Kal Penn to host Discovery’s “Big Brain Theory”

November 2, 2012 by Kevin Ritchie

U.S. cable network Discovery Channel has tapped Harold & Kumar star Kal Penn to host the engineering competition series The Big Brain Theory, which will premiere in spring 2013.

The show is being produced by Pilgrim Studios and began taping in Los Angeles earlier this week. In each episode, teams of contestants are given 30 minutes to come up with a solution to an engineering concept. The team that thinks up the best design moves on, but the losers must face a judging panel and one person will be eliminated.

“With the death of Steve Jobs, I think we all have wondered about the future of American innovation, and who will be the next great technological mind that will have serious impact on our lives,” Nancy Daniels, the network’s exec VP of production and development, said in a statement. “This show seeks to find that person, along the way revealing and celebrating the level of innovation that exists within our scientific community.”

The winner will receive US$50,000 and a one-year contract to work at the Los Angeles-based water feature firm WET Design, which creates water-based environments such as the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas.

Pilgrim founder Craig Piligian, Discovery’s Craig Coffman and WET Design CEO Mark Fuller are executive producing, with Penn also serving as a producer.

Tags: Discovery Channel, Kal Penn, Nancy Daniels, The Big Brain Theory, WET Design