A new ABC reality show has people hide Shaq! Survivor, try that!
November 10, 2026
ESPN and ABC just announced a new reality competition, on which people will vote each other off and compete in challenges. And those challenges all involve hiding Shaq in Dallas, Texas.
Yes, 7’1″ Shaquille O’Neal will be disguised by players on Can You Hide… Shaq?, and their games will be in trouble if people recognize him. Nicole Byer will host this, and hopefully explain all the complexities. The winner will get whatever’s in the Shaq-Pot, a word I did not just make up.
If you haven’t already thrown your phone or computer across the room because you thought of this very idea years ago and can’t believe it’s finally become reality, well, you’re not reading these words.
But if you are, the genesis of the show is Shaq’s actual experiences with people, which he loves but also actually made him want to disappear:
“I love meeting people wherever I go, but for years I’ve always wondered, could somebody actually make me disappear? Well, we finally decided to put it to the test. We turned it into a real competition, and I can’t wait for you to see the creative, ridiculous ways they tried to hide me in plain sight. The stakes are high, and so is the prize. But you know me, we’re gonna have some fun along the way.”
And here is how that has become a competition, produced by Fulwell Entertainment:
In the fast, funny and unpredictable challenges, contestants first split into two teams, each with a set mission and time clock. The team that completes its mission with the fewest spottings earns immunity for one team member in the next round, who then becomes team captain. The teams must work together toward one greater mission: earning prize money to add to the “Shaq-pot” that will ultimately be claimed by one winner.
To claim the grand prize, the final winner must survive every challenge by earning immunity or by avoiding being voted off by the other contestants.
So it’s Survivor with Shaq-hiding challenges? I’ll say this about hiding Shaq: it looks a lot more interesting than standing and balancing on a beach in Fiji. Hiding Shaq on a beach in Fiji? Yes please. If he’s not available, why not Hide Jeff Probst?
My only complaint about the show is the ellipsis and the space in the title: Can You Hide… Shaq? What the fuck is that? It’s just Can You Hide Shaq? Period. If they’re going to swap him out in future seasons, you don’t need an ellipsis to change a word.
Oh, I have a second complaint: it’s called a “series” but it’s just four episodes ABC is burning through in two weeks, airing Dec. 3 and 10 from 9 to 11 ET/PT and that’s it.
It’ll simulcast on ABC and the ESPN app, and hit Hulu the next day for all those who’ve been left behind with this magic:
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Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher whose reporting and criticism has appeared on NPR and in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Vulture, The Atlantic, Salon, Playboy, The Daily Beast, and other publications. Andy’s work on reality blurred has won an Excellence in Journalism award from NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists (2023) and an L.A. Press Club National A&E Journalism Award (2021), and was honored with Florida Society for Professional Journalists awards (2015, 2021, 2023). He’s president of the Television Critics Association, and a member of NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and The Authors Guild. He holds an M.F.A. in nonfiction writing and literature from Bennington College, and his memoir-in-progress, I’m Here to Make Friends, was longlisted for the 2022 First Pages Prize.
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