December 08, 2025
Brittany Smith spends most of her days teaching second graders in Atlantic City. But when NBC called, she took a seat behind the desk of "Password" with host Keke Palmer and perma-player Jimmy Fallon.
The South Jersey educator will appear on the game show's holiday special that airs Monday night. Smith, 32, takes turns puzzling out mystery words with Fallon, the series' recurring celebrity guest, and Jonathan Groff, the Tony-winning actor from Lancaster, for the chance to win $25,000. Teaching elementary school students for 10 years, Smith said, prepped her perfectly for the show.
"When you're teaching young kids, it kind of forces you to constantly think fast and communicate clearly and know how to break down concepts," she said. "Specifically being an early childhood educator, I feel like I've always had to practice different voices and facial expressions, just because I read so many different books to them. And so 'Password' the game encompasses all those skill sets."
Smith applied to appear on "Password" on a whim after seeing a casting call on TikTok. She had never tried out for a game show, but she had watched several growing up with her grandmothers and loved the series' wordplay. After submitting a video application, she was called into interviews and eventually was selected for the "Password" holiday special, a one-off episode airing ahead of the show's third season. It filmed in late August.
In the days leading up to the taping, Smith turned her Mays Landing home into a "'Password' bootcamp." She binged past episodes and practiced with her boyfriend, drawing the cards from one of her favorite board games, Taboo, for inspiration. Stepping onto the set was still "a little overwhelming," she admitted, but the crew helped ease nerves by cracking jokes between takes.
The celebrity cast, Smith said, was also extremely welcoming. She found Fallon and Groff "equally great to team with," though they brought different assets to the show.
"Jimmy Fallon, the fact that he is so familiar with the game and has played this numerous times, he obviously knows how it goes to an extent," Smith said "So I think there's a different comfort level for him. And then with Jonathan Groff being a Broadway actor, I feel like you have to really perfect the facial expressions and be more dramatic with it. So I think that also gave him an advantage."
Smith couldn't bring a guest to the taping, so her friends and family will be seeing the show for the first time when the episode airs Monday at 10 p.m. ("We're going to be stocking the coffee and the energy drinks because it's past most of our bedtimes," she joked.) Her colleagues, who caught wind of the appearance through commercials teasing the "Password" special, are also excited to watch. It's unclear if Smith's students know about her game show star turn; she hadn't told them as of Friday evening and was considering waiting to stream it with them. But she knows "they're going to be extremely happy for their teacher" when she breaks the news. They've already played games similar to "Password" in the classroom.
For Smith, who spends her down time traveling the world and working on the children's books she hopes to publish someday, getting onto "Password" was a can't-miss experience.
"The opportunity to be a part of something like that to me is a once-in-a-lifetime sort of opportunity," she said. "I love to be spontaneous and do things for the plot."
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