Gina Rodriguez was just as in the dark as the Lucky 13 contestants about executive producer Kevin Bacon‘s onscreen appearance.
“They told us that we were having a special guest. It was kind of out of the blue the night before. They were like, ‘There’ll be a special guest tomorrow, so just be prepared.’ And then they didn’t tell us,” the host exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the Thursday, August 15, episode of the hit ABC game show. “Then right before I went on they were like, ‘During the Kevin Bacon question, Kevin Bacon is going to come out.’”
Rodriguez, 40, wasn’t expecting to cross paths with Bacon, 66, despite him being involved with the show behind the scenes. (The actor made a brief appearance on Thursday’s episode after a trivia question was posed to a contestant about whether Bacon has a vegan cookbook. Spoiler alert: he doesn’t.)
“I found out on the internet that I am two degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon. Then that morning I was like, ‘I’m one degree of separation from Kevin Bacon.’ When he came out, I was legitimately shook — and I don’t really get that shook,” she recalled. “I’ve also been in the industry for over 10 years and I’ve met a lot of incredible human beings.”
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As a fan of Bacon’s work, Rodriguez was excited about the unexpected opportunity, adding, “I am a massive fan of Kevin Bacon. So when he came out and he was just there in the flesh, I was like, ‘Oh s—t, you are Kevin Bacon and you are here.’”
She continued: “It’s a pretty hysterical moment. Then he leaves just like that — just like a beautiful angel. [Or] like a beautiful unicorn that shows up and then disappears. It was pretty surreal, I’m not going to lie. I think the reactions are going to show how absolutely blown away myself and [cohost] Shaquille O’Neal were.”
Lucky 13, which premiered on ABC in July, is a high-stakes game show that tests contestants’ knowledge with 13 true-or-false trivia questions. The twist? Each contestant competing for the grand prize of $1 million has to accurately predict how successfully they answered the questions.
“My favorite game shows were the old school ones. I love Family Feud. We went really hard in our house to the point where we bought the game and played Family Feud in the house during Christmas time. I did study Steve Harvey [for this gig] because I’m definitely a Family Feud and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire fan. And I actually really studied Elizabeth Banks in Press Your Luck,” Rodriguez shared about getting into the moon as a host. “Elizabeth — like myself — is an actress and director, and she just comes at it with such a love for the human perspective.”
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Rodriguez was surprised when she was initially offered the chance to join the show.
“I was first asked to join this project by Shaquille. I mean, who says no to Shaquille O’Neal? Not I! But I was like, ‘This is definitely very different for me.’ It was nothing I was actually ever really interested in before Shaquille O’Neal approached me,” she admitted. “But I had to figure out how it was going to make sense for me because I had never really hosted before. … For me, I was excited to give people money. So it was coming from that perspective of how do I fit into this? Oh, I want people to walk away happy and with money.”
The transition from acting to hosting was not without its challenges.
“It was vastly different from making a TV show. You are in front of a live audience,” Rodriguez noted. “It’s like there are 200 strangers that don’t know the industry that are kind of getting a sneak peek into the skeletal process of making anything really artistic in front of the camera. It can be a little nerve-wracking.”
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Rodriguez also pointed out how “nonstop” the filming process was, saying, “I am standing for 12 hours in heels and my feet are broken. When you’re doing a TV show, there’s a lot of downtime. You set up a shot, shoot it and then you can go work on lines or you can relax or decompress. With this, you are on from the start throughout the whole day in front of a bunch of strangers. and you do not stop. It’s like the train is out of the station and you’re holding on for dear life.”
The actress has been having a lot of fun though — especially thanks to her cohost.
“What I say is improv. Most of what me and Shaq get to do is improv. I definitely come from a comedic background so I’m able to insert that into it, which is really fun and liberating. I don’t feel too restricted by a script,” Rodriguez shared with Us. “So much of the show is me and Shaq being us or having fun and being able to bring in both of our comedic chops.”
New episodes of Lucky 13 air on ABC Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET and are available to stream the next day on Hulu.
