Produced in collaboration with Amazon, Celebrity Substitute combines A-list celebrity guests with educational content and community support. Hosted by Julian Shapiro-Barnum (Recess Therapy), the hit series sees some of the world’s most recognizable celebrities step in to teach unsuspecting students valuable lessons and skills while Amazon helps deliver meaningful moments that help students and teachers experience everyday wins. As part of each episode, Amazon clears items from a lucky teacher’s Amazon Classroom List, a new tool specifically designed to streamline how teachers build and share resources for classrooms and students in their community.
Season 2, which premiered in September 2025, featured a star-studded lineup of guest substitutes, each teaching a unique lesson. Highlights included confidence with supermodel Gigi Hadid, rapper A$AP Rocky, songwriting with pop star Role Model, and the power of peace with activist Malala Yousafzai. The season also featured music with Ed Sheeran, basketball with Karl-Anthony Towns, salsa with Rauw Alejandro, and interpretive dance with FKA Twigs.
The collaboration serves as a clear proof point that storytelling and brand integration can coexist seamlessly, demonstrating how a brand can engage in a way that feels organic, enhances the creative concept, and meaningfully elevates the viewer’s experience. To date, Amazon has donated tens of thousands of items to New York City Public Schools.
From the launch of Season 2 in September 2025, the YouTube channel has reached 26.2M views and 148,000 subscribers. With over 400 million total social impressions across platforms and related conversations and an overall positive sentiment of 99.2%, it’s clear that audiences love Celebrity Substitute.
Role Model's appearance was the season’s top-performing episode to date, racking up 5.9M views and 12.5M+ impressions. Overall, the series has generated over 2 billion press impressions.
The series hails from EGOT winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s production company Ampersand, alongside Amazon.
