Kelce’s iteration of the game show — “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?” — will be the famed tight end’s first entry into series television after successfully hosting “Saturday Night Live” last year and starring in the short-lived 2016 E! reality dating show, “Catching Kelce.” Amazon’s Prime Video on Tuesday ordered 20 episodes of the new series, which is being produced by MGM Alternative, a division of Amazon MGM Studios.
“I grew up loving game shows, and I’m excited to be following in the footsteps of so many TV icons by hosting my very first one with ‘Are you Smarter than a Celebrity,’” the diversifying star said in a statement. “The original show is a great success, so to be bringing a new format with everyone’s favorite celebrities to the screen, will definitely be entertaining.”
The “New Heights” podcast host, who made headlines earlier this year when fans of his girlfriend Taylor Swift resurfaced his unabashed old tweets, added that he’s happy to be on “the hosting side of the equation here and excited to see how these famous faces keep up.” (Let’s just hope no one asks him to spell “squirrel.”)
Barry Poznick, general manager of MGM Alternative and co-creator of the series, called Kelce “the ultimate class clown.”
Lauren Anderson, head of AVOD original unscripted and targeted programming at Amazon MGM Studios, praised the 34-year-old athlete’s “natural, comedic dynamic” and said that Kelce “has proven to be an incredible talent on and off the field.”
“We appreciate the trust he has placed in us with his first foray into television,” she added.
“Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?” will offer “a new, loud twist” on the original format of the early-2000s game show. The spinoff will feature an adult contestant in each game who will rely on a classroom of celebrities from stage, screen and sports to help answer 11 questions pulled from elementary-school curriculum. The grand prize is $100,000.
“They are not competing against the stars … they’re enlisting their help and, in some cases, can even ‘cheat’ off of them,” Prime Video said in a statement. On the final question, which will be at the sixth-grade level and worth $100,000, the contestant will select one celebrity to discuss the answer with before locking it in.
Although no debut date has been announced, the series will premiere in more than 240 countries and territories, Prime Video said.
The U.S. version of the Emmy-nominated “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?,” which was hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy, quizzed adults on fifth-grade-level (and below) math, science and history. It was co-created by Poznick and John Steven and premiered in 2007 to a record-breaking 27 million viewers.