Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? is a television game show format based on posing grade-school level questions to adults, hosted by Jeff Foxworthy. This television show began broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company network as a special in the United States and southern Canada on February 27, 2007, and it grew to be popular enough that a half-hour-long syndicated TV series was developed by the owners.

Since then, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? has been replicated in several other countries, some versions under the same title, and some under modified ones. The first season of this TV program ranked 28th in the Nielsen ratings in the U.S., with an average of 12.7 million viewers per episode. The status of the Fox-TV series following the summer of 2008 is unknown, but the syndicated TV show debuted in late-September 2009. Episodes from this series are also broadcast on MyNetworkTV one evening per week, and on the Country Music Television (CMT) channel it is broadcast on five evenings per week.

GSN began airing the show November 6, 2011 in five-hour blocks starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern/6:00 p.m. They will also be airing it on Friday Afternoons starting at 3pm effective January 27.

Gameplay

Each game is played by a single contestant who earns money incrementally based on a payout ladder by answering simple trivia questions, with the game themed as a school quiz. The game relies on the premise that an adult would not know the information generally taught in elementary grade school, because it is rarely used in adult life by the type of person chosen to be a contestant. Therefore, the show is essentially a test to see how much an adult has retained since graduating elementary school. The show also derives its humor by occasionally displaying the contestant's educational attainment, implying that in spite of that, they struggle to answer some questions.

The contestant is presented and chooses from a set of ten subjects and grade level question topics. The question is then revealed. Some questions are multiple choice or true/false; others require the contestant to answer without any options.

Each correct answer moves the contestant up a payout ladder, with a final bonus fifth grade question moving the contestant up one more step to the top prize of $1,000,000. At any point up to the final question, the contestant may quit the game after seeing the question, and keep all money earned up to that point. For the final question, the contestant is only presented the subject and then must decide whether to continue or quit (and keep earned money). The contestant may not walk away after choosing to see the question. The contestant is not guaranteed any winnings until after the fifth question is answered correctly, at which point $25,000 is guaranteed.

Only two contestants have attempted to answer the final question and done so correctly:

• Kathy Cox, the Superintendent of Schools for the State of Georgia, was the first person to have correctly answered the $1,000,000 question (MDQ): "Who was the longest reigning British Monarch?" The answer was Queen Victoria.
• The Nobel Prize in Physics laureate George Smoot was the second person, answering "What U.S. state is home to Acadia National Park?", with the correct answer of Maine.

Many celebrities have competed on this TV show on behalf of various charities. The rock 'n' roll star Gene Simmons of the band KISS dropped out with $500,000 for The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, making him one of the highest winning celebrities to appear on the show. The subject of the Million Dollar Question was "Science", and the question was "What element is represented by the letter K in the periodic table?" Simmons said that he would have answered krypton, but the correct answer is actually potassium.

The 20-year old Mayor of Muskogee, Oklahoma, and the youngest mayor in the United States, John Tyler Hammons, appeared on October 24, 2008, winning $25,000 for his charity after missing the question "What's the name of the first American woman to travel to outer space?". Unsure of the correct answer (which is Sally Ride), he "copied" the 5th grader's answer, which was wrong.

Ken Jennings could have become the second person to win the million dollars but he decided not to go for the Social Studies million-dollar question ("U.S. President John Adams was a member of what political party at the time of his election?"). Upon seeing the question after dropping out of school, he answered it correctly (Federalist). However, his winnings of $500,000 were enough to regain the all-time game show winnings record from Brad Rutter, who had defeated him in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions to claim it. Seven other contestants have also dropped out at the million-dollar question.

Correct Answer Value (original U.S. version)
1st Grade Questions	2nd Grade Questions	3rd Grade Questions	4th Grade Questions	5th Grade Bonus Question
$500 each	$1,000 each	$3,500 each	$7,500 each	10 times earned value

There were five "classmates" (three since season 5) in the game of approximately fifth-grade age who also answer each question in secret by writing their answers. These answers are sometimes used to create tension when the classmates' answers do not correlate with the contestant's. Additionally, the contestant selects one of the classmates at the beginning of the game to help them during the game. Each classmate can only help for two questions, and then a new classmate must be selected.

The selected classmate provides the contestant with two "cheats," each of which may only be used once. The contestant may choose to "peek" at the classmate's paper, which allows them to see the classmate's answer before they give their own (once the peek is used the contestant must answer the question); the contestant may "copy" the classmate, which automatically locks the classmate's answer in as their own. In addition, the contestant has one "save," which comes into play after the contestant gives their first wrong answer. If the classmate has written the correct answer, he saves the contestant; otherwise, the game ends and the contestant loses the game and wins nothing, unless he correctly answers five questions, at which point he is guaranteed the fifth level of the payout ladder. This "save" no longer apply since season 5. The cheats are not available on the final question; Additionally, once all the cheats are used, the chosen classmate returns to the group and no new classmate is selected. The classmates continue to write answers for the questions, however, to be used for tension.

The classmates are generally the same throughout a season, and are given a "study guide" of possible question topics before the start of the season. Since the classmates are not in an adversarial role with the contestants, this only serves to help the contestants if they use the "cheats." It does, however, give a misleading impression of the knowledge level of actual fifth-graders, since the classmates on the show rarely miss the questions, having been given study material in advance. In fact, the show's title is something of a misnomer, since contestants do not actually compete against the classmates, and the classmates' performance on the show is enhanced by study materials, although they still occasionally miss a question. The title was selected to make the show more interesting, specifically making adults look stupid and then exploiting the supposed "stupidity," which is an irony because adults are supposed to teach children.

Upon leaving the game either by quitting ("DROP OUT"), or answering incorrectly ("FLUNK OUT"), the contestant must profess to the camera, "I am not smarter than a fifth grader." However, if the million dollar question is answered correctly (which has only happened twice), the contestant has the opportunity to claim, "I am smarter than a fifth grader."

International versions

The show has spawned many versions around the world:

{{colorbox}} Currently airing {{colorbox}} No longer airing

Country	Name	Host	Channel	Air Date	Language
	¿Sabés más que un chico de 5to grado?	Andrea Frigerio and Pablo Granados	América (Channel 2)	July 9, 2007	Spanish
	Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?	Rove McManus	Network Ten	26 September 2007 " 30 October 2009	English
	Dreizehn	Christian Clerici	ORF1	September 27, 2007	German
	Slimmer Dan Een Kind Van 10?	Goedele Liekens	VT4	September 6, 2007	Dutch
	Êtes-vous plus malin qu'un enfant de primaire ?	Alain Simons	RTL-TVI	September 6, 2007	French
	Você é Mais Esperto Que um Aluno da Quinta Série?	Silvio Santos	SBT	September 23, 2007	Portuguese
	???? ?? ???? ????? "?????! Tova go znaye vsyako khlape!	Dimitar & Deo	bTV	September 15, 2007 (canceled on February 20, 2009)	Bulgarian
	Are You Smarter Than a Canadian 5th Grader?	Colin Mochrie	Global	October 25, 2007 " November 22, 2007	English
	La classe de 5e	Charles Lafortune	TVA	February 5, 2009	French
	???"?"?"?"?"???"??"??"???"??"?"??"?"????"??? (Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?)	??"? ???"?? (Doung Sokhea)	CTN	September 14, 2012	Khmer
	¿Sabes más que un niño de 5º básico?	José Miguel Viñuela	MEGA	April 2, 2008	Spanish
	"???"?"??? W? nián jí jiù zhù duì	Wang Han	HNETV	May 1, 2007	Standard Chinese
	??52 ???"? Xìng yùn 52 xìng yùn kè táng	Li Yong	CCTV-2	June 1, 2007	Standard Chinese
	?"???? Shéi b? shéi c?ng ming	Liu Ming-ming	SZTV	June 1, 2007	Standard Chinese
	??"??"?? N? néng bì yè ma?	Duan Lei Jia Ning	TJTV	June 2, 2007	Standard Chinese
	????" Bù k?o bù zh? dào	Xu Rui	SXTVS	June 30, 2007	Standard Chinese
	"???"??"? W"? nián jí ch? b?n sh"ng	He Hao-peng	Guangdong TV	August 10, 2007	Cantonese
	¿Sabes más que un niño de primaria?	Jose Gabriel Ortiz	Caracol TV	February 20, 2008	Spanish
	Jsi chyt?ej?í ne? pá?ák?	Michal Suchánek & Richard Genzer	TV Nova	2007	Czech
	Er Du Klogere End En 10-"?rig?	Jan Gintberg	TV3	September 22, 2007	Danish
	Targem kui 5B	Indrek Tarand	TV3	September 13, 2008	Estonian
	Fiksumpi kuin koululainen	Nicke Lignell	MTV3	November 6, 2008	Finnish
	Êtes-vous plus fort qu'un élève de 10 ans ?	Roland Magdane	M6	September 3, 2007	French
	Das weiß doch jedes Kind!	Cordula Stratmann	Sat.1	July 6, 2007	German
	"????? ??? ??"????"? ??? ??? ????"????? Eísai pio éxypnos apó éna dekáchrono	Sophia Aliberti	ANT1	January 19, 2008	Greek
	"?"??"?"?"? Hai Mai Siu Yi Fo	Leo Ku	TVB	October 25, 2008 " November 16, 2009	Cantonese
	Okosabb vagy mint egy 5-es?	Attila Till	TV2	August 24, 2007	Hungarian
	Ertu skarpari en skólakrakki?	Gunnar Hansson	Skjár 1	October 21, 2007	Icelandic
	Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?	Shahrukh Khan	STAR Plus	April 25, 2008 " July 27, 2008	Hindi
	Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Indonesia	Indy Barends	Global TV	April 4, 2009	Indonesian
	?'"??? ??"? "?"?? ?"??? ?????" "???"? "? Ha'im ata hakham metalmid kitah vav?	Eyal Kitzis	Channel 2	July 2007	Hebrew
	Sei più bravo di un ragazzino di 5ª?	Massimiliano Ossini	Sky Uno / cielo	October 6, 2008	Italian
	"?"?"? "??????5?"?"?"??"??? Kuizu anata wa shogaku 5-nensei yori kashikoi no?	Takashi Suzuki	NTV	April 24, 2011	Japanese
	Vai tu esi gudr?ks par piektklasnieku?	M?ris Olte	TV3	September 8, 2007	Latvian
	Penktok? i???kis	Andrius Ro?ickas	TV3	September 2, 2007	Lithuanian
	Todo el mundo cree que sabe	Marco Antonio Regil	Televisa	June 13, 2009	Spanish
	Ben je slimmer dan een kind?	Erik van der Hoff	Net 5	September 2, 2007	Dutch
	Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old?	Dominic Bowden	TV2	September 9, 2007	English
	Kakasa Ka Ba Sa Grade 5?	Janno Gibbs	GMA Network	October 27, 2007 " May 9, 2009	Filipino and English
	Czy jeste"? m"?drzejszy od 5-klasisty?	Robert Korólczyk / Marzena Rogalska	TV Puls	October 29, 2007	Polish
	Sabe Mais Do Que Um Miúdo De 10 Anos?	Jorge Gabriel	RTP1	September 17, 2007 (1st edition) June 30, 2008 (2nd edition)	Portuguese
	Te crezi mai de?tept decât un copil de clasa a 5-a?	Virgil Ian?u	Prima TV	Unknown	Romanian
	?"?? ????? 5-?????????? Kto umneye 5-klassnika?	Alexandr Pushnoy	CTC	December 9, 2007	Russian
	Da li ste pametniji od "?aka petaka?	Voja Nedeljkovi"?	Fox televizija	September 2007	Serbian
	Ste chytrej?í ako piatak?	Peter Marcin	TV Markiza	2007	Slovak
	Ste pametnej?i od peto?olca?	TBA	POP TV	TBA	Slovene
	Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?	Soli Philander	M-Net	January 27, 2008	English
	¿Sabes más que un niño de primaria?	Ramón García	Antena 3	July 2007	Spanish
	Punchi Pahe Man	Vijaya Nandasiri	Sirasa TV	2008	Sinhala
	Smartare än en femteklassare	Lasse Kronér	SVT1	March 19, 2011	Swedish
	????"? B?i wàn xi?o xuétáng	Zhang Xiao-yan (, 1st edition) Bowie Tsang () and Xiaoxia () (2nd edition)	TTV	October 3, 2008 " present	Standard Chinese
	-"??"??"???? ??????"? ?"?"?? ("???-?)! T"??? khu"? næ?? X?? phæ"? d"?k (prat"?hm)!	Kanit Sarasin	Thai TV 3	October 1, 2007 (1st edition) October 13, 2008 (2nd edition)-April 29, 2010	Thai
	5'e Gidenden Ak?ll? M?s?n?	Tolga Garibo?lu	STAR TV	June 2007	Turkish
	?"?? ??????-??? ?'?"??????????? Khto rozumnishyy p'yatyklasnyk?	Serhiy Prytula	Novyi Kanal	January 6, 2008	Ukrainian
	Are You Smarter than a 10 Year Old?	Noel Edmonds (primetime) Damian Williams (daytime)	Sky One	7 October 2007 " 24 April 2010	English
	Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? (Fox Primetime)	Jeff Foxworthy	Fox	February 27, 2007	English
	Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? (20th Television daily version)	Jeff Foxworthy	Syndicated by 20th Television	September 21, 2009	English
	Ai thông minh h?n h?c sinh l"?p 5?	T? Minh Tâm (2009) Thanh B?ch (2009-2011)	HTV2	June 19, 2009 - late 2009 (axed) November 2010 - early 2011 (1st revived)	Vietnamese
	Ai thông minh h?n h?c sinh l"?p 5?	Thanh B?ch	VTV3	January 19, 2012 - present (2nd revived)	Vietnamese

Video game

On October 20, 2008, developer THQ released the first Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? video game, titled Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?: Make the Grade, for the PC, PS2, Nintendo DS, Wii, and Xbox Live Arcade. The Xbox Live Arcade version as of mid 2010 was delisted from the Xbox Live Game Marketplace.

A sequel Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Game Time was released on October 26, 2009 for Nintendo DS, Wii and Xbox 360.

Capcom Mobile released a game based on the game show for iOS devices called "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader 2010" in 2009.

In 2012 Ludia released a free game based on the game show called "Are You Smarter Than a 5th grader? & Friends" for iOS devices.

DVD game

Parker Bros. released a DVD game based on the show. Unlike the show, the player can only pick one classmate for the whole game, and has a choice of 20 games. A 2-player mode is also available.

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