Fox Broadcasting Company will re-air The Real Full Monty on Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, replacing a scheduled repeat of The Masked Singer after James Van Der Beek died Feb. 11 at age 48, the network and the actor’s family said.
The two-hour special, first broadcast in December 2024, followed six male celebrities as they rehearsed for a staged striptease meant to spark conversations about screening and early detection for prostate, testicular and colorectal cancers. Van Der Beek appeared alongside Anthony Anderson, Taye Diggs, Tyler Posey, Bruno Tonioli and Chris Jones, with Mandy Moore involved on the coaching side. Fox said the encore will keep an on-screen QR code up during the broadcast to direct viewers to Colorectal Cancer Alliance for donations.
Van Der Beek had spoken publicly about living with stage 3 colorectal cancer, and Fox framed the repeat as both a tribute and a call to take symptoms seriously and get tested. Public-health agencies have urged average-risk adults to begin colorectal cancer screening at 45, after research showed rising rates in younger people even as older-age screening helped drive down deaths in seniors.
The announcement landed amid a surge of tributes and fundraising. A GoFundMe organized to support Van Der Beek’s wife and six children raised more than $2 million within two days, according to organizers and family statements. Online reaction to Fox’s programming move has split: some viewers applauded the decision to keep the awareness message in primetime; others questioned the optics of replaying a striptease special so soon after his death, even with the charity tie-in.
