Everything We Know About ‘Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity?’ Hosted by Travis Kelce

The Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro tight end and three-time Super Bowl Champion Travis Kelce is taking his game from the football field to a hosting gig for Prime Video’s Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity?, premiering this October.

The 20-episode Amazon MGM Studios Original series will offer a fun and new twist on the original game show, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?, which was co-created by Barry Poznick and John Steven and debuted in 2007. Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity? will make a three-episode premiere on Wednesday, October 16, with new episodes streaming weekly on Prime Video.

Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity?, hosted by Travis Kelce, welcomes an adult contestant to rely on a classroom 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 its description. The contestants won’t compete against celebrities; instead, they will get help from the stars in comedy, screen, and sports.

In some cases, the contestant “can even “cheat” off of them. On the final question, at a 6th-grade level and worth the prize money, “the contestant selects one celebrity to discuss the answer with before locking in.” The hilarious trailer shows that leaning on celebrities might not always go to plan, as one contestant goes against the agreed-upon answer. The trailer also teases what Kelce will be like as a host as the contestants play to win “ridiculous money.”

Prime Video has also released first-look photos for the upcoming series, which features a classroom full of previously announced, fan-favorite celebrity classmates. Those participants include comedians Nikki Glaser, Natasha Leggero, Nicole Byer, and Ron Funches; Thursday Night Football analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick; former NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco; Real Housewife of Beverly Hills’ Garcelle Beauvais; Vanderpump Rules star Lala Kent; podcaster Sophia Stallone; and actress and producer Lilly Singh.

Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity? Photo courtesy of Adam Rose/Prime Video.

The streamer ordered Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity? to series and announced Kelce as the host in April 2024, marking his first foray into series television. A month later, Deadline exclusively reported that Kelce would appear in Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie on FX. Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity? is one of my projects, including being the co-host of the New Heights podcast with his brother and retired NFL player Jason Kelce, in Travis Kelce’s wide-ranging portfolio across industries.

“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,” Travis Kelce said in April 2024.

“After producing more than 3,000 episodes of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? globally, we wanted to come up with a new, loud twist on the format. Replacing the kids with celebrities gives us more laughs and surprises, like a roast, as contestants cheat off their famous classmates. And now, with the ultimate class clown, Travis Kelce, hosting, viewers should expect the unexpected!” Barry Poznick, general manager of MGM Alternative and co-creator of the series, shared.

Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? is executive produced by showrunner Wes Kauble, and Mark Burnett, with co-executive producer Sean Kelly, Steve Hughes, Susan Janis-Mashayekhi, and Tamara Akins. It is produced by MGM Alternative, a division of Amazon MGM Studios, and distributed globally by Amazon MGM Studios Distributions.