History Main / CelebrityEdition

* The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' version of ''Celebrity Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', where the celebs were TooDumbToLive or downright sadistic towards Alex Trebek (played by Will Ferrell). The categories started off normal, but quickly turned into [[EasierThanEasy childish and blatantly easy stuff]] like "Colors That End In 'Urple'" and "Famous Kareem Abdul-Jabbars"[[note]] Norm [=MacDonald=] came up with this as a way to mock how the real game's questions tended to be much more simplistic than the standard version of ''Jeopardy''[[/note]], and categories with no clues whatsoever like "Automatic Points" and "I Have a Chardonnay" (the latter additionally allowing Trebek to [[INeedAFreakingDrink have a glass of wine]]". This didn't stop the celebs from racking up insane halftime totals of -$50,000 or more. Recurring characters besides Trebek included {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Burt Reynolds (played by Norm [=MacDonald=]) and Trebek's sadistic arch-nemesis Sean Connery (played by Darryl Hammond), who also had a tendency to intentionally misread categories as sexually-suggestive phrases and [[YourMom insult Trebek's mother]].

* The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' version of ''Celebrity Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', where the celebs were TooDumbToLive or downright sadistic towards Alex Trebek (played by Will Ferrell). The categories started off normal, but quickly turned into [[EasierThanEasy childish and blatantly easy stuff]] like "Colors That End In 'Urple'" and "Famous Kareem Abdul-Jabbars", and categories with no clues whatsoever like "Automatic Points" and "I Have a Chardonnay" (the latter additionally allowing Trebek to [[INeedAFreakingDrink have a glass of wine]]". This didn't stop the celebs from racking up insane halftime totals of -$50,000 or more. Recurring characters besides Trebek included {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Burt Reynolds (played by Norm [=MacDonald=]) and Trebek's sadistic arch-nemesis Sean Connery (played by Darryl Hammond), who also had a tendency to intentionally misread categories as sexually-suggestive phrases and [[YourMom insult Trebek's mother]].

** The Dutch version of ''The Mole'' switched from a civilian to an all-celebrity format after Season 4 and has been going on for at least ''thirteen'' seasons since then. It's a prime example of how this trope [[TropesAreTools isn't necessarily bad]] as most of its celebrities are [[PromotedFanboy big fans]] of the show who take it seriously.

* The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' version of ''Celebrity Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', where the celebs were TooDumbToLive or downright sadistic towards Alex Trebek (played by Will Ferrell). The categories started off normal, but quickly turned into [[EasierThanEasy childish and blatantly easy stuff]] like "Colors That End In 'Urple'" and "Famous Kareem Abdul-Jabbars", and categories with no clues whatsoever like "Automatic Points" and "I Have a Chardonnay" (the latter additionally allowing Trebek to [[INeedAFreakingDrink have a glass of wine]]". This didn't stop the celebs from racking up insane halftime totals of -$50,000 or more. Recurring characters besides Trebek included {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Burt Reynolds (played by Norm [=MacDonald=]) and Trebek's sadistic arch-nemesis Sean Connery (played by Darryl Hammond), who also had a tendency to intentionally misread categories as sexually-suggestive phrases.
** And a brilliant performance of Jeff Goldblum by David Duchovny.

** The Wrestling/{{WWE}} themed episode of the Creator/{{NBC}} version, which was hilarious because almost everyone remained completely [[{{Kayfabe}} in character]] for the entire show, leading to such brilliant moments as Wrestling/TripleH refusing to vote out Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon who was at the time (in the strictest sense) his boss (as well as his wife) and Wrestling/TheBigShow towering over Anne when he was eliminated.

* The ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' sketch "World Forum" had famous Communists Creator/KarlMarx, UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin, UsefulNotes/CheGuevara and UsefulNotes/MaoZedong as contestants on a QuizShow about UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball teams.

* ''[[Series/DoubleDare1986 Double Dare]]'' had several celebrity episodes (including one with Music/WeirdAlYankovic and Creator/LouFerrigno) playing against each other. Nickelodeon's parent company Creator/{{Viacom}} mounted a pilot on July 27, 1987 for a spinoff called ''Celebrity Double Dare'' for syndication, hosted by Bruce Jenner with teams of celebrities (Scott Baio and Heidi Bohay) and adult contestants, but it never got past there and said pilot never aired (and neither did some other pilots which had solely civilian adult contestants); a syndicated edition of the original ''DD', with all the mess and fun intact (as the Jenner pilots were significantly watered down in terms of gunge, likely a major factor in why they weren't picked up).

* ''[[Series/DoubleDare1986 Double Dare]]'' had several celebrity episodes (including one with Music/WeirdAlYankovic and Creator/LouFerrigno) playing against each other. Nickelodeon mounted a pilot on July 27, 1987 for a spinoff called ''Celebrity Double Dare'' hosted by Bruce Jenner with teams of celebrities (Scott Baio and Heidi Bohay) and adult contestants, but it never got past there and said pilot never aired.

* ''Series/FunHouse'': The 1990-1991 season, which aired as part of Creator/FoxKids' Saturday morning lineup, paired each kid with a child or young teen celebrity from a popular TV series.

* The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' version of ''Celebrity Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', where the celebs were TooDumbToLive or downright sadistic towards Alex Trebek (played by Will Ferrell). The categories were hilarious easy stuff like "Automatic Points", "How Many Fingers Am I Holding Up?", "[[UsefulNotes/BarackObama Current Black Presidents]]", and "Colors That End In -Urple"...but that didn't stop the celebs from racking up insane halftime totals of -$50,000 or more. Recurring characters besides Trebek included {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Burt Reynolds (played by Norm [=MacDonald=]) and Trebek's sadistic arch-nemesis Sean Connery (played by Darryl Hammond).

When it's a game show, usually the winnings are donated to charity rather than kept by the contestants, as it's hard for the audience to get worked up over celebrities winning even ''more'' money than they already have...unless they're has-beens who really don't have any money anymore.

* ''[[Series/DoubleDare1986 Double Dare]]'' had several celebrity episodes (including one with Music/WeirdAlYankovic and [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk Lou Ferrigno]]) playing against each other. Nickelodeon mounted a pilot on July 27, 1987 for a spinoff called ''Celebrity Double Dare'' hosted by Bruce Jenner with teams of celebrities (Scott Baio and Heidi Bohay) and adult contestants, but it never got past there and said pilot never aired.

* ''[[Series/TheApprentice The Celebrity Apprentice]]'' is an {{egregious}} case, as one of the first edition's "celebrities" was Omarosa What's-Her-Name, whose main claim to fame was...competing on ''The Apprentice''. In the second edition, one celebrity was a briefcase model from ''Series/DealOrNoDeal''.

* ''[[Series/American Ninja Warrior]]'' has a celebrity edition to celebrate Red Nose Day 2017. Celebrities involved in this special are: Natalie Morales, Erika Christensen, Derek Hough, Jeff Dye, Nick Swisher, Ashton Eaton, Nikki Glaser, Mena Suvari, and fan-favorite Arrow star, Stephen Amell. While most of the celebs cheated a little, since the special's purpose is to donate nad have a fun run, Amell is at a peak of the human physical condition that he is not only able to plow through six obstacle with ease, but also become the only celebrity to attempt the city finals course, starting with his fitness tool, the Salmon Ladder.

* ''Series/American Ninja Warrior'' has a celebrity edition to celebrate Red Nose Day 2017. Celebrities involved in this special are: Natalie Morales, Erika Christensen, Derek Hough, Jeff Dye, Nick Swisher, Ashton Eaton, Nikki Glaser, Mena Suvari, and fan-favorite Arrow star, Stephen Amell. While most of the celebs cheated a little, since the special's purpose is to donate nad have a fun run, Amell is at a peak of the human physical condition that he is not only able to plow through six obstacle with ease, but also become the only celebrity to attempt the city finals course, starting with his fitness tool, the Salmon Ladder.

** The Dutch version of ''The Mole'' switched from a civilian to an all-celebrity format after Season 4 and has been going on for at least ''eight'' seasons since then. This might be due to the majority of its celebrities ''not'' being pompous famewhores and clearly being in this for the fun.

** At the end of 2016, after the success of the first revived series, two Christmas-themed celebrity episodes were recorded. The event was taking much more seriously this time, with the celebrities being assisted by veteran roboteers to build their own machines, which they were expected to drive against each other for the entire tournament. Each episode was its own separate mini-tournament, resulting in 2 surprisingly legit champion machines being crowned: Arena Cleaner and Kadeena Machina.

** The Wrestling/{{WWE}} themed episode of the Creator/{{NBC}} version, which was hilarious because almost everyone remained completely [[{{Kayfabe}} in character]] for the entire show, leading to such brilliant moments as Wrestling/TripleH refusing to vote out Wrestling/StephanieMcMahom who was at the time (in the strictest sense) his boss (as well as his wife) and Wrestling/TheBigShow towering over Anne when he was eliminated.

* All but one Japanese game show (''Series/PanelQuizAttack25'') use Japanese celebrities due to TV prize laws [[GameShowWinningsCap limiting civilian prizes to 2 million yen (about $18,455 / £12,755 as of May 2016) per person and 10 million yen total (about $92,277 / £63,888)]].

** That said, [[http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=3141 Andy's appearance]] is a MomentOfAwesome — his score of $68,000 is the '''third-highest one-day score in the show's history'''. That can't all have been due to easy material...although Wolf Blitzer's EpicFail in the same match didn't hurt.

** The Wrestling/{{WWE}} themed episode of the Creator/{{NBC}} version, which was hilarious because almost everyone remained completely [[{{Kayfabe}} in character]] for the entire show, leading to such brilliant moments as Wrestling/TripleH refusing to vote out Stephanie who was at the time (in the strictest sense) his boss (as well as his wife) and Wrestling/TheBigShow towering over Anne when he was eliminated.

* ''Series/TradingSpaces'' had several episodes where neighboring celebrities swapped homes, donned smocks, and got spattered with paint under the guidance of a pair of interior designers. Mind you, this doesn't count the episode where Slash of Guns 'n' Roses just wandered in (because he was a friend of one of the couples) and got put to work sewing curtains.

** "Casa dos Artistas" (House of the Artists) was a BigBrother featuring artists as contestants. It was so much like BigBrother it was ScrewedByTheLawyers of the network holding Big Brother's broadcasting rights in Brazil.

* All but one Japanese game show (''Series/PanelQuizAttack25'') use Japanese celebrities due to TV prize laws [[GameShowWinningsCap limiting civilian prizes to 2 million JPY (about US$16,000) per person and 10 million JPY total]].

* All but one Japanese game show (''Series/PanelQuizAttack25'') use Japanese celebrities due to TV prize laws [[GameShowWinningsCap limiting civilian prizes to 2 million JPY (about US$25,000) per person and 10 million JPY total]].

* It may be a RatingsStunt, typically done [[{{Sweeps}} during the months of November, February, and May when commercial rates are determined]] (and, in May, the television season generally ends).

* ''Series/BullseyeUS'' changed on December 7, 1981 to ''Celebrity Bullseye'', which added a best-of-three format to the front game (leading to more straddling than there was prior to this point) and removed the prize package from Bonus Island. Interestingly, the show continued having returning champs, resulting in such celebs as Loanne Bishop and Creator/ErnestBorgnine racking up well over $30,000.

* ''Series/HotPotato'', in what is probably the best example of how it can go very, ''very'' wrong. Having aired at Noon for its first thirteen weeks, the show ousted its unique three-of-a-kind contestant teams ("...and WE'RE telegram singers!~") on April 23, 1984 in favor of solo players being paired with two celebrity teammates. The trouble with this was that the celebrities were usually comic actors or comedians who took their wisecracks more seriously than they did the game. The show was canned ten weeks later.
** It should be noted that there was an all-celebrity week during the first part of the show's run, but it was Miss Americas vs. "All-American Sportsmen" and hence stayed true to the three-of-a-kind format.

* Done every few weeks/months in ''Series/TheChase'', and usually shown on a Sunday rather than a weekday like the normal episodes.

* It may be a "special edition" or occasional treat for the viewer (e.g., Richard Dawson's ''FamilyFeud'' primetime specials).

* All but one Japanese game show (''Panel Quiz Attack 25'') use Japanese celebrities due to TV prize laws [[GameShowWinningsCap limiting civilian prizes to 2 million JPY (about US$25,000) per person and 10 million JPY total]].

* The Australian ''Series/DealOrNoDeal'' had this with celebrities from ''DancingWithTheStars''.

* Subverted by ''Series/{{Distraction}}'', which used former ''BigBrother'' contestants.

* ''[[DoubleDare1986 Double Dare]]'' had several celebrity episodes (including one with Music/WeirdAlYankovic and [[TheIncredibleHulk Lou Ferrigno]]) playing against each other. Nickelodeon mounted a pilot on July 27, 1987 for a spinoff called ''Celebrity Double Dare'' hosted by Bruce Jenner with teams of celebrities (Scott Baio and Heidi Bohay) and adult contestants, but it never got past there and said pilot never aired.

* ''Series/HotPotato'', in what is probably the best example of how it can go very, very wrong. Having aired at Noon for its first thirteen weeks, the show ousted its unique three-of-a-kind contestant teams ("...and WE'RE telegram singers!~") on April 23, 1984 in favor of solo players being paired with two celebrity teammates. The trouble with this was that the celebrities were usually comic actors or comedians who took their wisecracks more seriously than they did the game. The show was canned ten weeks later.

** The WWE-themed episode of the NBC version, which was hilarious because almost everyone remained completely [[{{Kayfabe}} in character]] for the entire show, leading to such brilliant moments as Triple H refusing to vote out Stephanie who was at the time (in the strictest sense) his boss (as well as his wife) and the Big Show towering over Anne when he was eliminated.
*** The other WWE episode was just as hilarious if not more so. At one point, Stone Cold Steve Austin refused to vote out Debra, saying he couldn't vote out his wife. Later that episode, Bubba Ray Dudley cited the same reason for refusing to vote out his tag team partner D-Von.

* The original ''{{Series/Concentration}}'' had an annual Christmas episode where two celebrities, both dressed as Santa, would match dollar amounts for charity.

* When the Bill Cullen edition of ''ThePriceIsRight'' did a ChannelHop from NBC to ABC in 1963, a celebrity was employed to play for members of the studio audience. Recently on the current show with Drew Carey, celebrities were used on special shows to help contestants win their pricing game.

* Downplayed by ''{{Series/Overhaulin}}''. The show has had celebrity "marks" (Ian Ziering, Lance Armstrong), but they aired as part of the normal season and the celebrities weren't treated any differently than non-celebrities. (Although Lance Armstrong's episode did get an independent DVD release due to his Livestrong charity.)

* ''BullseyeUS'' changed on December 7, 1981 to ''Celebrity Bullseye'', which added a best-of-three format to the front game (leading to more straddling than there was prior to this point) and removed the prize package from Bonus Island. Interestingly, the show continued having returning champs, resulting in such celebs as Loanne Bishop and Creator/ErnestBorgnine racking up well over $30,000.

* The ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' sketch "World Forum" had famous Communists Creator/KarlMarx, UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin, UsefulNotes/CheGuevara and UsefulNotes/MaoZedong as contestants on a QuizShow about football teams.