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 Dan Cortese is host of My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad. |
Putting the pressure on pops is the name of the game in Dan Cortese's new TV gig.
The former host of MTV Sports is lending his experience to the NBC game show, My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad.
The series features teams of fathers and their sons or daughters squaring off against one another in suburban-inspired game-show challenges -- the winning team has the chance at up to $50,000.
Cortese, an actor/broadcaster and former football player (University of North Carolina), was hired based on his career with MTV and his first-hand experience as a doting dad.
"My son is seven, my daughter is getting ready to be four. Unless you have children it's hard to describe the feeling and the sensation that you have as a father when you do things with them," says Cortese, who's been married since 1993.
"You realize that a father will do anything for their kids."
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Such as participating in near-ridiculous stunts such as shooting fake newspapers through window targets, and attempting to answer trivia questions based on Harry Potter books and the fifth grade science class curriculum, as their kids cheer them on.
Each episode features four teams which square off in a series of fun challenges, most notably: The Human Dart Board (kids are harnessed in and sent flying through the air by their dads toward a giant velcro dartboard; and Snake Bobbing, (a test of gusto where an aquarium is filled with snakes and tomatoes -- dads have to bob for tomatoes and hand them off to their kids).
"At the end of the day these guys would not be doing any of this if their kids weren't right there with them and their kids weren't cheering for them," says Cortese.
"It's not just a show for people who have kids, though. It's a show for anyone who's ever done anything with their dad. That's the experience that takes place in this show and that's why I was attracted to it."
The fast-paced series was created by Jon Hotchkiss and Mark Burnett Productions (Survivor, Are You Smarter Than Fifth Grader?)
Cortese is best known as Dan Dan The Whopper Man, from his series of appearances in Burger King commercials as its official spokesperson.
He's also been seen in episodes of Seinfeld, where he played Elaine's super-hot boyfriend for a few episodes, and on the short-lived sitcom Veronica's Closet, in which he played the character Perry.
My Dad is Better Than Your Dad airs on Monday nights on Citytv.