Back in 2014, Alfonso Ribeiro and Witney Carson danced their way to a mirrorball trophy on Dancing with the Stars. Five years later, he is back hosting a game show on GSN with his dance partner by his side.
Today at 6p, Carlton is once again holding the cards on Catch 21 and his partner is dealing them on the easy but challenging game show. The game starts off with the three players each being dealt a card. Then they have to answer a question and whoever gets it right gets to draw a card. If that second card gets them close to BlackJack, then they can freeze. If not, they can take that card and hope to get another answer correct. However, if they don’t like it, they can pass it on to one of the other two players. Whoever gets the closest to 21 without going over wins the round.
This goes on for two rounds. For the third round, only the two higher scorers move on. Then the winner of the third round goes on to the finals. In that round, they have to play three decks. They need to get all three decks to the magic number of 21. If they get one deck, they $2,500. If they bust then they go home with the $1,000 they won earlier in the game. If they get 21 again without busting, then they go home $5,000. Finally, if they get three BlackJacks without busting, then they win $25,000. Not too shabby! Better odds than Vegas!
While the questions they ask are pretty easy to answer, BJ is a game of luck. You never know what card you are going to be handed. You can get a King and an Ace, or you can get a 5, a 3, a 4 and a 10. It is going with your gut and sometimes it gets it wrong. Because of that uncertainty, Catch 21 is an exciting show to watch weekdays at 6p.
This is not Ribeiro’s first time at this table. He hosted the game show from 2008-2011. While I did not watch it then, I will watch it now because of the chemistry he has with his Partner in Crime. Ribeiro and Carson are such a good pair together, it is not a surprise that they won DWTS!
I should be honest, I do really like the show. However, I should tell you that I went to the same JHS as him and I support my old alumi. Well, minus two because of their corrupt past and present, but that is a whole other post.
Alfonso Ribeiro and his wife Angela welcomed their third child together, his fourth. His wife went into labor on Mother’s Day, but Ava Sue Ribeiro waited until yesterday to come out.
The actor has a 16-year-old daughter with his first wife and 2 boys, Alfonso, 5, and Anders, 2, with his Angela. I just realized that this couple, who have been married for 6 years, is naming all of their kids with names that start with A. Who do they think they are, Kris Jenner?
For years, whenever Alfonso Ribeiro was asked if we could get ever get a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air revival, he said no. Carlton is on Steve Harvey’s show today, and he explained why it would not happen.
The first reason is that Will Smith makes too much to do TV again. The second is that without James Avery, who passed away in 2013, it would not be the same. Then he told Harvey, “Now I won’t say that there can’t be a spinoff or a different kind of reboot or something like that.” Then he added, “In terms of a true Fresh Prince of Bel-Air remake, yeah, that won’t happen.”
This is where it gets good. He put on that hinting voice and said: “But, I mean, but, I’ll say, there’s maybe, some things can happen.” What those things are, we don’t know. But that is the first glimmer of hope he has ever given us. Thus, it is OK to do a slow Carlton Dance but not a full-fledged one just yet.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Alfonso Ribero is suing Fortnite for a likeness they have to this Carlton Dance during the game. Even though he made those dance moves famous it was not the first time we saw them.
We actually saw then nearly a decade beforehand by The Go-Gos and Belinda Carlisle wanted him to know that. She wrote, “i would suggest that he takes a look at early gogo’s….. in fact he should look at the ‘head over heels’ video from 1983…. :)) no such thing as an original idea…” With that, she showed him that not heaven but hell is a place on earth!
Maybe it is time for The Tap Dance Kid to take a Vacation on his lawsuit. BTW he cannot use the excuse that he was doing that Broadway show when that video was all over MTV. We might not have had MTV in Riverdale back then but we had Friday Night Videos and American Bandstand on our TVs for free. Sorry to sell out a JHS alum, but I have to give this beat down to best girl group of all-time. Yeah, better than Destiny’s Child, I said it!
Anyways, no one tell Carlisle and Ribero that the Yeti in Candy Crush Friends does that same dance when you win a round with him.
Back in 1990, Alfonso Ribeiro guest starred on A Different World and they really liked him. So much so, they wanted to bring him back on the show.
Around that same time, he auditioned for a show with some guy who went by Fresh Prince and got that part. Now he had to choose which sitcom he wanted to be on. A blessing and a curse for any actor.
Was the decision hard for him? He told Larry King, “I made the decision to go with the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air cause I really believed there was something special about him and the show.”
It was a huge risk to go with a barely known rapper over an established show, but I think we can all agree he made the right choice. Imagine a different world without the Carlton dance? Let’s not because it is too sad to think about.
UPDATE: Alfonso Ribeiro revealed that he and his wife, Angela, are expecting baby #3, his fourth, next year.
