Dwayne Johnson is coming to primetime TV this midseason with a new obstacle course reality series called The Titan Games. The show will see contestants undergoing a variety of wild physical challenges, inspired by Johnson's gym workouts... among other things. Some of the Titan Games challenges were actually drunken ideas on the part of Johnson. One of them will be a "lunar eclipse," which will feature athletes running around a half-moon shape as part of their efforts to take the top prize. Here's how Johnson described his process for that particular challenge:
I was probably on my third tequila and looking outside and seeing the moon and thought, 'What if there was something like this?'
Well, when you're one of the biggest movie stars in the world, your drunken ideas about the moon have the potential to become reality! I'm not sure that most of us would think "This should be on a TV show!" when drunkenly gazing at the moon, but most of us are not Dwayne Johnson and could not pull off even modified versions of some of the challenges that will be part of The Titan Games.
Dwayne Johnson's candid comments to USA Today indicate that there certainly was a lot of creativity that went into creating The Titan Games, and all signs point to a reality competition show that stands out from all the others. Early footage and descriptions pointed toward the show as something akin to American Ninja Warrior, which has been a hit for NBC and turned some athletes into semi-celebrities in their own right.
The Titan Games won't just be American Ninja Warrior 2.0, and not just because of the drunk lunar inspiration. The races will pit competitors against each other rather than just against the course and a clock. Both men and women will compete, although not against each other. In each episode, four women and four men will tackle two rounds of paired battles. Two pairs will first compete against each other, and then the respective winners will take on each other. One man and one woman will be left standing at the end of each night.
The first season will run for ten episodes, with a total of 64 contestants eventually being narrowed down to one male and one female winner, each taking home $100,000. Competing will likely be a grueling process as contestants must exercise all of their strength and power to move what would be unmovable to most, all in the effort to become the winning Titan.
Don't get your hopes up for Dwayne Johnson to tackle all of the challenges. He is on board, but not as an athlete trying to overcome the obstacles. Johnson will introduce the battles and give pep talks to the competitors. Who wouldn't be encouraged by a pep talk from the man who became a huge star and incredible athlete against all odds? He's not even devastated by winning a Razzie.
The Titan Games will air on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC starting January 3. This is only one of many new shows hitting the airwaves now and in the not-too-distant future, so check out our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what else is in store.
