‘The Quiz With Balls’: Jay Pharoah Talks Show’s New Twist, Celebrity Spinoff & More

Jay Pharoah deep-dived into the new season of The Quiz With Balls, telling us the truth about the new twist, and the possibility of a celebrity season.

The Quiz With Balls is a game show where two teams of five compete against each other to try to win up to $100,000. They answer general knowledge questions, and if they get one wrong, the contestant is thrown into the water by a ball that rolls down a track.

Whoever has the most players left and money won by the end of the game wins and goes on to the bonus round, where they can win $100,000. However, they have to get every question right in the round in order to win.

This season, the game show introduced the Bonus Ball. The way the Bonus Ball works is that whoever is standing in front of it that round, if they get it right, they win some sort of prize, like a lifetime supply of sunblock or a trip, etc. Season 3 has also changed up the game by allowing friends, coworkers, and more to play the game together, instead of just family.

Host Jay Pharoah, who was a Saturday Night Live cast member from 2010 to 20216, talked to TV Insider about what elements he would like to see added to the show, why contestants wear what they do, Rolf the lifeguard, and more.

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TV Insider: The contestants know that if they get an answer wrong, they are going into the water. So, why do you think they dress up?

Pharoah: I mean, listen, because it’s television and people are self-absorbed. They want to look good. It don’t matter to me. I’m telling you, if you don’t know what’s going on, you’re gonna get splashed, right? And if you ain’t got all the stuff glued down to your face, it’s going to be floating in the water. Now, just imagine that. Imagine you got all glammed up, and then you go in the water, and you turn it a beige color. Just imagine that. I don’t understand it, but as I said, it’s television. You only get one shot. Do not miss your chance to glow. But if you don’t know it, you’re definitely gonna go in the water. So whatever, you could be fashionable.

We had a lady with a whole bunch of sequins on her. That was fun. The water was all sparkly. Looked like Avatar. That was cool. I don’t want anybody to go in, but at the same time, I do, because sometimes it’s fun to see. It’s fun to see.

How long did it take for the sequins to be cleaned out of the pool?

Oh, we’ve got a team. Fox is pretty on it. We’ve got a team. It takes five minutes to get that stuff out of there. They got nets. They got people, they’ve got divers. They got people who swim in there. It’s all good.

Is it a requirement for the contestants to be able to swim?

No, it’s not, because we’ve got an actual trained lifeguard on staff. Rolf, if you’ve seen him, he gets fan mail. I don’t even get fan mail. He gets fan mail because he got his abs out and everything. So, he’ll jump in there. And if you don’t know how to swim, we will give you floaties. I’ve seen grown-ups past the age of 35 with floaties, so don’t be scared. Just do your best and try to get to the end, try to get as far as you can, to win as much money, because the way the economy is now, you need that.

Speaking of Rolf, will he ever talk?

Listen, we’re trying to build it into the contract next season. Hopefully, if we get picked up for another season, I have a feeling that we will. He’s got 50 words he can say. I’m trying to negotiate that. But honestly, he talks off camera. It’s a bit, but we talk off camera. He’s like, “Hey, man, that was good. That was great.”

But the man talks off camera, so ladies, if you want to get more acquainted with Rolf, maybe you just need to show up at the studio and wait for the season finale party, because then alcohol is going and he has a full conversation. He’s a real smart dude.

Have you or the producers considered alternative things the contestants could fall into like a ball pit or foam pieces?

A ball pit? *laughs*. No, I haven’t thought about that, but I don’t think that would be as much fun. We haven’t talked about that. We’ve talked about maybe different types of balls, knocking them in, which is what they did this season. So we did it this season, so it was all good, but never, like, fall into a ball pit or fall into jello or something like that. But I would love to see somebody try to swim their way out of some Jello pudding. I would love it green, too green, so it gets stuck on their clothes, and no matter what, people know that they had jello on them. That’s what I want. That’s really what I want. Some colored Jell-O with all the flavor. Yes, please. Let’s do that. Make them look like Slimer from Ghostbusters.

This season introduced the bonus ball. Can you talk a little bit about that and how the prizes were decided?

Well, as far as the prizes being decided, we’ll definitely say, “Oh, you want a year supply of sunblock, or you want Beyonce tickets? Done.’ Well, we ain’t never said Beyonce tickets, because we don’t want anybody up there getting emotional, but it’s honestly just money. We’re giving more money to people.

So the way the bonus ball works, if it comes up, and I think it’s the second round of the show. If you stand on the right category, and you get the question right, then you get the extra prize. Somebody’s always going to get it. Somebody is always going to get it every show. So it’s always an opportunity for somebody to win some more money, get some more cash, get some more notoriety, and help with the gas tank.

Has there ever been a malfunction where the right ball knocked someone off?

No, but there has been, and I don’t know which episode it was, but there was a gentleman who got the answer right, and he fell into the water. Tell me you got it right. What are you doing?

And I think it was in the first season. I’ll never forget this. Her name was Double Dip Tina. That’s what we called her because she was bending over looking at the other answer. She got hers right, and she fell in the water. But the guy, Roy, this season, it was like a ghost. It was like the Grim Reaper came and touched him on his shoulder, and just like, pushed him in, or, I don’t know, it was like the wind, just pushed him into the water. Nobody was there. Nobody pushed him. It was like watching Looney Tunes. It was crazy. It really was.

But, there’s never been a malfunction like that, where it’s a right answer, and somebody gets knocked in, but we have had malfunctions where the balls got stuck, and we had to reset and, for 30 minutes, you got the warm up guy out there, he’s talking, and then I go out there and I’m singing, I’m doing stuff. We know how to improv. We can stretch time. I’m a comedian.

If you got to play The Quiz With Balls, who would you want to play with?

Just family or people in general?

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Anybody. Family, game show hosts, SNL cast mates. 

Because something else that we’ve done this season is that we’ve upgraded, allowing people who aren’t necessarily family to be on the show, where you have nurses versus firefighters, or you have the Army versus the Air Force, things like that.

So, the people that I would want to play with would be. Well, I gotta have my mother, who is smart as a whip, so I feel like she would know a lot. So from the blood-related side, my mom, maybe my nephew too, because he’s just up on everything. He’s nine, but he’s up on everything.

I would love to play with, I can’t say Tracy Morgan, because he’ll say something crazy and get knocked in. Michael Che and Taram Killan.   I think we would dominate. That’d be a great team.

I hope my sister doesn’t take offense. She’s very smart, too. But when she gets nervous, she freezes, and I’d be yelling at her to say the answer.

Have you ever done a test run and gotten knocked into the water?

Yeah. I’ve been knocked in before. I think we were doing a promo last season, and I waited for it. I got knocked in. But I like it. I don’t care. I like water. I’m not scared of the water. Let me tell you, I went all the way down to the bottom, pushed up, and arose out of the water angelically, because I loved it. I loved it. If there had been Baywatch music playing, it would have been perfect.

Besides the Bonus Ball, is there another element that could be added to the game that you think would up the ante?

I think maybe if there was a round where you pick a number between one and 100, Wow. Now, let me lower it, maybe one through 20. And if you get that number, it knocks off one of the questions. Maybe your family only has to play with those many questions for the rest of the game. That would be kind of dope. It will give you an advantage. But if you got it, maybe you get three, maybe you get two or three tries. Maybe you get two tries.

You pick a number between one and 20. If you land on that number, then bam. You can knock out one of the questions. You can knock a question off, so you only have to deal with fewer. Maybe something like that. If your family is lacking, maybe if you all are falling behind, you can do that. So maybe, if there are two family members, or whatever, you can just knock that question and just like, “Alright, cool, something I don’t know.”

I gotta think about it. That’s a good question. Or maybe we have a celebrity that comes in, kind of like the bonus ball, where, if you get the category or something, maybe a celebrity comes and they can say, “Release the ball,” or something like that. I don’t know. Like fantasy pick. And I know people might get tired of seeing me say, “Release the balls.” Maybe you want Sabrina Carpenter to say it, or something, I don’t know.

Would there ever be a celebrity version of the game?

We had a couple of celebrity squads this season. I think there is room to make a complete series for Celebrity Quiz With Balls. I know people are aching to get on the show, because when I went to the SNL 50, people like, “How do I get on?” I was like, “You don’t need it, but just hit me up. We get you on there.” Everybody just wants to have fun. So yeah, I can see that.

Do you have any projects coming up that you want to talk about?

I’ve got a music project. I’m dropping called The Odyssey. The next single for it comes out on the 12th. The whole project comes out on June 15th. My Delusion-All Tour is still running through the end of the year.

Bus Boys with David Spade and Theo Vaughn came out in theaters last month. I’m not sure if it’s still in theaters, but it will probably be on streaming soon. I’ve got a couple of projects that I’m working on, film-wise, so 2027 should be a great year.

Maybe you could guest-host SNL?

I would love it. If I get the opportunity to do so, if everything lines up the way it’s supposed to. Lorne [Michaels] has said “We’ll definitely help you promote whatever you need.”

I’m not opposed to doing that. I’d love to host. It’s been 10 years since I left. Time flies.

The Quiz With Balls, Mondays, 9/8c, Fox