Shaq Vs. is an American reality television series produced for ABC by Dick Clark Productions and Media Rights Capital and starring American basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, who challenges professional athletes to compete against him in their own sports.
The series premiered in the USA on ABC on 18 August, 2009. The first two episodes are half an hour in length; thereafter episodes are an hour long.
Shaq Vs. premiered in South Africa on TopTV's Fox FX channel on Saturday 29 January 2011, at 20h30. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 2 premiered on Fox FX on Saturday 26 February 2011, at 20h30. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are five episodes in the second season.
Season 2 Repeats
Sundays: 03h20, 22h00
Mondays: 04h45, 19h45
Season 1
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, he negotiates a handicap with his opponent and trains with a coach prior to the challenge.
Shaq Vs. is produced for ABC 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.
Season 2
This season O'Neal will not only use his athletic prowess to challenge high-profile athletes, but also his energy and charisma to compete beyond the athletic arena in non-sports challenges.
Over the course of six episodes, O'Neal will race Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Concord Speedway; take on pop singing sensation Justin Bieber in Orlando; challenge daytime host and author Rachael Ray to a cook-off in the Big Apple; and team up with NBA All-Star Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans and DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles to outrun Tyson Gay in a 200-metre relay race.
He will also tee off with Charles Barkley on The St. Regis Monarch Beach golf links; attempt to defy illusionists and comedians Penn & Teller at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino; partake in a spelling bee against Scripps National Champion Kavya Shivashankar; box against Sugar Shane Mosley in an exhibition match at Caesars Palace in Vegas; challenge Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Champion Joey Chestnut outside Serendipity 3 in Las Vegas, and more.
In the premiere episode, Shaq Vs. Dale Earnhardt Jr., four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal will race 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 swapped his size-23 basketball shoes for racing Velcro; traded his breezy, cool basketball jersey for a heavy, fire-retardant driver's suit; 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.
Seasons
Series exclusive to Fox FX
Season 1 (5 episodes)
Premiere: 29 January 2011 | Finale: 19 February 2011 | Saturdays, 20h30
Season 2 (5 episodes)
Premiere: 26 February 2011 | Finale: 26 March 2011 | Saturdays, 20h30