New Show Traps Lance Armstrong and Ariel Winter in Simulated Mars Base

A bizarre mashup of celebs, trapped in a Mars base.

Based Celebrities

Being trapped inside a small Mars habitat for months if not years at a time won't be the faint of heart. It's a journey that will require cool minds, quick wits, and plenty of technological know-how.

In a wacky take on the concept, Fox announced that it's pitting a unusual mix of 12 celebrities — including disgraced Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and "Modern Family" actor Ariel Winter — against each other during a simulated stay in a Martian colony for an upcoming reality TV show.

While it might sound like a vacuous reality TV distraction, it could still turn out to be an intriguing glimpse into a future in which spacefarers have to learn to live within tight quarters on the surface of a largely inhospitable planet. We'll probably be tuning in — even if it's just so you don't have to.

 

Stars on Mars

The show, set to premiere next month, will be hosted by none other than "Star Trek" legend and depressed space tourist William Shatner.

"Thanks to lower gravity on Mars, you’ll weigh 62 percent less," Shatner quipped during a promo video. "Bad news: the air is unbreathable, so if you’re from LA, it’ll remind you of home."

The guest list is a bizarre mashup of VIPs, from UFC champion Ronda Rousey and "Real Housewives of Atlanta" reality star Porsha Williams Guobadia to actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who you might remember as McLovin' from the comedy "Superbad."

The show will vaguely mimic a NASA analog mission, with contestants living and working inside a mockup of a Martian colony, though it's unclear for how long.

They will also compete with each other during several challenges set by Shatner and vote each other off of the show — "send them back to Earth" — until a single "space invader" is left standing, according to a press release.

Whether the show will be an accurate depiction of what it will actually be like to live on the Red Planet remains to be seen.

But given the show's competitive nature, it's probably best if it isn't.

More on living on Mars: These 3D-Printed Mars Habitats Just Won a NASA Award