Pickleball is slowly making more and more appearances in the pop culture scene in the United States. Recently, on August 17th, 2018, Cash Cab—a popular game show on the Discovery Channel, where a New York City cab driver drives unknowing passengers around the city while asking trivia questions for a chance to win a free ride and lots of cash—featured a question about the sport of pickleball. Pickleball has also made the following pop culture appearances:
- Kim Kardashian gave pickleball a try on her recent vacation to Idaho. She posted a picture of herself playing pickleball on her Instagram account (click here to see a capture of the picture), which has over 116 million followers.
- Giuliana and Bill Rancic—Giuliana is an E! Entertainment host, while Bill was the first winner of The Apprentice (the reality television show that featured President Trump)—are frequently playing and winning pickleball tournaments, as shown by Giuliana’s Instagram account (click here to see a winning pickleball picture).
- Jillian Michaels—the tough trainer from the reality show, The Biggest Loser—recently had her own reality television show on E! called Just Jillian. During one episode, Jillian’s competitive side was on full display as she refused to lose a pickleball match to her in-laws (click here to watch).
- Jenna Bush—daughter of President George W. Bush and a key part of The Today Show team on NBC—promoted pickleball in a Today Show snippet, where Jenna Bush recapped her vacation and described her strong showing in her family pickleball tournament (click here to watch).
These pop culture appearances will hopefully expose the sport of pickleball to new segments of the global population and continue to make pickleball the fastest growing sport in the world!
Do you know of any other pickleball pop culture appearances? If so, share with us in the comments below!
