Why Travis Kelce Declined Netflix

In 2016, Travis Kelce had his own reality show — and he’d rather everyone forget about it quickly. “Catching Kelce,” a dating show, featured Kelce as the prize for 50 women, one from each state in the U.S. He had to winnow them down until one “won” him. The show, reminiscent of “The Bachelor,” ended with Maya Benberry from Kentucky becoming Kelce’s girlfriend. However, their relationship didn’t last long.

Kelce is openly embarrassed about his involvement in “Catching Kelce.” He even mocked it during his 2023 hosting gig on “Saturday Night Live.” “It was kind of like ‘The Bachelor,’ except instead of roses I handed out footballs, and instead of watching, people did not,” Kelce joked.

Elsewhere, Kelce was more blunt about why he did the show. “I turned down the show about 100 times… it felt like,” he said on “The Pivot” podcast in the fall of 2023 (via Vanity Fair). “I was having so much fun buying whatever the hell I wanted to, going wherever the hell I wanted to. I wasn’t financially looking at this as, you know, I need to have money down the line. There were times in the offseason, I was avoiding the rent lady. It was that bad. I heard about this situation where I could make six figures in two weeks, and I was like, Uhhh. And 50 ladies? I’m like, This is actually starting to sound a little better.”

Kelce fared much better on the Amazon documentary about his brother Jason, simply titled “Kelce.” It’s safe to say Kelce is now all good where publicity is concerned.