National Geographic announces exciting, star-studded guest lineup for reimagined season of Brain Games hosted by Keegan-Michael Key.
Celebrity Guest Lineup Includes:
Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard
Ted Danson
Rebel Wilson
Jack Black, Kyle Gass and Meghan Trainor
Mark Cuban
Tiffany Haddish
Drew Brees
Anthony Anderson and Marsai Martin
Brain Games Premieres Friday 14 February at 19:00 on National Geographic.
Get ready for celebrities to get cerebral! National Geographic has announced its star-studded lineup of celebrity guests, spanning actors and musicians to entrepreneurs and athletes, for the reboot of its Emmy-nominated series, BRAIN GAMES. The eight-episode season, produced by Magical Elves, with Alfred Street Industries, adds a Hollywood twist to its classic mind-bending format by challenging the world’s biggest celebrities to realise their exceptional brain power through fun and highly entertaining interactive games, illusions and social experiments.
In each episode, host Keegan-Michael Key (“Friends From College,” “Toy Story 4,” “The Lion King” and the Emmy Award-winning “Key & Peele”), along with world-famous mentalist Lior Suchard and field correspondent and science communicator Cara Santa Maria, guide celebrities, including Anthony Anderson, Kristen Bell, Jack Black, Mark Cuban, Ted Danson, Tiffany Haddish, Dax Shepard, Megan Trainor and Rebel Wilson, through fun and exciting experiments, illusions and demonstrations that will help them realise their untapped brain power. The results are hilarious, surprising and interactive, and will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Stacked with A-list celebrities, science and shocking revelations, this new season of BRAIN GAMES is the perfect television event for the whole family. BRAIN GAMES premieres on Friday 14 February at 19:00 CAT, on National Geographic, DSTV channel 181 and will air globally in 172 countries and 43 languages.
Filmed in front of a studio audience, BRAIN GAMES merges brain power with star power as celebrities perform challenges that reveal the science behind what makes us tick. The in-studio audience, and the viewers at home, can play along as Key and master mentalist Suchard lead these A-listers through mind-bending neuroscience. Also in each episode, Santa Maria takes cerebral challenges on the road across the US.
In addition to Key and the celebrity guests, many of the fun and shocking moments this season are provided by Suchard, whom many consider the best mentalist in the world. Watch as he wows celebrities, and leaves them speechless, in each episode with his incredible demonstrations. Performing amazing mental feats, Suchard takes guests on an incredible journey through the wonders of the human brain. Suchard’s act builds on drama and astonishment and includes lots of humour and full audience participation.
Episodes from this season include (episode titles are not final):
- BATTLE OF THE SEXES: Actors and real-life spouses Kristen Bell (“Veronica Mars,” “The Good Place”) and Dax Shepard (“Bless This Mess”) put their minds to the test in a battle of the sexes — finding out how men’s and women’s brains problem solve in contrasting ways.
- OPTICAL DELUSIONS: Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actor Ted Danson (“The Good Place”), with the help of the Blue Man Group, investigate the science behind fake news.
- ATTRACTION: Actress Rebel Wilson (“The Hustle,” “Pitch Perfect”) explores the laws of attraction and the neuroscience behind finding the perfect partner.
- MUSIC: Jack Black and Kyle Gass of comic-rock duo Tenacious D, along with Grammy Award-winning singer Meghan Trainor, test the ways in which music affects our brains.
- POWER AND PERSUASION: Entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban tackles some of the brain science behind memory and memorisation and the tricks behind successfully marketing both a business and a product.
- MOVIE MAGIC: Actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish (“The Kitchen,” “The Last O.G.”) delves into the science of filmmaking and the magic of Hollywood, and how our favourite films get us to suspend reality and believe the unbelievable.
- PERFORMANCE: New Orleans Saints quarterback and Super Bowl champion Drew Brees tests the brain science behind athletic performance.
- KIDS VS. GROWN-UPS: Co-stars on the hit sitcom “Blackish,” Anthony Anderson and Marsai Martin (“Little”) go head-to-head to see how kids’ and grown-ups’ brains work differently.
In addition to the guests featured in each episode, other celebrities will be making cameo appearances throughout the season, including Tim Allen, Colin Hanks, Tom Hanks, Kevin Hart, Gillian Jacobs, Thomas Middleditch, Jordan Peele, Ben Schwartz and Marcus Scribner. The new season includes a mixture of in-studio and in-the-field game components; physical and mental games; and the introduction of “The Gauntlet,” a series of simple, yet challenging, brain games, faced by each celebrity guest, that delight and confound.
“The new season of BRAIN GAMES is family-friendly, interactive and engaging programming, that will captivate viewers of all ages. Audiences can also look forward to testing their own cerebral strength as we will be bringing one of South Africa’s top mentalists, Gilan Gork to 947 for a week of BRAIN GAMES inspired challenges on air, and on our @NatGeoAfrica social media platforms”, said Evert van der Veer, Vice President, Media Networks, The Walt Disney Company Africa.
BRAIN GAMES is produced for National Geographic by Magical Elves with Alfred Street Industries. For Magical Elves, executive producers are Toby Gorman, Casey Kriley, James Rowley and Lauren Williams; Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz are executive producers for Alfred Street Industries. Elisa Key and Keegan-Michael Key are also executive producers on the series. For National Geographic, Matt Renner is executive producer and vice president, original programming and production; Alan Eyres is senior vice president of production and development; and Geoff Daniels is executive vice president of global unscripted entertainment.
Brain Games Premieres Friday 14 February at 19:00 on National Geographic.
