Canadian sensation
Justin Bieber is among the elite group of professionals challenged by Shaquille O’Neal in the new season SHAQ VS, airing
Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET beginning
August 3 on CTV (visit CTV.ca to confirm local broadcast times). In this six-episode reality competition series, O’Neal takes his athletic prowess beyond the basketball court and at times away from sports altogether as he strives to become a champion at new challenges each week. The series will also air on TSN2.
“I’m out to prove that I can compete beyond athletics,” said O’Neal. “I’ve spent all year sharpening my skills and I want to win. There’s no challenge bigger than me.”
The series closely follows Shaq and his adversaries throughout the rigorous training process and the pre-game hype leading up to every challenge. Each week Shaq competes in an athletic challenge or a non-sports competition, with some episodes featuring Shaq taking on two challengers. To level the playing field, O’Neal negotiates a handicap with his opponent and trains with a coach prior to the challenge.
In the premiere episode “Shaq VS Dale Earnhardt Jr.”, (Aug. 3 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV), four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal races head to head at Concord Speedway in North Carolina against Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s most popular driver and recent winner of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway and more than 40 NASCAR-sanctioned races. Shaq has forgone the familiarity of basketball hardwood for the cramped quarters of a stock-car cockpit – all 7-foot-1-inch, 325 pounds of him. In this episode he also travels to the nation’s capital to take on the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, 15-year old Kavya Shivashankar, and enlists the help of this year’s finalists, along with Kavya’s 8-year old sister, Vanya.
Other celebrities featured with Shaq are:
- Rachel Ray; fiery daytime talk show host in a New York City cook-off
- Charles Barkley; former NBA all-star and NBA MVP winner, challenged to tee off at The St. Regis Monarch Beach golf links
- Joey Chestnut; Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Champion, challenged outside Serendipity 3 in Las Vegas
- Penn and Teller; illusionists and comedians, challenged to defy the odds at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and CasinoSugar Shane Mosley; professional boxer, who faces off against Shaq in an exhibition match at Caesars Palace in Vegas
- Chris Johnson; 2009 NFL Offensive Player of the Year and running back for the Tennessee Titans; DeSean Jackson; wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles and Dwight Howard; NBA All-Star and centre for the Orlando Magic, team up with Shaq to challenge Tyson Gay; American track and field sprinter, in a 200-metre relay race
In the first season, O’Neal competed against Olympic Games gold medallist Michael Phelps in swimming; Super Bowl-winning Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in football; championship fighter Oscar de la Hoya in boxing; two-time National League MVP and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols in baseball; and two-time Olympic gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor in beach volleyball, with the help of U.S. Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Serena Williams.
SHAQ VS is produced by Media Rights Capital in association with Stewart Street Productions. Orly Adelson, Will Staeger, Barry Adelman, Shaquille O'Neal, Scott Messick, Trice Barto, Perry Rogers, Colin Smeeton, Mike Parris and Steve Nash serve as executive producers for the series.
