Photo courtesy of ABC
101 Ways to Leave a Game Show is the newest offering in the extreme competition series
genre. On the series host Jeff Sutphen challenges contestants to answer trivia
questions, but whoever gets the answer wrong faces a dastardly fate. Losers
might get airlifted off by a helicopter or rolled down a steep incline in a Ball
of Doom. In a recent exclusive interview, Jeff told us about getting the job
and whether or not he dreamed of being a game show host when he was a kid.
When we asked how he got the gig on 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show he joked,
“I was pizza delivery guy and I was delivering a pizza to the executive
producer’s house. And I rang the doorbell and he answered the doorbell and he
said, “You know what? You look like you should be a game show host… That’s a
lie but just because it’s far more exciting than the real boring answer.”
But then he gave us the straight
scoop, “I went on an audition just like pretty much everyone else in America
for this particular job and I was very fortunate enough to get it. And I think
part of the reason I got it was because of my Nickelodeon show. I think a lot
of the executives at ABC and Endemol have kids who watch me on Nickelodeon and
they have passed through the room at some point in time when that show was on.”
101 Ways to Leave a Game Show host is quite a superstar with the tween set. He’s been the
host of the Nick slime and earwax fueled kid’s quiz show BrainSurge for three seasons. Now he’s applying the skills he
learned there on his new series, “
“Overall if you watch both shows,
you’ll be able to go, ‘Oh, he’s just playing. He’s just having fun.’ And I
think that’s the big thing. And that was one of the things that I said to the
executive producers when they were considering me for the show. I went and met
with them in a meeting and I said, ‘You might find someone you think is
funnier. You might find someone who can read a cue card or a teleprompter
better than me. But I can promise you won’t find someone who has more fun doing
what they do and will work harder at it.”
Not only is he diligently applying
himself as the host, Jeff also plays along behind the scenes. He recounted,
“Right before we shoot each question, the producer comes to me and shows me the
question. Everything is kept very lock and key, very under wraps. And I always
give him what my answer would be. He doesn’t tell me whether I’m right or
wrong. And I go, ‘This is what I think the answer is.’”
But luckily for him, he’s not an
actual contestant because, Jeff admitted he isn’t very good at the game, “I
would say eight out of ten times I’m wrong. So I think I would definitely end
up being eliminated. But who knows. There’s one or two of them where I’m like,
‘Oh, I know this one.’”
Of course being right or wrong doesn’t
really matter in Jeff’s case. He’s having the time of his life emceeing the
series — not that it was his lifelong ambition. Jeff confessed, “As a kid
growing up you’re always like, ‘I’m gonna be a fireman or I’m gonna be a
newscaster.’ I don’t know anyone who’s ever said, ‘I want to grow up and be a
game show host.’ Somewhere along the line that happened for me and I’m okay
with that, because look what I get to do. My day at the office is attaching
people to an airplane, running them over with a monster truck, sliming them,
sending them down the BrainDrain, asking them stupid questions, acting like a
ten year old boy.”
And he hopes to be doing it for
years to come. “I look back and go, ‘This happened and this is awesome. This is
great. If this is the direction I’m gonna go for awhile, then I’m okay with
that. I’m having a great time.’ If I ever find myself at a point where I’m not
having a good time anymore that’s when I’ll decide okay, I gotta figure out
what the next step is and bow out of this. At this point in time I have said to
Nickelodeon, I have said to ABC, ‘As long as you are giving me shows, as long
as you want me involved, I will bend over backwards to be part of them because
I’m having the time of my life.’”
In the meantime Jeff’s
already got some other irons in the fire. He and his wife Stacy recently launched
their own production company to develop new projects. He explained, ““We just
started it this year, Part Time Hero Productions. I come from a production
background, I didn’t start off in front of the camera. I went to school for
television, radio, film and I spent many years as a producer behind the camera
— sitting in edits, as a camera man, all these different things — before I
ended up in front of the camera. So it’s a way for me to stay in that end of
things. And my wife is an extremely talented writer, actress and extremely
creative person. And so together we have been coming up with some show ideas
and concepts that we are in the process of streamlining and… then we’re gonna start
going out and pitching and trying to make some shows here or there.”
Catch Jeff Sutphen on 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show on
Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. Central on ABC.
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