John Amaechi’s New Gig: UK Reality TV
April 7, 2009 at 10:07 am Ryan Jones 1 comment
Former Penn State hoops great (and now psychologist, motivational speaker, broadcaster, and activist) John Amaechi ’94 Lib has another title to add to his CV: Reality-show judge. John will feature prominently on The Speaker, which debuts in the UK tonight on the BBC. The show features 14-to-18 year olds from throughout the UK in competition to be named Britain’s Best Young Speaker. You can check out a pretty cool promo for the show here.
This news probably doesn’t help much if you live in the U.S., as the video clips on the show’s site don’t appear to work — I assume that has to do with international viewing rights — and as the show doesn’t appear scheduled to air on BBC America. But you can get a sense of John’s acumen on his YouTube channel, or you can take my word for it: I’ve known John since I covered him as as basketball writer for the Collegian, and I’ve seen him speak on campus a couple of times over the past two years. In fact, he was a guest speaker in the feature-writing class I taught last year; as any of my students could tell you, his direct and engaging appearance was the highlight of the semester — news I did my best not to take personally.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Entry filed under: Famous Penn Staters, Nittany Lion basketball, Penn State alumni. Tags: BBC, John Amaechi, The Speaker.
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1. On the Couch (and In the Kitchen) with John Amaechi « The Penn Stater | April 30, 2009 at 9:46 am
[...] Couch (and In the Kitchen) with John Amaechi By Ryan Jones When I wrote a few weeks ago about John Amaechi’s new gig as a UK reality show judge, cross-Atlantic copyright law apparently prevented me from linking to a clip of the show. [...]