Who Is The Star In The Blue Buffalo 'One Taste Is All It Takes' Commercial?

Philanthropic pet food brand Blue Buffalo has been placing pet owners' concern for their pets' nutrition at the center of its "Love them like family, feed them like family" ads for nearly two decades. In the brand's most recent commercial, they added a few fun twists to the mix by spoofing contemporary game shows and injecting the ad with a little bit of star power from a TV personality well-versed in speaking directly to the viewers at home. The articulate, enthusiastic host of the ad's "One Taste Is All It Takes" competition — which parodies the high-stakes atmosphere of games of chance by using finicky felines to verify or reject the wet cat food's flavor credentials — has been a television staple for quite some time.

The star of this commercial got her big break when she started as an anchor for ESPN's SportsCenter. Long before using her extensive experience behind the mic to promote Blue Buffalo, the former pageant contestant's (via TVOverMind) career was "off to the races," so to speak, when she covered the Indianapolis 500's rookie orientation for WISH-TV back in 2004 (via indystar.com). It was the first time she'd ever covered racing, but it wouldn't be the last. Who is this sportscaster, pet food promoter, mother of two, and racing wife, enthusiast, and expert?

The anchor, writer, and producer providing a little extra pizazz to the cat food ad-meets-game show is none other than ESPN mainstay Nicole Briscoe. Briscoe has been the face of racing for SportsCenter's coverage of all things auto since 2015, and she is credited not just as an anchor, but as a writer on ten episodes and a producer on seven. 

In March, the successful correspondent shared her commercial debut with fans on Instagram, saying she was "Super excited to be in Blue Buffalo's latest commercial for their new wet cat food—BLUE Tastefuls." Followers of the star's IG account, rb_mrs, are well-acquainted with her affinity for her pets, a brood of fur babies that includes two dogs and a rather photogenic cat. In addition to sharing her love and knowledge of sports with viewers at home for decades, Briscoe has been an advocate for families struggling to conceive and talked openly with People this past April about her desire to help "destigmatize miscarriage and infertility" as well as her own personal experiences with both. 

Whether you're a cat fanatic, a dog lover, or that rare combination of both, like Briscoe, it's easy to see why a health-conscious brand like Blue Buffalo would enlist her experience and charisma to host their tension-filled, feline-forward family game show.