Ben Bailey is returning as host of the rebooted version “Cash Cab,” premiering later this year on Discovery — and has already begun shooting new episodes in New York City.
“We started Monday morning, Day 1, and it just sort of all came back to me,” says Bailey. “I said, jokingly, that it wasn’t going to be long before I felt like I never stopped — and it’s already gotten to that point.”
This time around, “Cash Cab,” which last aired in 2012, will feature celebrities helping unsuspecting contestants answer trivia and general knowledge questions (for money) when they enter a cab driven by Bailey.
“We had some great games [on Monday],” Bailey says. “The structure [of the game] is the same, but instead of calling a friend [for help with an answer], we do it on social media so that we’re actually going live and asking fans of the show to respond. And it’s almost the identical cab [from the original series]. There are some upgrades to equipment and lighting but it’s another minivan cab. This is ‘Cash Cab,’ not ‘Cash Uber.’”
Bailey, who won four Daytime Emmys as host of the original “Cash Cab,” says he “wasn’t sure” the show would ever return.
“There’s been talk, sporadically, of maybe bringing it back or maybe doing some special episodes, and it kind of got to the point where I didn’t think it would ever happen,” he says.
“It’s not the easiest job I’ve ever had — hosting a show while driving a cab around New York City — but I kind of feel like I’m back home.”