Stephen Colbert Embarrasses Glen Powell With Rare Clip of 13-Year-Old Star

Stephen Colbert razzed Glen Powell on Wednesday’s Late Show by resurfacing a rare clip of the actor on “a kids Survivor-type show” at the tender age of 13, as well as a mini-biography Powell wrote for himself at the time.

Powell is well-known for his action-heavy roles in Top Gun: Maverick and this week’s Twisters, but as Colbert pointed out, the actor “had an earlier foray into the world of action which wasn’t as successful” on the Discovery Family reality series Endurance.

Per the Endurance Wiki, the show was a “Fear Factor/Survivor type of show” where a group of teens were sent to a remote location where they competed "against each other in both physical and mental challenges with hopes of staying in the game.” Its first season aired in 2002; the sixth and final season aired in 2007.

Colbert displayed a picture of a 13-year-old Powell, circa 2001, from an Endurance confessional showing the star sporting the quintessential early-2000s set: a spiked hairdo and beaded surfer necklace. The reveal genuinely took the Texas-native by surprise, and seemed to embarrass him more than a little bit.

“I’ve never talked about this publicly ever. The fact that [producers] pulled this out is shocking, but here we go,” he said.

“I was 13,” Powell began explaining. “I was on a show called Endurance. This is basically a kids Survivor-type show. It’s a reality show where they threw [sic] kids to Mexico, and they pit them against each other. The really sad part is I wanted to be on the show really bad, and I got kicked off on the first episode,” the star admitted.

Colbert proceeded to roll an adorable clip of Powell wiping out on a set of monkey bars, followed by a confessional in which he admitted being sent home early was “the worst thing.”

As if that wasn’t enough, Colbert then tripped down and pulled out Powell’s self-written biography for the show. The star listened with the uneasy smile and shallow breath of anyone who’s had an old homework assignment read aloud to them.

“‘Glen likes making his own movies and is working to buy a professional video camera by mowing lawns and acting in commercials,’” Colbert read. “‘He is a world traveler and is looking forward to going to a new destination and meeting new people on Endurance. He likes to tap dance and sing at nursing homes.’ Now that is sexy,” Colbert concluded.

“Well, if falling off the bar wasn’t as bad as that, I forgot about the bio,” Powell said. “If the movie star thing doesn’t work out, at least you’ve got a fallback position right there,” Colbert told him.

“You know, I was flying high until just now,” Powell told him.

You can check out Powell’s full Late Show interview here. Twisters is in theaters on Friday.