Think about if a Tour de France peloton comprised of celebrities and athletes crashed right into a spaceship piloted by William Shatner, which then crashed into a movie crew trying to make a Survivor-style actuality TV present.
For those who can wrap your mind round that, you’re midway to understanding Stars on Mars: A brand new actuality present premiering on Fox on June 5. For those who’re asking your self why you’re studying about such a factor on BikeRumor!, it’s as a result of one of many present’s contestants is Lance Armstrong.
It goes with out saying that the 51-year-old former skilled bicycle owner who famously gained seven consecutive Tour de France titles between 1998 and 2005 has led a checkered skilled profession.
And sadly for all of the folks he impressed by means of not solely his biking success but additionally his most cancers survival, he fell onerous. In 2012, a United States Anti-Doping Company investigation discovered that Armstrong was part of “probably the most subtle, professionalized, and profitable doping program that [professional cycling] has ever seen.”
As you’ll recall, all seven of Armstrong’s Tour de France titles and one Olympic medal had been stripped. The Texan maintained his innocence till lastly admitting to doping in 2013.
For many who harbor leisure pursuits aside from biking, Armstrong might or might not be the headlining celeb of Stars on Mars. The “former skilled road-racing bicycle owner and investor,” because the present’s press supplies discuss with him, will be part of different retired icons like NFL operating again Marshawn Lynch and UFC fighter Ronda Rousey on set. Natasha Leggero, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Adam Rippon, Tom Schwartz, Richard Sherman, Tinashe, Porsha Williams Guobadia, Tallulah Willis, and Ariel Winter spherical out the Fox present’s roster.
The contestants will “stay, eat, sleep, strategize and bond with one another in the identical [simulated] house station,” the press launch reads.
In response to promotional supplies, the present seems to be roughly primarily based on a tried-and-true actuality TV system: the “crew” will stay collectively in shut confines whereas competing “missions” assigned to them by fictional starship captain and surprisingly respectable singer/songwriter (when he collabs with Ben Folds) William Shatner. The contestants will vote one crew member “again to Earth,” every week.
The voting element necessitates “stellar social expertise,” which might spell hassle for Armstrong — a person with a protracted observe document of allegedly bullying and humiliating teammates and workers.
If he runs foul, he’d higher avoid Rousey. Then again, perhaps the abilities Armstrong cultivated in his years of mendacity about doping are precisely what it’s essential win a actuality TV present contest.
