The most popular book in the world has proven its weight in the ratings after recently premiering in a television game show.

 

The creators of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, GSN (Game Show Network), have completed casting contestants across America who want to compete for their favorite charity by appearing on The American Bible Challenge, a new game show hosted by Jeff Foxworthy. The show premiered on Thursday, August 23rd and became an instant hit, debuting as the #1 program on GSN ever!

"The best-selling book of all time is now GSN's most viewed program of all time, which proves that consumers are yearning for fun, family- friendly entertainment," said Amy Introcaso-Davis, Executive Vice President of Programming and Development, GSN. "We are incredibly proud of this show and are happy that it connected with so many viewers."

“Somebody brought us the idea, and we jumped on it immediately,” said David Schiff, SVP of Programming for GSN. “We looked at the television landscape and realized that faith-based programming is really not addressed by the mainstream media.”

After looking at their network demographic and this huge void, “(GSN) thought there was a huge opportunity to address a huge swath of the country that really isn’t being addressed by television,” continued Mr. Schiff, “And we got really excited about that.”

 

The American Bible Challenge is a studio-based game show where contestants’ knowledge of the ‘Good Book’ is challenged. Questions are designed to celebrate the Bible’s importance in contemporary life and culture.

 

The show’s host, Jeff Foxworthy, can currently be seen on GSN’s Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?, and is one of the most respected and successful comedians in the country.

“(He’s) so fantastic. He is unbelievable”, said Mr. Schiff. “We shot a pilot with Jeff, and he so perfectly sets the tone for the show. He’s perfectly appropriate in all matters, and he brings a certain “comfort level” to the contestants.”

 

And people love him.

 

“I thought it was a great idea. A great way to get the Word of God out and at the same time just have an opportunity to have a good time answering questions about what we’re all passionate about,” said contestant hopeful Mike from McKinney, TX.

 

Joanna, a 13-year-old home schooler from Garland, TX, who will be competing for charity for The Scottish Rite Hospital should she be selected said, “I’ve never heard of anything like this before. My mom heard of it on the radio, and she’s like, ‘Well, we’re going to go try it out and see how you do.’ I think it will be good for the kids and all.” 

 

Overall, all the contestants I spoke to were fairly confident in their knowledge of the Bible. “I’ve been raised in church all my life,” beamed Sean of Palmer, TX, “But I’m no expert.” 

 

The American Bible Challenge is being produced by RelativityREAL for GSN. Odyssey Networks, the country’s largest multi-faith coalition dedicated to producing and distributing media that creates understanding among people of different beliefs and perspectives will be Consulting Producers. The competition and intensity only increases over the next nine weeks until the winning team is crowned and goes home with $100,000 for their charity.  Tune-in to GSN every Thursday night at 8pm/7pm Central to see who will make it to the finale!

 

I didn’t get to ask Jeff Foxworthy my favorite trivia question about unicorns, but my guess is he already knows about that.