Kyle and Jackie O are known for speaking with some of the world’s biggest stars. From Kris Jenner to Justin Bieber; you name the celebrity and they’ve probably got a hilarious or weird story to tell about them.

But today we took a bit of a different approach with out guests and have to say we weren’t disappointed with the result!

Instead of having a huge celebrity in studio this morning, our big guest was an elevator technician who promised to let us in on all of the secrets and hacks in the elevator biz. Now before you laugh, it was actually incredibly interesting and we actually learnt some tricks that we had NO idea were actually possible!

And actually he had some pretty crazy stories to tell from his time in the industry! From the countless time’s he’s caught people having sex in the elevator to the time he uncovered a major drug deal! Listen to some of his crazy stories in the video above. 

Basically the whole reason why we decided to get this lift expert in studio today was based off an off the cuff comment that Jackie had made on the show yesterday when she said that in most elevators the ‘Close Door’ button doesn’t actually work and is instead there just as a placebo.

John, the elevator technician then called up the show to confirm this fact and to tell us that there’s actually a whole bunch of interesting things that we don’t know about elevators (sounds real geeky we know but trust us, it’s true!)

And so we decided to get him in studio today to uncover the various hacks and secrets that pretty much no one but the experts knew was even possible to do in an elevator! Find his top five pieces of info below!


Independent Service Mode: 

You might notice in elevators underneath all of the buttons there are a number of key holes. Well when one of these in particular is turned on it turns the lift into what John described as Independent Service Mode (Usually the key hole will be labelled something along these lines). 

Basically what this means is that you have full control of the elevator. For instance in a lot of buildings, especially work places or hotels, there are restricted floors that you can’t get to without a pass. That is unless you’re in the Independent Service Mode which allows you to visit any floor without a pass. 

You might think then that it would be difficult to get your hands on the key that allows this mode to be turned on but John told us that sometimes the key is left in the lift or you can actually purchase a master key on ebay for a super cheap price! 

Always wanted to visit the penthouse or rooftop? Well now you know that you don’t always need a pass to do so! 

You can bypass all levels to go direct to your floor:


Yep we’ve all experienced those annoying moments when you get in a lift with tons of people all wanting to go to a different floor and it takes you FOREVER to get to floor 23 or something when you have to make heaps of stops along the way. 

With if this really gets your goolies then this sneaky hack is for you! Apparently if you hold down the floor number that you want to go to along with the door close button simultaneously and continuously it will automatically bypass all other floor and go straight to your number! 

VIP mode or executive mode:

Using the sneaky keys once again you can put the elevator into what will be labelled as either VIP mode or executive mode. This makes the lift automatically stop at the next floor and will make an announcement saying that all passengers must exit because the lift is needed for another purpose. You then get full control of the elevator. 

This is exactly what to do if the lift gets stuck:

It’s the one thing that makes lifts kind of scary; the thought that you could get stuck. But according to John there are actually a number of safe things that you might be able to do to get the elevator moving again. 


If the lights in the lift go off when it becomes stuck it’s unlikely you’ll be able to do anything other than push the emergency call button and wait it out.

But if the lights are on you may be able to actually reboot the lift but pushing the door open button if you’re stuck at a particular floor of by pressing a floor number button to get the elevator moving again. 

The most common reason why lifts get stuck is because the doors open by the slightest amount and so you may also be able to put your hands on the doors and push them closed, which could kickstart the lift moving again. 

Of course the natural instinct is to try and force the doors open but John said you should never do this nor should you try and climb through the roof cavity because it can be incredibly dangerous. 

The reason why they tell you not to use a lift in case of fire is actually really important: 

We all know that we’re supposed to only take the stairs if there’s ever a fire emergency in a building, however, some people might be wondering if it’s actually dangerous to use the lift in these situations. 


The answer is YES. John told us that the elevators have smoke sensors and if smoke is detected at a particular floor it will automatically stop leaving you trapped inside. Definitely not something you want to happen in a fire. 

So there you have it, the best lift hacks out there! Of course we don’t recommend doing all of these things because you could almost definitely get yourself into a bit of trouble especially with those secret modes but hey, it’s still cool to know!