GSN's most successful original game show, "The American Bible Challenge," isn't messing with the formula season three, which begins Thursday, May 22 at 8.
Alpharetta Jeff Foxworthy is back as host with gospel superstar Kirk Franklin his musical sidekick.
Foxworthy, who knows the Bible fairly well and holds a weekly Bible study at a downtown homeless shelter the Atlanta Mission, said he continues to butcher names, especially from the Old Testament. "It's kind of a running joke among the writers," he said. "Why don't we put up names and see if I can tell if it's Christ or Klingon?"
Categories remain cheeky and very present day. In one episode, there are scandalous "tabloid" headlines based stories from Nazareth and famous sayings that have been "autocorrected."
"We try to have fun with it but we're not disrespectful," he said. "People have fortunately received it the way it's been intended."
But while Foxworthy and Franklin are stars, he considers the stars of the show the trios of contestants who are vying for money for charities. The winners of each episode pocket $20,000 for their respective charity and qualify for a potential $100,000 on top of that.
Teams range from street rappers to beauty contest winners, from priests to a women's roller derby team. Charities range from helping orphanages in Bulgaria to rebuilding homes in Joplin, Missouri after the 2011 tornadoes. Each trio is featured in their home town doing their good works.
"To me, just talking to people of faith is sobering. It's humbling to see these people in action and making a difference in their communities," he said.
I recently attended an event for KIPP schools in which the theme was "Are You Smarter Than a KIPP Student," riffing off Foxworthy's successful Fox show of yore. But he wasn't able to attend because of complications from disc fusion surgery. "I had a couple of herniated discs," he said, "and things blew out at the end of the year. I couldn't drive. I couldn't get out of a chair for two months."
He has the bad disc taken out and six screws put in place. "I'm feeling much better," he said last month. He promises to appear next year.
This weekend, he is headlining an Austin three-day festival called Redfest featuring Tim McGraw, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Florida-Georgia Line. "It's a comedy music lifestyle festival," he said. "It's a fair meets a flea market."
Foxworthy is bummed CBS didn't renew "The American Baking Competition," which he hosted last year and aired over the summer. "I wanted to do that one again," he said.
TV preview
"American Bible Challenge," 8 p.m. Thursdays, starting May 22, GSN
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