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Mayor Hopes To Show Off Rebirth Of Pittsburgh In "Undercover Boss" Episode

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Bill Peduto, you know him as the mayor of the City of Pittsburgh.

But he's also got an alter ego named Ed.

Ed worked 16 hour days alongside city employees, who were none the wiser to his true identity, for the CBS show, "Undercover Boss." The episode airs this Sunday night, here on KDKA.

So what was it like for the mayor and the employees he worked with?

He was a garbage man and a carpenter. He also cut down a really big tree, but he's not a lumberjack.

"Painful at times, kind of interesting. I guess it's that one-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you say thank God it's only once, but I'm happy I did it," said Peduto.

Peduto spent two hours in make-up each day to assume the identity of Ed Chadwick.

"My Ed voice was supposed to be Kentucky, but it was something else. I apologize to the people of Kentucky if they're watching this," he says.

Peduto convinced city employees he worked with that he was competing on a reality show and they were to teach him their jobs, and they tried.

"He was very uncomfortable with drills. He was really uncomfortable with saws. This is not Ed's normal environment," said one of the people he worked with.

"He wasn't as good on the saw as I thought he would be, being from the back country," said another.

Peduto didn't expect to be good on the saw, he promised though he was real good at using a one-hour network show to show off the "new Pittsburgh."

"What I tied into everything was the rebirth of Pittsburgh. I just kept showing people... this isn't the city you think it is," said Peduto. "As we're talking about how people's lives change, I'm talking about how cities change. It sort of all came together really well."

If you follow the show, the undercover boss reveals himself, and then helps many of the folks he worked with, but that costs money. In this case, it was not taxpayer money. The mayor's Chief-of-Staff Kevin Acklin hit the phones, called local corporations and raised more than $100,000.

The money was used to create life changing moments.

"For all the detraction that may come from this, being able to change a couple people's lives is worth it," said Peduto.

Peduto says the 16-hour days, the aches and the pains were worth it, and were a good chance to show off Pittsburgh.

However, the mayor is convinced that he's much better off and the city's better off with him in the mayor's office than in a garbage truck.

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