The woman sit behind a board , tarot cards in front of her , a pillbox wind tightly around her headland . In Jamaican - accented patois , she invited viewing audience to benefit from her gift of 2nd sight . “ Call me now , ” Miss Cleosaid , and she would reveal all .
Mostly , respondent wanted to know if a lover was cheating on them , though there was no limit to Miss Cleo ’s immortal . No question was too unfathomed . She could speak with as much wisdom about worry over fiscal pick as she could sibling rivalry . Her only challenge was meter : Miss Cleo could connect with only a fraction of the citizenry looking for her spiritual counsel , leave caller in the hands of other ( potentially psychically - unqualified ) operators .
Still , Miss Cleo became synonymous with psychic phenomenon , a way to consult with a medium without arrest off your living room couch . From 1997 to 2002 , she was a virtually inescapable comportment on telly — the embodiment of a carnival stereotype thatannoyednative Jamaicans , who bristled at her exaggerated accent . It was all the same effective : Roughly6 millioncalls come in to Miss Cleo over a three - yr point , with $ 1 billion in telephone kick assessed .
Not long after , the companies behind Miss Cleo would be forced to give half of that back amidst charges that they had misled consumer . Despite being a cog in the motorcar , Miss Cleo herself was vilified . Of the$24 millionher hotline rake in monthly , she claimed to have bring in just 24 cents a moment , or around $ 15 an hour .
Most people did n’t jazz she was born in Los Angeles , not in Jamaica ; that her real name was Youree Dell Harris ; and that her belated - night infomercial promising psychic help was little more than performance art .
Harris may have been raised in California , but Miss Cleo wasbornin Seattle . While live in Washington in the 1990s , Harris tried her script at playwrighting , author a play titledFor Women Onlyunder the name Ree Perris , which she do at Seattle ’s Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center . In it , Harris wrote and limn a Jamaican char name Cleo , a clear precursor to the character reference that would later pop up in television ads .
After make three plays , Harris left Seattle amid allegations that she had take Hiram Ulysses Grant money from the Langston Hughes Advisory Council , leaving some of the cast and crew volunteer . ( Harris later said she left Seattle due to require to outstrip herself from a bad family relationship . She tell colleagues she had os Cancer the Crab and was leaving the surface area but that they would be pay at a later date . ) She ended up in Florida , where she respond to an advertizing seeking telephony operators . Harris beg a commercial in character as Cleo — the hotlineaddedthe “ Miss”—for $ 1750 and then agreed to supervise a phone strain for a set wage . Operators made between 14 and 24 cents a min , she later said , and she was on the higher remnant .
psychical premonitions can be difficult to validate , though Harris never claim to be a culture medium . In her own words , she was from a “ family of nervous people ” and was well - verse in juju thanks to study under a Haitian teacher . The Psychic Readers web and Access Resource Services , a hardened ofsister companiesthat used worker sourced by a third party for their hotlines , recoil at the wordvoodooand hold her a psychical alternatively .
If Harris was the real clause , many of her compeer were not . As subcontractor who were not employed by the Psychic Readers web or Access directly , some reply to ads for “ phone actor ” andclaimedthey were dedicate a script from which to figure out . ( Access laterdeniedthat manipulator used a script . ) The objective , former " psychic " alleged , was to keep caller-out on the job for at least 15 minutes . Some client , who were pay up $ 4.99 a minute for their psychic readings , received phonebillsof $ 300 or more .
When the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) start out responding to complaints in 2002 , it was not because Harris was present a lineament or because she may have not been demonstrably psychic . It was because the Psychic Readers web and Access were incriminate of deceptive advert . Miss Cleo would urge viewers to call a toll - free 800 number , where operators would then refer them to a paid 900 billet to reach a psychical . Miss Cleo also pledged that the first three minutes were devoid . That was truthful , though those first three minute were for the most part expend on hold .
When hoi polloi began to altercate their phone charges , Psychic Readers web and Access were say to have referred accounts to collection agency . Even if a telephony immune carrier like AT&T canceled the flush , customers would still find themselves subject to molestation over unpaid debt .
Individual states like Missouri and Florida sued orfinedthe company , but it was the FTC that created the orotund storm swarm . Of the $ 1 billion pull in through the hotline , $ 500 million stay uncollected from stubborn or delinquent consumers . In a charge and subsequentsettlement , the FTC ordered those debts strike down and visit a $ 5 million amercement on the company . Psychic Readers connection and Access did not let in to any wrongful conduct .
As for Miss Cleo : Harris was onlybriefly namedin the Florida lawsuit before she was drop from it ; the FTC acknowledged that representative could n’t be held liable for violations . But the association was enough , and paper newsman could n’t resist the low - hang yield . Most headlines were a variance of , “ Bet Miss Cleo did n’t see this one coming . ”
Outed as a faux - Jamaican and with her Seattle past further damaging her reputation , Harris faded from the air . Her renown , however , was persistent . She read a voice for aGrand Theft Auto : Vice Citygame for a character that strongly resemble her onscreen psychic . individual psychic sitting were also in demand , with Harris charge anywhere from $ 75 to $ 250 per person . Her Haitian - inspired powers of price reduction , she tell , were genuine .
Unfortunately , Harris ’s continued use of the image would shortly become irrelevant . She died in 2016 at historic period 53 stick with a binge with cancer . obit identified her as “ Miss Cleo ” and related her longtime frustration at being associated with the FTC lawsuit . “ accord to some articles , I ’m still in poky , ” shetoldVicein 2014 . alternatively , she was where she had always been : Behind a table , listen , and revealing all .
