Travis Kelce Says He Turned Down This Netflix Reality Show to Focus on Other Projects: “I’m Way Over the Reality S—”
“I’d rather just play ball, man.”
Travis Kelce will soon make his acting debut in Ryan Murphy’s upcoming horror series Grotesquerie, but he has certainly been on TV before—and not just during Kansas City Chiefs games. Lest we forget, before he dated Taylor Swift, he starred in a reality dating show, Catching Kelce—but those dating show days are over (he’s in love, after all), as are his reality TV days, apparently. (In his Saturday Night Live monologue when he hosted the show back in March 2023, he said of Catching Kelce that “It was kind of like The Bachelor, except instead of roses, I handed out footballs.”)
During a recent appearance on the “Bussin’ with the Boys” podcast, Kelce said he is completely “over” appearing in the genre after being asked about joining the upcoming Netflix reality series Receiver—a follow-up to the streaming giant’s 2023 series Quarterback, which featured his teammate, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. (QBs Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota were also profiled in the series.)
Kelce is leaving the Netflix reality star mantle to Mahomes, his QB.
“After Pat did it, I did get asked about it,” Kelce said. “I don’t know. I’d rather just play ball, man. I’m already doing enough with the podcast and everything,” Kelce said of “New Heights,” the podcast he co-hosts with his older brother, Jason Kelce. He added, as a coup de grace, “I’m way over the reality shit,” he said. “I’m out on that shit.”
Harkening back to his SNL monologue, Kelce joked of his past reality TV experience “And instead of watching, people did not,” he said. “It was a little embarrassing, but I got really good at reality TV.”
Kelce’s trying his hand at excelling at scripted TV, telling listeners on “New Heights” on May 14 that “It’s been so much fun,” he said of Grotesquerie. “Ryan Murphy is [an] unbelievable writer, director, producer, all of the above, man. He’s just—there’s nothing he can’t do, and everybody’s just been so helpful in making me feel comfortable.”
He added “Even on top of that, just giving me kinda the direction I need and the coaching I need to portray the part that I’m in,” per People.
Kelce is starring alongside Niecy Nash-Betts in the forthcoming FX horror series "Grotesquerie."
Sans Kelce, the show will go on—Receiver, that is, which will follow five NFL stars throughout their 2023 season and beyond on Netflix. Davante Adams, Justin Jefferson, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Amon-Ra St. Brown will get their reality star turn when Receiver premieres on July 10 with eight episodes, People reports.
If you need your Kelce reality fix and are disappointed you won’t get it in Receiver, there’s still the Kelce brothers’ Amazon Prime Video docuseries Kelce, which follows Jason “towards the end of his career” and “the ups and downs of the battles that he had,” Kelce said of his brother, per Deadline.
Kelce, although he said he's done with reality TV, is living out his life in front of the cameras whether he likes it or not, as he is, you know, dating the most famous woman in the world.
“I think he did it the right way,” Kelce said of his older brother. “But that was so him, and I just don’t know if I have the desire to do anything like that. I’d rather just focus on ball, baby.”
And so, he shall—Kelce reports for Chiefs training camp on July 21, ahead of the squad’s first game on September 5 against the Baltimore Ravens.
