By: Victoria Stevens
Philadelphia, PA (The Hollywood Times) 05/21/20- Are you ready to see two pro athletics compete against each other in challenges that will leave you on the edge of your seat? That will test their endurance and skills to their max? Venus Williams and Rob Gronkowski team up with comedians Bobby Lee and Ian Karmel among other rotating sports stars, comedians, and celebrities to battle their way through dangerous stunts, absurd trivia, and impressive field competitions.
“Game On”, a comedic game show series based on the BAFTA winning U.K. series “A League of Their Own”, is bringing sports and entertainment to a whole other level. With Keegan Michael Key as the host of this epic show, you are going to witness extreme competition like you have never seen before.
Executive Producer James Corden is confident that this show will blend sports and entertainment for the whole family to enjoy.
“There is no country on earth that is most used to entertainment mixing with their sports like America,” said Corden. “We have an opportunity to make a really unique show that doesn’t exclude anybody. All generations of a family can sit and watch this show together and will be enjoying it. You don’t have to be a sports fan to love the show. Its so vast in its scale that it’s really incredible watching these huge guests doing these unfathomable stunts. Particularly a time when we are all missing sports, if feels like a wonderful time to put it on.
Having many known athletes, comedians, and celebrities participating in this show creates a fun and entertaining atmosphere for the viewer.
“What attracted me to this project was the team behind it,” said Key. “There’s this wonderful joy, this hybrid quality to the show. It should have its own category in my opinion because it’s not only about the competing aspect, but we have these wonderful quiz segments along with lovely banter that comes with the guests and panelists. We also have this unexpected nature of the show where we don’t know what the challenges are or who will excel at them. Sometimes the guests will participate and there is this unknown quality about it every time we do it.”
Having Williams and Gronkowski as team captains, raises the bar to another level when it comes to the competitive nature of the show.
“I was getting that itch to compete again and to join a family,” said Gronkowski. “I love competition and it felt good to challenge my body and my skills to take myself to the next level. Being a captain on this show helped me learn how to strategize with who does what competition and be able to change it up for each show. I learned how to lead the team, how to answer the trivia questions, and take control of the team as their captain.”
“I’m in an individual sport where you’re just by yourself so it is great to be on a team as the captain. At the same time though you don’t want to let these other people down so it is a lot of pressure,” said Williams.
The stunts that will be shown on this show range from human bowling to taking to the skies in an air combat mission. They are very dangerous and risky and yet Williams and Gronkowski battle it out.
“There was one stunt that I was scared doing, dangerous sit ups. You get hoisted up with bungy cords to the ceiling and then you get flipped upside down. Then you have to do sit ups and touch your toes as many times as you can till you can’t do them anymore. Let me tell you it was scary. It made my stomach turn which made me weak. That’s why Venus won that competition,” said Gronkowski.
“Corden has a wicked sense of humor,” stated Williams. “I honestly have to say I secretly prepared for this stunt as I watched the European version links on You Tube. I knew it was going to come up. So, I started training on a slate board with a medicine ball. I would reach over head and then sit up. It was still frightening. I literally never opened my eyes the whole time.”
There will be many surprise guests to watch out for that will participate in these challenges as the series goes on.
“The biggest surprise guest was a sumo wrestler,” claimed Key. “He is the largest Japanese person on planet earth. He weighs 600 lbs. and we had a challenge that involved Dan Carnell, Bobby Lee, and two legitimate sumo wrestlers which this guy was one. It was really an impressive thing to behold.”
“It was pretty cool when Ronda Rousey was on my team,” said Gronkowski. “Just to see her rock her career in the UFC and take it to a whole new level with a whole new respect. Then to have her come on the show, it was spectacular. You had to be polite to her, because she could whoop anyone of our butts so it was super neat. You could just tell she has a side to her that she’s always ready to go.”
As this show progresses, there could be many more exciting segments that could be added to it.
“Your first season is always the most challenging because you’re trying to talk to people about something that doesn’t exist. You’re trying to ask people to be apart of something that they don’t know what it is about. I think it was kind of incredible what we managed to do, the stuff that we were able to do on the show. We were able to go flying in jets or kicking our field goals in huge stadiums. I think the most exciting thing is when it starts to open out where people say they love the show and want to come be apart of it,” said Corden.
“It could also come back where the show itself becomes a destination,” exclaimed Key. “Who knows what spectacular people will want to come and play in our playground. It will get more expansive and also more people will want to come to us and share in the magic.”
“Game on” premieres Wednesday May 27 at 8pm ET/PT on CBS TV Network.
Photo Credits:
Monty Brinton/CBS @2019 CBS Broadcasting
Michael Yarish/CBS @2019 CBS Broadcasting
Sonja Flemming/CBS @2019 CBS Broadcasting