Travis Kelce has officially become a game show host.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end is to host Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity?, a spinoff of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?, for Amazon’s Prime Video service.
It comes after it emerged that the NFL star was in talks earlier this year.
Kelce has had a big year; he and the Chiefs ran it back to win a second Super Bowl in a row and he’s dating Taylor Swift, the biggest pop star in the world.
Kelce, who previously starred in reality dating format Catching Kelce for USA Network, has been keen to break into the entertainment business for a while and he signed with CAA last spring.
Separately, he was recently in talks to host a major new music competition series for one of the broadcast networks but it never came to pass.
Prime Video has handed the series a 20-episode order and it is being produced by MGM Alternative.
Each game will welcome an adult contestant who will rely on a classroom full of celebrities to help them answer 11 questions on a range of subjects, pulled from elementary curriculum, in an effort to win a $100,000 prize, per the logline. They are not competing against the stars…they’re enlisting their help and, in some cases, can even “cheat” off of them. And on the final question, worth $100,000, the contestant selects one celebrity to discuss the answer with before locking in. The final question is always at the 6th-grade level.
Beat Shazam creator Wes Kauble will serve as showrunner and will serve as exec producer alongside Mark Burnett.
Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? previously aired on Fox between 2007 and 2009 and again in 2015. There was also a syndicated version and a reboot on Nickelodeon, hosted by John Cena, in 2019.
“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 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. I’m just happy to be on the hosting side of the equation here and excited to see how these famous faces keep up,” said Kelce.
“For years, fans around the world have tested their smarts with this fun, nostalgic game show, and we look forward to bring this reimagined format to Prime Video,” added Lauren Anderson, head of AVOD originals unscripted and targeted programming, Amazon MGM Studios. “Travis has proven to be an incredible talent on and off the field, and we appreciate the trust he has placed in us with his first foray into television. His natural, comedic dynamic with our panelists and guests, coupled with some exciting new twists, will keep our global customers coming back week after week.”
