Travis Kelce is stepping into a new and unfamiliar role—game show host—and he’s feeling the pressure! The 35-year-old NFL star opened up about his nerves during the Wednesday, Oct. 16 episode of the New Heights podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother, Jason Kelce.
Travis revealed that he’s “terrified” about how fans will react to him hosting his new Prime Video game show, Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, which premieres the same day.
“I’m terrified. Terrified of what people are gonna say,” Travis admitted on the podcast. Despite being one of the NFL’s most charismatic players, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end shared that taking on this new role in front of the camera is a whole different ballgame.
The show is a twist on the popular Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, but this version ups the ante by featuring celebrities who assist contestants in answering questions based on elementary school subjects. Travis hinted that the show has a few surprises in store: “There are a few twists to this game, and I do a great job of describing it in the episodes. So you’ll get caught up to all the rules and regulations that we got going on with the celebrities and how the celebrities can help you out.”
Though Travis is known for his confidence on the football field, he confessed that he had to put in extra preparation for his hosting duties. “I’m a terrible reader,” he admitted. “I was kinda quizzing myself going through the questions in the back, just making sure. I would read them once, just so… because I’m a terrible reader, I would make sure I’d get all the pronunciations done and corrected in the background.”
Despite his initial nerves, Travis had a blast during the filming of the show. “I had so much fun making the show,” he reflected. “I never in a million years thought I was ever going to be an actual host of a game show. I always thought it would be fun to maybe go on one of the game shows, but then somebody asked me, ‘Do you wanna host it?’ ”
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It turns out that hosting a game show wasn’t a totally foreign concept to Travis—he shared that he used to mimic game show hosts when he was a kid, joking that it was something he enjoyed growing up. Now, he’s living out that childhood fantasy in real life.
Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? adds a fresh twist to the format of the 2007 original Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?. According to the show’s official synopsis, each episode features “an adult contestant who will rely on a classroom full of celebrities from comedy, screen, and sports to help them answer 11 questions on a range of subjects, pulled from elementary curriculum.”
The star-studded lineup for the first episode includes comedian Nikki Glaser, former NFL star Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, TV host and actress Lilly Singh, comedian and actor Ron Funches, and comedian and actress Natasha Leggero.
Travis’ game show debut comes alongside another major TV project, as he’s also starring in Ryan Murphy’s horror-FX series Grotesquerie, making his transition to television even more exciting.
Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? premieres on Prime Video on Oct. 16, with the first three episodes dropping at once, followed by weekly releases.
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