Kim Coles hosts new BET game show ‘Pay It Off,’ shot in Atlanta

She said the contestants are mostly working-class people who just need a break. “It’s a hand up, not a hand out,” she said. “These people have the will but don’t have the means. That’s what makes it human. It gives me a chance as host to empathize.”

The show opened with about 500,000 viewers last week, which isn’t bad for BET on a Friday night.

Conceptually, the show is not packed with gimmicks. Cole poses a variety of quiz questions and people win progressively more money. They can get up to $10,000 as long as they don't get three wrong. Then they go to a bonus round when they can lose it all if they botch any question – or win up to $15,000 more. In one episode I saw, they asked questions and you have to say if it was Kareem Abdul Jabbar or Paula Abdul. It was tougher than this sounds since both had connections with the Lakers. A man from Augusta got it wrong three times in a row. Someone does win the maximum over the course of the 21 episodes.

Cole is the first African-American female hosting a primetime game show. She lives in Los Angeles but came to Atlanta over the summer to tape 21 episodes over six days at Turner Studios. She is back this week to promote the show on BET’s sister show “Mo’Nique” and to walk the red carpet tomorrow at the BET Hip Hop Awards at the Civic Center.

Coles, 47, grew up on Wink Martindale, Monty Hall and Gene Rayburn. She never imagined being a game-show host but it fits her personality: "It's about being in the moment and having fun."

“It fell into my lap,” she added. “Now I can’t imagine not having it on my resume.”

She learned that contestants who trust their gut get it right 90 percent of the time. Second guess their answer and they often get it wrong. She looks at the questions before hand so she won’t mispronounce something but doesn’t ask for the answers.

Cole started as a standup comic and has done some of that over the years after “Living Single.” She did a talk show, wrote a book. She lost 24 pounds on “Celebrity Fit Club” on VH1 and regained 22 of them. (She’s somewhere in between now.)

She is now working to become an “empowerment speaker” by early next year. She wants to incorporate her own best gifts it into lessons in life focused on “purpose, passion and possibility.”

“I realize I’m fulfilling my purpose whether I’m on TV or not,” she said. “I connect with people via humor. I make people feel good about themselves.”

Cole said it can be frustrating when she has down time and folks ask her what she’s up to. She has to resist the temptation to lash out when a security guard with no teeth might ask her that question. “You have no teeth and you’re asking me about my career falling off? I have to be grateful that he still wants to see me on TV. It’s about gratitude.”

She has tried several TV pilots over the years but has yet to find a vehicle that could match "Living Single," a big hit back in the mid 1990s featuring Kim Fields and Queen Latifah. It still airs frequently on Oxygen network and TVOne. (Residual checks!)

“We get new fans all the time,” she said.

She's also loves "The Real Housewives of Atlanta, especially NeNe Leakes. "She's so real. I like her energy. I talked to her on the phone one time. I was at 'Good Day Atlanta' and the makeup artist knew her." She also likes Kandi Burruss' authenticity. She got a kick out of Lisa Wu Hartwell's parents, including her Asian dad. "He was soulful and yummy, a little Asian man living in the ghetto!"