Summer on ABC is kicking off with the return of Match Game. The fifth season of the beloved series premieres May 31 with a number of special celebrity guests. The celebs featured in the season 5 premiere include some of TV’s finest detectives and a Sex and the City star: Melissa Fumero, Adam Rodriguez, Angie Harmon, Michael Chiklis, Jennifer Esposito, and Mario Cantone.
In our EXCLUSIVE preview, host Alec Baldwin — wearing a striped prisoner costume — asks one of the contestants what she does for work. The woman reveals that she’s a retired police detective, which is something most of the celebrity guests know a thing or two about. The contestant is also a retired professional bodybuilder!
The contestant was ranked fourth in the world when she retired. She can still leg press over 400 pounds. “I’d like to see that,” Michael jokes. She proves it by leg-pressing The Shield star right then and there! Michael, Alec, and the rest of the stars are absolutely stunned by her strength. Michael gives her a high five when she’s done.
Michael notably starred as LAPD Detective Vic Mackey on the FX police drama The Shield. The series ran from 2002 to 2008. He won the Emmy for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama in 2003. The Emmy winner’s next role will be as a border patrol agent in the Paramount Network drama Coyote, which is set to premiere in 2020.
The contestants appearing in the Match Game season 5 premiere include Audrey White (hometown: Ocoee, Florida), Natalie Illiano (hometown: Voorhees, New Jersey), Tony Pham (hometown: Brooklyn, New York), and Jennifer Jewett (hometown: Gilbert, Arizona). The show features four contestants each week vying for a chance to win $25,000. They’ll attempt to match the answers of six celebrities in a game of fill-in-the-blank.
Episodes of Match Game can also be viewed the next day On Demand and Hulu. Match Game season 5 airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on ABC.