Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? (American game show)
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? is an American quiz game show. It originally aired on Fox where it was hosted by Jeff Foxworthy. It is produced by Mark Burnett.[1] The show premiered as a three-day special which began on February 27, 2007, with the first two shows each a half-hour in length. Regular one-hour episodes began airing Thursdays from March 1 through May 10,[2] and the first season continued with new episodes beginning May 31. Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? was picked up for the 2007–08 season,[3] which began on September 6, 2007, and aired in the same timeslot.[4] Following the end of the original run of the primetime version on September 18, 2009, a first-run syndicated version of the show ran from September 2009 to May 2011, with Foxworthy returning as host.[5] On May 26, 2015, the program returned to Fox for a new, 4th season, with Foxworthy, again, returning as host. On February 14, 2019, it was announced that the program would be revived on Nickelodeon with new host John Cena,[6] airing from June 10 to November 3, 2019.[7] There are new reports that the show may be returning on Amazon Prime Video with new host Travis Kelce.[8]
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
- Mark Burnett
- Barry Poznick
- John Stevens
Don Weiner
- David Vanacore (Vanacore Music) with
- Blessed Kateri Children's Choir
United States
English
- 4 (Fox)
- 2 (Syndication)
- 1 (Nickelodeon)
- 98 (Fox)
- 20 (Nickelodeon)
- Mark Burnett
- Barry Poznick
- Roy Bank
- John Stevens
- Jeff Foxworthy
- John Cena
- Steve Hughes
- Sean Kelly
- CBS Studio Center
- Studio City, California (2007)
- Manhattan Beach Studios
- Manhattan Beach, California (2007–08)
- CBS Television City
- Hollywood, California (2008–09, 2015)
- Hollywood Center Studios
- Hollywood, California (2009–10)
- Sony Pictures Studios
- Culver City, California (2010–11)
- Universal Studios Lot
- Universal City, California (2019)
- 44 mins (Fox)
- 22–26 mins (Syndication)
- 22–25 mins (Nickelodeon)
- Mark Burnett Productions (2007–11)
- Zoo Productions (2007–11)
- United Artists Media Group (2015)
- MGM Television (2019)
- Hard Nocks South Productions (2019)
- Nickelodeon Productions (2019)
February 27, 2007 –
September 18, 2009
September 21, 2009 –
March 24, 2011
May 26 –
September 8, 2015
June 10 –
November 3, 2019
5th Grader games are played by a single contestant, who attempts to answer ten questions (plus a final bonus question). Content is taken from elementary school textbooks, two from each grade level from first to fifth. Each correct answer increases the amount of money the player banks; a maximum cash prize of $1 million can be won on the Fox version, $250,000 in the syndicated version, and $100,000 on the Nickelodeon version. Along the way, contestants can be assisted by a "classmate", one of five school-age cast members, in answering the questions. Notably, upon getting an answer incorrect or deciding to prematurely end the game, contestants must state that they are "not smarter than a 5th grader".
Two people have won the $1 million prize: Kathy Cox, superintendent of public schools for the U.S. state of Georgia; and George Smoot, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics and professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
One person has won the $100,000 prize on the Nickelodeon revival: Alfred Guy, a college dean at Yale University.[9][10][11]
The show also airs internationally, and the format has been picked up for local versions in a number of other countries.
Original and revival versions on Fox[edit]
Gameplay[edit]
In each game, the contestant (an adult) is asked a series of 11 questions, spanning ten subjects (such as Animal Science, Spelling or Math) taken from textbooks for first through fifth grade students. Each question is associated with a grade level; there are two questions per grade, from first to fifth. The player can answer the questions (either true/false, a three-answered multiple-choice question, or short-answered question) in any order; contestants lock in their answers by pressing the button on the podium, and each correct answer raises their cumulative amount of winnings to the next level (see table at right; the question's difficulty is based on grade level); after answering the fifth question correctly, they are guaranteed to leave with at least $25,000. If the player correctly answers the first 10 questions, they are given the opportunity to answer a fifth-grade bonus question (sixth-grade in the 2015 revival) worth $1 million (see "Million Dollar Question" below). The prize money and the board layout is as follows:
Money Ladder
Amazon Prime version[edit]
On March 19, 2024, it was announced that Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader would be revived for Amazon Prime Video, with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in talks to host the reboot.[28][29] It was later revealed the show will be titled Are You Smarter than a Celebrity? with a 20-episode season ordered by Amazon Prime Video.[30]
Reception[edit]
Critical[edit]
David Hinckley of the New York Daily News gave the 2015 revival series' cast a positive review, calling the classmates "terrific... smart, outgoing and funny", while arguing that Foxworthy "understands how much to showcase them".[31]