| Hosts | |
| Samantha Harris & Wesley Clark | |
| Broadcast | |
 | |
| Packagers | |
| Mixers Bill's Market & Television Productions One Three Television Universal Television Wolf Films | |
| Distributor | |
| Universal Television | |
Stars Earn Stripes was a short-lived reality competition series where eight celebrities would gather at a secret training facility where they will be challenged to execute complicated missions inspired by real military exercises.
Premise[]
Eight celebrities train with professionals and compete against each other in complicated missions inspired by real military exercises as they try to win a cash prize on behalf of a military, veteran or first-responder charity. Each star is paired with a special operative from a military branch or first-responder force. At a remote training facility, these pairs prepare together for missions, testing themselves physically, mentally and emotionally as they execute maneuvers including everything from helicopter drops into water to firing long-range weapons.
Participants[]
Dean Cain
Dolvette Quince
Eve Torres *Winner*
Laila Ali
Nick Lachey
Picabo Street
Terry Crews
Todd Palin
Operatives[]
- Chris Kyle (Navy SEAL)-paired with Dean Cain
- Andrew McLaren (Marine)-paired with Dolvette Quince
- Grady Powell (Green Beret)-paired with Eve Torres
- Talon Smith (Navy Corpsman)-paired with Laila Ali
- Tom Stroup (SWAT Commander)-paired with Nick Lachey
- Brent Gleeson (Navy SEAL)-paired with Picabo Street
- Dale Comstock (Delta Force)-paired with Terry Crews
- JW Cortes (MTA Police/Marine)-paired with Todd Palin
Controversy[]
On August 6, 2012, Sharon Osbourne announced that she would be leaving fellow NBC program America's Got Talent due to allegations of discrimination by NBC and the producers of Stars Earn Stripes surrounding her son Jack Osbourne. On CBS's The Talk (where Sharon is also one of the former hostesses) Jack had revealed that two days before filming began, he was removed from the cast after disclosing that he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (or MS). Sharon felt that NBC "badly handled" the situation, and that allowing him to participate could have proven inspirational for others diagnosed with this disease. Producer David Hurwitz disputed these allegations in a press event, stating that the show was only in talks with Osbourne to participate and that he was never officially part of the cast.
In August, eight Nobel Peace Laureates (Desmond Tutu, Jody Williams, Mairead Maguire, Betty Williams, Jose Manuel Ramos-Horta, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Rigoberta Menchu Tum and Shirin Ebadi) signed an open letter calling for NBC to cancel the program. They wrote: "It is our belief that this program pays homage to no one anywhere and continues and expands on an inglorious tradition of glorifying war and armed violence. Real war is down in the dirt deadly. People (military and civilians) die in ways that are anything but entertaining".
NBC has removed Stars Earn Stripes from its list of current shows, though no formal announcement of the program status has been made.
See Also[]
Combat Missions: a similar reality show to Stars Earn Stripes that ran on the USA Network for a brief period in 2002.
Rating[]
