Keegan-Michael-Key-hosts-Brain-Games

Watch Back-to-back episodes starting at 8/7c of BRAIN GAMES on National Geographic, Monday, January 20th with 8 episodes!

The reboot of Nat Geo’s Emmy-nominated series returns with host Keegan-Michael Key, adding a Hollywood twist to its classic mind-bending format by challenging the world’s biggest celebrities to realize their exceptional brain power through fun and highly entertaining interactive games, illusions and social experiments.

Key, along with world-famous mentalist Lior Suchard and field correspondent and science communicator Cara Santa Maria, guides celebrities, including Anthony Anderson, Kristen Bell, Jack Black, Mark Cuban, Ted Danson, Tiffany Haddish, Dax Shepard, Megan Trainor and Rebel Wilson, through fun and exciting experiments, illusions and demonstrations that will help them realize their untapped brain power. The results are hilarious, surprising and interactive, and will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Episode Guide

Episode 1: Male Brain vs. Female Brain
Premiere: Jan. 20, 2020
Actors and married couple Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard go head-to-head in the Battle of the Sexes, a series of games designed to find out how men’s and women’s brains differ. Challenges include stocking items in a fridge, communicating the details of a model’s outfit and solving a math puzzle before a gas balloon explodes. Field correspondent Cara Santa Maria plays a game of telephone with a group in Los Angeles to see if men or women communicate better, and mentalist Lior Suchard astonishingly reveals the names of Bell and Shepard’s first crushes, all culminating in the Gauntlet, a battle where the two compare their mental strength and agility.

Episode 2: Ted Danson: Fact or Fiction?
Premiere: Jan. 20, 2020
Actor Ted Danson and special guests Blue Man Group play along with host Keegan-Michael Key as we learn how our brains distinguish fact from fiction. Games include identifying real vs. fake news headlines, spotting a poker face out of a group of World Series Poker Champions and figuring out which photo conveys the truth. In addition, master mentalist Lior Suchard predicts who’s lying when it comes to hiding a treasured object, and Danson takes a ride through the show’s mental obstacle course, known as the Gauntlet.

Episode 3: Drew Brees: Performance
Premiere: Jan. 27, 2020
New Orleans Saints NFL quarterback Drew Brees puts his brain to the test with a series of mental challenges exploring how everyday superhumans have hacked their brains and how we can train our own minds to do as we want. Games include Draft Day, in which Brees tests his reaction time and cognitive flexibility, and a game of hand-eye coordination and perception. Kelly Clarkson makes an appearance to give an example of bimanual interference, mentalist Lior Suchard stuns Brees by predicting his every move, and then Brees takes on his own brain strength in the Gauntlet’s mental obstacle course.

Episode 4: Kids vs. Adults
Premiere: Feb. 3, 2020
Actor Anthony Anderson and his younger “Black-ish” co-star Marsai Martin face off in a series of games with Keegan-Michael Key to explore the surprising differences between adults’ and kids’ brains. Challenges involve language, reflexes and reaction times, and risk-taking and mind control — all before the two co-stars face off in the Gauntlet’s mental obstacle course. Plus, field correspondent Cara Santa Maria pits the driving skills of teens against those of adults by reversing the controls of a go-cart, using neuroscience to explain why one group performs much better than the other.

Episode 5: Jack Black: Music
Premiere: Feb. 10, 2020
Actor-musician Jack Black and his Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass join Keegan-Michael Key to learn how music affects the brain. Games and demonstrations include a round of musical mad libs, “Odd-itory” illusions and experiments that show how music can affect our perception of images, emotions and even taste. Master mentalist Lior Suchard asks Black to think of any song in the world and tries to guess it correctly. Black tests his brain power in the Gauntlet, and afterward he is joined by singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor for an improvised onstage jam session.

Episode 6: Mark Cuban: Power and Persuasion
Premiere: Feb. 17, 2020
Keegan-Michael Key welcomes billionaire CEO and star of “Shark Tank” Mark Cuban to explore how business-savvy, powerful brains might be different from others, and how power can manipulate the way we think. Cuban and Key undergo a series of challenges involving split-second decision-making via rapid hiring and firing, memory mastery and a ruthless game of “Simon Says.” Plus, actor Colin Hanks demonstrates the halo effect by disguising his identity to become a pretentious artist. Mentalist Lior Suchard manipulates the audience to move pendulums with their minds, and Cuban tests his mettle in the Gauntlet’s mental obstacle course.

Episode 7: Rebel Wilson: Love and Attraction
Premiere: Feb. 24, 2020
Actress Rebel Wilson joins Keegan-Michael Key to explore the power of the subconscious when it comes to falling in love. Games and demos show how facial symmetry, color of clothing, vocal qualities, resemblance to family members and even a guitar case can play a role in attraction. Master mentalist Lior Suchard stuns Wilson by giving her details of a date she remembers — and pairs off potential partners who have a surprising thing in common — before Wilson takes on the Gauntlet, an obstacle course designed to test mental strength and agility.

Episode 8: Tiffany Haddish: Movie Magic
Premiere: March 2, 2020
Actress Tiffany Haddish and director Jordan Peele join Keegan-Michael Key to play games that show how Hollywood pros manipulate our brains to make us feel genuine emotion while watching movies. Challenges and demos include taking a closer look at some of the bizarre tactics used to create sound effects in movies, identifying a performer in disguise and illuminating how filmmakers manipulate our brains with editing. Foley artist Dan O’Connell shows us the surprising ways sound can be created for movies, Haddish tests her mental strength and agility in the Gauntlet, and mentalist Lior Suchard stuns the crowd with an amazing mind-reading trick.

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