QVC program host Mary Beth Roe is bidding a fond farewell to the shopping network with one final celebration.
“There are some things planned that I have no idea about, and that’s what scares me because I don’t like a lot of surprises,” Roe, 65, exclusively shared with Us Weekly ahead of her retirement celebration on Friday, March 21. “But I’m sure there’ll be good surprises. However, I went to the person who’s planning that show and said, ‘Here are some of the people that I want there.’”
For starters, Roe wanted her longtime friend and QVC’s resident home decorator Valerie Parr Hill to showcase a product in her final show appropriately titled My Time with Mary Beth — Retirement Celebration.
Every item viewers will see promises to come from a brand or guest Roe adores.
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“It will all be products that I’m familiar with, that I like the brand, I like the person who is the guest,” she said, adding that the purpose of the curation would be “so that I would be surrounded by people I love.”
While Roe was asked if she wanted to have a live studio audience for her final show, she politely declined just in case she gets a little emotional during the farewell.
“I love our customers and I love meeting our customers. But then I started thinking about how I may just have a meltdown, an emotional breakdown, and I thought, ‘I don’t want to do that from an audience,’” she said with a laugh. So anyway, I said, ‘No, let’s not.’”
In June 2024, Roe first announced she would be retiring after nearly 37 years with QVC. While it was a “tough decision” to make, the program host relied on her strong faith to guide her. After her close friend unexpectedly died at 71, Roe was also reminded that life is too short.
“I have four grandkids, and I don’t want to regret missing out on their lives because I spent another year or two working,” she explained. “Plus, I always said to myself I will never leave my team until I feel like my team is strong and cohesive and just a great team of hosts, and it is right now.”
Over the weekend, dozens of past and present QVC hosts gathered with producers and vendors to celebrate Roe at her retirement party. Soon after, several QVC stars paid tribute to their longtime coworker and friend.
“TY MB bc ur retirement party was a beautiful, bonding reunion with so many since departed QVC hosts and guests,” host Shawn Killinger wrote via Instagram on Monday, March 17. “To encounter a peer who is entirely pure of spirit, heart, intention … one who always has time for a kind word, encouragement, a laugh, a cry, a prayer…is rare. Special.”
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As the celebrations continue all week long with special prime-time shows, Roe hopes she will be remembered by her coworkers and viewers as a “heartfelt host” who lived by the motto that product is king, customer is queen and hosts come third.
“I always wanted to be a team player, and that’s what I would hope they would think of: hard worker, but team player,” Roe shared with Us. “And I always wanted to be a light in the darkness, and whatever the darkness might be, just to lift up people’s days.”
My Time with Mary Beth — Retirement Celebration airs on QVC Friday, March 21, at 8 p.m. ET.
