas+granola+ice cream is particularly nice.

Ernie M · 13th October 2009, 09:39 AM

I was channel surfing a few weeks back and saw part of the infomercial I believe was mentioned in the OP. Time-lapse segments were used in some instances to condense the prep time it would take to "blend" a particular concoction.

I didn't find it appealing or appetizing to associate Sylvia Browne with "health-type" blended beverages. The B isn't what I consider a picture of health.

alfaniner · 13th October 2009, 09:58 AM

Does she recommend adding lethicin "L-E-C-I-T-H-I-N" to each mix?

IXP · 13th October 2009, 10:03 AM

I have a suggestion for her next gig.

Will it blend? Sylvia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OmpnfL5PCw

FreshHat · 13th October 2009, 10:10 AM

Quote:

The Healthmaster will make everything from hot soups to cold ice cream in one step.

Wow, it simmers soup and freezes ice cream too?

I'd love to see Sylvia toss the stove and the refrigerator over her shoulder and into the sink the way Vince does with the inferior food chopper.

Ernie M · 13th October 2009, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by alfaniner

Does she recommend adding lethicin "L-E-C-I-T-H-I-N" to each mix?

Quite possible!

Since in a lot of situations she doesn't know what she's talking about, she could even add lichen "l-i-c-h-e-n-."

Correction: in a post above, I said that some video segments with the blender were "time-lapse," but that was incorrect. Some segments were edited to visually condense the actual time it took to "blend" various ingredients. But they weren't time lapse. I better know what I'm talking about...

dropzone · 13th October 2009, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by jasonpatterson

And Vince from the ShamWow! commercial is biting his tongue over the whole thing... or maybe that's a hooker biting his tongue again.

Vince is a brilliant huckster, but with feet of clay. The Greek gods all had flaws, too.

Billie Mays was flawless. But so was Adonis. And how Jesus works into all this, man, you don't wanna know.

11th October 2009, 10:27 AM	#1
Questioninggeller Master Poster Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 2,551	"Living Well with Montel" infomerical features Sylvia Browne selling a $200 blender I just caught a Montel Williams informercial featuring Sylvia Browne in which they try to sell a $200.00 blender. I only saw the end of it. As per the advertisement: Quote: The Healthmaster is not a typical blender. This unit is designed to do 31 kitchen jobs in one. The Healthmaster will make everything from hot soups to cold ice cream in one step. According to Browne's IMDB listing: Quote: Appeared in an infomercial, hosted by Montel Williams and Forbes Riley, for Montel's Living Well "Health Master" food emulsifier. http://www.montelwilliams.com has some video. I haven't watched all of them, but there are some he sells the blender and maybe Browne is on them.
	__________________ "Paranormal phenomena have a habit of going away whenever they are tested under rigorous conditions. This is why the $740,000 reward of James Randi, offered to anyone who can demonstrate a paranormal effect under proper scientific controls, is safe." --Richard Dawkins Last edited by Questioninggeller; 11th October 2009 at 10:28 AM.

11th October 2009, 10:51 AM	#2
ExMinister Graduate Poster Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 1,269	Can we take this as a good sign, having to resort to selling food emulsifiers? Or do we have to wait until she has to dress up in a chicken suit and promote chicken wings on some street corner to breathe a sigh of relief? * * No offense to people who dress in chicken suits to promote chicken wings. At least it's an honest living, which is more than can be said for psychic con artists.
	__________________ www.stopsylvia.com

11th October 2009, 11:07 AM	#3
Marduk Dragon Killer Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Newbury, Berkshire Posts: 3,073	how the hell can a machine be an emulsifier, its not going to work long term is it
	__________________ Senno Ecto Gama ĝae haš dug zae ama kibid "Stupid humans" (Wollery) "Kill all humans" (Bender) "for while heaven may be closed I am always open, even on Christmas." (Lucifer)

12th October 2009, 10:43 AM	#6
Olowkow Graduate Poster Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 1,548	I tried to find out what people who bought this thought of it. http://www.asseenontvchallenge.com/d.../health-master Mixed reviews. 2 horsepower? Holy cow! Hard to believe? That's over 1000 watts! My chain saw is only about 1200 watts. But the motor has a "limited" 100 year warranty. That to me is a red flag. What are the limitations? It is a brush motor for crying out loud! I'm guessing the brushes are not guaranteed. It's noisy, so they say, so that means the bearings will be toast in no time. Apparently this is a knock off of the much more expensive VitaMix, ($400??) which people seem to swear by. This reminds me of the vacuum cleaner hype, and the Kirby workhorse. I bought a blender at a garage sale 20 years ago for $5.00. It has been working ever since.
Olowkow Graduate Poster Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 1,548	__________________ It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. --Albert Einstein Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, which we ascribe to heaven. --Shakespeare

12th October 2009, 11:47 AM	#7
Cleon King of the Pod People Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 14,360	Billy Mays is rolling in his grave. (With the new Grave-O-Matic (tm), of course.)
	__________________ "Intolerance does not flourish without ignorance to feed it." - kittynh "A jerk who is right is still a jerk." - Ducky My blog

11th October 2009, 11:29 AM	#4
Ralph Muse Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: S.E. Mass....... Posts: 987	I can do 31 different kitchen jobs with a fork....which costs quite a bit less than $200. Anyway--it's never about the money.

11th October 2009, 12:40 PM	#5
Kel Chronic Lurker Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Pit of Penultimate Darkness Posts: 445	I thought ShamWow was as annoying as it could get

12th October 2009, 12:01 PM	#8
BenBurch Gatekeeper of The Left Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: The Universe 35.2 ms ahead of this one. Posts: 13,782	My late Mom had one of these; http://www.vita-mix.com Was every bit as good as they say, though overpriced. I'd certainly buy one of these rather than anything Montel and Sylvia had anything to do with.
	__________________ A Liberal Dose of Talk Dog is my co-pilot. GENERATION 7: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment. Last edited by BenBurch; 12th October 2009 at 12:02 PM.

12th October 2009, 02:00 PM	#9
Derwoods Scholar Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 57	wild guess but I bet the warranty is for replacement of the blender and all you pay is shipping and handling.. which not so surprisingly will cover the real cost of the blender plus a tidy little profit.
Derwoods Scholar Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 57

12th October 2009, 02:04 PM	#10
JoeTheJuggler Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: St. Louis Posts: 10,989	Originally Posted by Cleon Billy Mays is rolling in his grave. (With the new Grave-O-Matic (tm), of course.) And if he were dead, Ron Popeil would be rolling over in his grave at the upstart antics of Billy Mays. (And I'm pretty sure "Grave-o-Matic" is already copyrighted by Ronco.)
	__________________ "That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way." —Ponder Stibbons

12th October 2009, 08:14 PM	#11
jasonpatterson Philanthropic Misanthrope Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Macedonia, OH Posts: 904	And Vince from the ShamWow! commercial is biting his tongue over the whole thing... or maybe that's a hooker biting his tongue again.
	__________________ Sandra's seen a leprechaun, Eddie touched a troll, Laurie danced with witches once, Charlie found some goblins' gold. Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susie spied an elf, But all the magic I have known I've had to make myself. - Shel Silverstein

12th October 2009, 10:33 PM	#12
Jackalgirl Ping Jockey Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Honshu, Japan Posts: 1,768	Love this quote from the website Olowkow cited: Quote: The Health Master is designed to liquify the whole fruit or vegetable so that you get all of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber from every part of the plant such as the skin & seeds. The regular juicer, extracts the juice, but leaves behind the fiber, skin, seeds, which contain a lot of nutrients. Don't the seeds of at least one fruit (apple) contain cyanide? I know, I know, "small amounts", but are we really supposed to be chewing up the seeds? This does not really seem to be a bonus to me.
	__________________ >> "An optimist tells you the glass is half full. The pessimist says the glass is half empty. The cynic tells you that someone has been drinking out of your glass." -- Boo I don't like Sylvia Browne

12th October 2009, 10:57 PM	#13
CurtC Illuminator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 4,248	Originally Posted by BenBurch My late Mom had one of these; http://www.vita-mix.com Was every bit as good as they say, though overpriced. I'd certainly buy one of these rather than anything Montel and Sylvia had anything to do with. My wife has a VitaMix. She uses it every single day. Each morning she takes a bunch of vegetables, mixes in some fruit, brewed tea, canned pumpkin, and god knows what else, blends it up, then literally holds her nose and drinks it.
	__________________ Is there a God? Find the answer at The Official God FAQ.

12th October 2009, 11:37 PM	#14
jasonpatterson Philanthropic Misanthrope Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Macedonia, OH Posts: 904	Originally Posted by Jackalgirl Don't the seeds of at least one fruit (apple) contain cyanide? I know, I know, "small amounts", but are we really supposed to be chewing up the seeds? This does not really seem to be a bonus to me. Lots of fruit seeds are poisonous to one degree or another (peach pits and wild cherry stones are particularly well known as being toxic.) In the case of apple seeds, you pretty much just don't worry about it unless you make a habit of eating the seeds. In the case of apple cider, they don't bother to core or peel the apples or filter the final product (that would give you apple juice) and the whole fruit is ground and pressed, so you definitely do get seed juice (whatever amount of seed juice there actually is) in the cider. I can't seem to find any reliable data on the quantity of seed you'd need to eat to get sick. It ranges from the absurdly large (pounds of seeds a day, according to one site) to the absurdly small (kids and dogs supposedly being poisoned by eating a few seeds.) Amygdalin (the poison in question) is actually packaged and sold as an herbal chemotherapy agent (They call it vitamin B17, which is just messed up) though nobody gives quantities in their dosages. It's supposedly popular in Mexico for that purpose, according to the National Cancer Institute. I know that my daughters (2 and 3 years old) regularly eat apple seeds by accident. They have not shown any signs of cyanide poisoning. In any case, I agree, it's not a bonus, but then again, the audience is a group of people who trust Montel Williams and Sylvia Browne to produce quality kitchenware and offer sound nutritional advice...
	__________________ Sandra's seen a leprechaun, Eddie touched a troll, Laurie danced with witches once, Charlie found some goblins' gold. Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susie spied an elf, But all the magic I have known I've had to make myself. - Shel Silverstein

12th October 2009, 11:38 PM	#15
redlite Scholar Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 58	If I could get the winning lotto numbers, my horoscope and a message from beyond plus a juicy beverage, well, I'd have to say that would be worth $200.00!
redlite Scholar Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 58

13th October 2009, 08:53 AM	#16
BenBurch Gatekeeper of The Left Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: The Universe 35.2 ms ahead of this one. Posts: 13,782	Originally Posted by CurtC My wife has a VitaMix. She uses it every single day. Each morning she takes a bunch of vegetables, mixes in some fruit, brewed tea, canned pumpkin, and god knows what else, blends it up, then literally holds her nose and drinks it. Well, you can absolutely make stuff that is nothing like that with it! Pretty good stuff, too. Strawberries+bananas+granola+ice cream is particularly nice.
	__________________ A Liberal Dose of Talk Dog is my co-pilot. GENERATION 7: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

13th October 2009, 09:39 AM	#17
Ernie M Critical Thinker Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 295	I was channel surfing a few weeks back and saw part of the infomercial I believe was mentioned in the OP. Time-lapse segments were used in some instances to condense the prep time it would take to "blend" a particular concoction. I didn't find it appealing or appetizing to associate Sylvia Browne with "health-type" blended beverages. The B isn't what I consider a picture of health.
Ernie M Critical Thinker Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 295	__________________ paranormalstateillustrated.com Taking a close look at what you see and hear on a "Real Life. Drama." TV series.

13th October 2009, 09:58 AM	#18
alfaniner Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Sorth Dakonsin Posts: 7,648	Does she recommend adding lethicin "L-E-C-I-T-H-I-N" to each mix?
	__________________ It's pronounced "alpha-nine-er".

13th October 2009, 10:03 AM	#19
IXP Muse Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 707	I have a suggestion for her next gig. Will it blend? Sylvia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OmpnfL5PCw
IXP Muse Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 707	__________________ "When reason sleeps, monsters are produced" -- Goya, title of etching that is my avatar

13th October 2009, 10:10 AM	#20
FreshHat Critical Thinker Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: It's Just A Jump To The Left Posts: 400	Quote: The Healthmaster will make everything from hot soups to cold ice cream in one step. Wow, it simmers soup and freezes ice cream too? I'd love to see Sylvia toss the stove and the refrigerator over her shoulder and into the sink the way Vince does with the inferior food chopper.

13th October 2009, 04:39 PM	#21
Ernie M Critical Thinker Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 295	Originally Posted by alfaniner Does she recommend adding lethicin "L-E-C-I-T-H-I-N" to each mix? Quite possible! Since in a lot of situations she doesn't know what she's talking about, she could even add lichen "l-i-c-h-e-n-." Correction: in a post above, I said that some video segments with the blender were "time-lapse," but that was incorrect. Some segments were edited to visually condense the actual time it took to "blend" various ingredients. But they weren't time lapse. I better know what I'm talking about...
Ernie M Critical Thinker Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 295	__________________ paranormalstateillustrated.com Taking a close look at what you see and hear on a "Real Life. Drama." TV series.

13th October 2009, 08:50 PM	#22
dropzone Muse Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 683	Originally Posted by jasonpatterson And Vince from the ShamWow! commercial is biting his tongue over the whole thing... or maybe that's a hooker biting his tongue again. Vince is a brilliant huckster, but with feet of clay. The Greek gods all had flaws, too. Billie Mays was flawless. But so was Adonis. And how Jesus works into all this, man, you don't wanna know.
dropzone Muse Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 683