Netflix is giving Ultimate Beastmaster another run.
The streaming giant has renewed the global competition series for a third season. Over the course of nine new episodes, the event series from executive producer Sylvester Stallone will feature 100 competitors from nine countries: the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Germany, Brazil, Italy, France, South Korea and Mexico. The third season is set to launch later this year.
In each episode, competitors take their shot at running “The Beast,” one of the most physically demanding obstacle courses ever created. At the end of each installment, a “Beastmaster” is crowned — and in the final episode of the season, the nine individual winners from each episode will compete against one another for the chance to become the “Ultimate Beastmaster.”
Season two lasted 10 episodes and featured 108 competitors from six countries: Spain, France, Italy, China, India and the U.S. This year, Spain, China and India will not be included — meanwhile, the U.K., Australia, Germany, Brazil, South Korea and Mexico have been added. For each version across the globe, local celebrity hosts and popular athletes provide commentary throughout the show. In addition, the different localized versions are in each country’s local language, making the series an early effort by Netflix to roll out programming that could appeal to subscribers in many different countries.
Returning hosts from the past season include former NFL player Tiki Barber (U.S.), mixed martial arts fighter Anderson Silva and comedian Rafinha Bastos (Brazil), DJ Francesco Facchinetti and supermodel Bianca Balti (Italy), actor Gilles Marini and sports journalist Sandy Heribert (France), actor Kyung Suk Su and actress Katy Park (South Korea), and sports journalist Ines Sainz and actor Luis Ernesto Franco (Mexico).
Among the new hosts joining the series in the third season are WWE champion CM Punk and former UFC fighter CM Punk (U.S.), professional wrestler Stun Bennett and sports journalist Kate Abdo (U.K.), TV personality Dannii Minogue and former rugby star Nick Cummins (Australia), and radio and TV host Micky Beisenherz and actress Jeannine Michaelsen (Germany). Ultimate Beastmaster is produced by 25/7 Productions and Dave Broome for Netflix. In addition to Stallone, executive producers include Dave Broome, Yong Yam and Kevin-King-Templeton.
When Ultimate Beastmaster first premiered early last year, it marked Netflix’s first competition series. Up until that point, the streamer’s unscripted focus had been mostly on documentary films (Ava DuVernay’s 13th, for example) and docuseries (think: Making a Murder). Since then, the platform has expanded more into the talk and late-night arena, beginning with Chelsea Handler’s since-canceled Chelsea, and followed by more recent unscripted entries from David Letterman (My Next Guest Needs No Introduction) and Joel McHale (The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale). Netflix also recently ordered a new talk show from comedian Michelle Wolf and a reality series from organization guru Marie Kondo.
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