COUNTRY STARS BILLY RAY CYRUS AND KELSEA BALLERINI GUEST STAR IN ALL-NEW BLAZE AND THE MONSTER MACHINES "WILD WHEELS" SPECIALS ON NICKELODOEN

Blaze and the Monster Machines take a ride on the wild side in all-new "Wild Wheels" animal-themed specials featuring guest voice appearances by internationally renowned multi-platinum recording artist and acclaimed actor, Billy Ray Cyrus and Grammy-nominated and platinum-selling singer-songwriter, Kelsea Ballerini. The first special, "Animal Island," featuring Cyrus as Lazard, a greedy lizard-truck, premieres Monday, May 29, at 12pm (ET/PT), followed by "Toucan Do It!" featuring Ballerini as Tooks, an athletic toucan-truck, on Wednesday, May 31, at 12pm (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon. Grammy Award-winning and multi-platinum selling musician, Darius Rucker will also voice a character named Thunderwing, a tough-talking falcon-truck, in an upcoming "Wild Wheels" episode premiering later this year. The "Wild Wheels" specials follow Blaze and friends as they transform into animal-trucks and meet new friends on Animal Island, an incredible place where everyone is a talking monster truck animal. Blaze and the Monster Machines follows the adventures of the amazing monster truck Blaze and his eight-year-old driver AJ, and it's the first preschool show on TV to comprehensively cover all areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) in every episode.

In "Animal Island," Blaze and Stripes are sailing the open sea when they discover Animal Island. While ashore, they make new friends and marvel at the animals' amazing powers but a greedy lizard-truck named Lazard (Cyrus) wants those powers all for himself and decides to steal them using a special machine. Then, in "Toucan Do It!," Blaze, Starla and Darington visit Animal Stadium where they are set to take on a team of animal opponents in a game of Jungle Ball. When the friends discover they are down a teammate, Blaze recruits an athletic toucan-truck named Tooks (Ballerini) to join their team. When the ball accidentally flies far from the stadium, Tooks boldly flies to get it but her feathery tail gets trapped under a rock. Now, it's up to Blaze, Starla, and Darington to transform into animals to rescue their new friend.

In the toy aisle, Nickelodeon and Fisher-Price, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc., will launch an all-new toy line inspired by the "Wild Wheels" specials this fall. Available at all major retailers, the complete line will include die-cast vehicles, talking and super stunt vehicles, and a track set that brings the fun and dynamic characters from the show to life.

In Blaze and the Monster Machines, the amazing monster truck Blaze and his eight-year-old driver AJ have adventures that explore the physics of how things move; tackle problems through scientific inquiry and mathematics; and discover the parts needed to make everyday technologies work. Each action-packed episode is filled with monster trucks, physical humor and upbeat original songs with lyrics that highlight a STEM concept such as adhesion, friction, force, trajectory and magnetism. Blaze and the Monster Machines is created by Jeff Borkin (Team Umizoomi head writer) and Ellen Martin (Bubble Guppies supervising producer).