‘Ultimate Tag’: How to Watch, What Time and What Channel

On May 13, 2019, Houston Texans defensive end JJ Watt announced that he and his two brothers, Derek and TJ, were pairing together to create a new game show called Ultimate Tag. This competition became a new show for FOX, and it’s about to air. Here’s when viewers can tune in.

Ultimate Tag, a “high-octane competition based on the classic playground game,” will premiere on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET. The show will air on FOX and the FOX NOW app. The streaming service will require a television subscriber login in order to access the episodes. The app is available on Smart TVs, Apple TV, Chromecast, iOs, Android phones and Roku.

According to the Watt brothers, Ultimate Tag will pit everyday citizens against professional taggers, complete with nicknames and costumes. The eldest Watt said that the viewers will get to know the professionals over the course of the season and will become familiar with their specific skills. This is supposed to create rooting interests as viewers hope that their favorite contestant or professional will find success where others fail.

Entertainment Weekly visited the set of Ultimate Tag and saw some of the different courses in action. There was Dome Tag, which forced contestants to cling to a cage 30 feet in the air with no harnesses. There was Chase Tag, a more traditional game on an obstacle course. Finally, there was Revenge Tag, which featured a maze course and provided contestants with the opportunity to hit buttons and chase the professional taggers.

When J.J. Watt announced Ultimate Tag, he immediately faced questions about whether or not the show would be “any good.” One example surfaced in the form of an interview on The Pat McAfee Show. The former Colts punter asked J.J. point-blank, “hey, is this Ultimate Tag gonna suck?”

“So my brothers and I host the show,” J.J. responded, “and whenever you put all three of us in a room, it’s a cluster as it is. I’ve obviously done a little TV. Both my brothers really haven’t done anything. So when I came on board, I said ‘I want my brothers to host with me.’ You could tell Fox was a little like, ‘they’ve never hosted before. We don’t know what they can do.’ And I said, ‘Just trust me. We’ll figure it out.’”

As J.J. continued to explain, the early portions of filming were a little stressful for the executives. One brother stuttered when saying his lines while the other couldn’t read the lines. This led to nervousness, but J.J. said that the end result was much better.

“And we got to the first day of rehearsal before we started filming, and every Fox executive was kind of looking around like, ‘oh, we’re f—ed.’ I mean, we have one that was nervous and stuttering on his lines, and another that couldn’t read the teleprompter,” he continued. “And I was like, ‘oh, no.’ And then literally, the lights came on when it was time for it to really happen, the show started, and it was like brand new people. I think it’s just that athlete in you where you don’t really like the rehearsal, you don’t do it. Once the show starts and the lights come on, they were awesome. And it was so much fun to watch them grow and get better and for all of us to interact.”

J.J. doesn’t believe that Ultimate Tag will disappoint. The competition show will premiere on Wednesday night and will provide another form of entertainment while the majority of sports remain postponed. The action begins on FOX at 9 p.m. ET.