Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

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For information related to a version of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? airing in a specific country, see International versions below.

Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? is a television game show format based on asking grade-school level questions to adults, hosted by Jeff Foxworthy. The show first aired on Fox in the United States on February 27, 2007. The show has since been replicated in several countries; some under the same title, and some under modified titles. The first season of the show ranked 28th in the Nielsen Ratings, with an average of 12.7 million viewers per episode.^[1] The status of the show beyond the summer is unknown. However, a 30-minute syndicated version will start in the fall, which will also air on MyNetworkTV.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Commonly-employed strategies 2 International versions 3 Video game 4 External links 5 References

[edit] 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, due to the fact it is rarely used in adult life by the type of person chosen to be a contestant;^[2] 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. At any point up to the final question, the contestant may quit the game after seeing the question. For the final question, the contestant must decide whether to quit after seeing only the subject; if he or she chooses to see the question, he or she must answer it.

Kathy Cox, the Superintendent of Schools for the State of Georgia, is the only person to have correctly answered the $1,000,000 question (MDQ): Who was the longest reigning British Monarch? The answer was Queen Victoria.

Ken Jennings could have become the second person to win the million dollars but he decided not to go for the Social Studies MDQ. Upon seeing the question after dropping out of school, he answered it correctly. 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.

Question Values (original U.S. version)
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Bonus (11)
$1,000	$2,000	$5,000	$10,000	$25,000	$50,000	$100,000	$175,000	$300,000	$500,000	$1,000,000

Question Values (current U.S. version) (By Grade) All or Nothing Format NOTE: A wrong answer wipes out the player's entire winnings. A player must answer all ten questions before having the opportunity to stop at the bonus question, and may only participate if they have answered the tenth question correctly.
1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Bonus
$500	$1,000	$2,500	$3,500	$5,000	10 times winnings

There are five "classmates" 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. The cheats are not available on the final question;^[3] additionally, once all three 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 the season, and are given a "study guide" of possible question topics before the start of the season^[4]. 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 once), the contestant has the opportunity to claim, "I am smarter than a fifth grader."

[edit] Commonly-employed strategies

Like any other intellect-based game show, contestants have created strategies to help them answer questions correctly.

• If a contestant is faced with a "true or false" question (or some other question with two possible answers) and still has both their "Peek" and "Save" cheats, they may first use their "Peek" and, immediately after seeing their classmate's answer, will take the other possible answer. If the classmate is incorrect, then the contestant is correct. If the classmate is correct, he or she will save the contestant. In either case the contestant is guaranteed to get the question right - although they risk using two cheats in the process. However, a contestant with only the "Save" cheat is guaranteed to get a "true or false" question correct, regardless of the answer they select, so the above strategy is rarely employed.
• Since the contestants are not provided with a pencil and paper, all math problems must be done mentally. As a result, they often think aloud, so that their progress will be easier to remember.
• Many contestants will start at the bottom and work their way up. In other words, they will use both First Grade questions on the $1,000 and $2,000 questions, and then use the two Second Grade questions, saving the Fifth Grade questions (the hardest ones) for the $300,000 and $500,000 questions. Jeff has stated numerous times that he likes this strategy, however in theory it may be easier to begin with the hardest level ($1,000 and $2,000 questions) through the First Grade questions for $300,000 and $500,000. Such a strategy may be looked down upon, however daring contestants may attempt this with the possibility of flunking-out prior to the $25,000 question.

[edit] International versions

The show has spawned many versions around the world:

Country	Name	Host	Channel	Premiere	Language
Argentina	¿Sabés más que un chico de 5to grado?	Andrea Frigerio and Pablo Granados	América (Channel 2)	July 9, 2007	Spanish
Australia	Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?[5]	Rove McManus	Network Ten	September 26, 2007	English
Austria	Dreizehn	Christian Clerici	ORF1	September 27, 2007	German
Belgium	Slimmer Dan Een Kind Van 10?	Goedele Liekens	vtm	September 6, 2007	Dutch
	Êtes-vous plus malin qu'un enfant de primaire ?	Alain Simons	RTL-TVI	September 6, 2007	French
Brazil	Você é Mais Esperto Que um Aluno da Quinta Série?[6]	Silvio Santos	SBT	September 23, 2007	Portuguese
Bulgaria	Това го знае всяко хлапе![7]	Dimitar & Deo	bTV	September 15, 2007 (cancelled on February 20, 2009)	Bulgarian
Canada	Are You Smarter Than a Canadian 5th Grader?[8]	Colin Mochrie	Global	October 25, 2007	English
	La classe de 5e[9]	Charles Lafortune	TVA	Fall 2008[10]	French
Chile	¿Sabes más que un niño de 5º Básico?	José Miguel Viñuela	MEGA	April 2, 2008	Spanish
China	5th Grade Salvation Team (Simplified Chinese: 五年级救助队)[11]	Wang Han (汪涵)	HNETV	May 1, 2007	Putonghua
	Lucky 52 (Simplified Chinese: 幸运52)	Li Yong (李咏)	CCTV-2	November, 1998[12] (adopted the format of this show on June 1, 2007)	Putonghua
	Who's Smarter? (Simplified Chinese: 谁比谁聪明)[13]	Liu Ming-ming (刘茗茗)	SZTV	June 1, 2007[14]	Putonghua
	Can You Graduate? (Simplified Chinese: 你能毕业吗?)[15]	Duan Lei (段雷), Jia Ning (贾宁)	TJTV	June 2, 2007	Putonghua
	Are You Smarter Than a Primary Student? (Simplified Chinese: 不考不知道)[16]	Xu Rui (徐睿)	SXTVS	June 30, 2007[17]	Putonghua
	New 5th Grader (Simplified Chinese: 五年级插班生)	He Hao-peng (何浩鹏)	Guangdong TV	August 10, 2007[18]	Cantonese
Colombia	¿Sabes más que un niño de primaria?	Jose Gabriel Ortiz	Caracol TV	February 20, 2008	Spanish
Czech Republic	Jsi chytřejší než páťák?	Michal Suchánek & Richard Genzer	TV Nova	2007	Czech
Denmark	Er Du Klogere End En 10-Årig?	Jan Gintberg	TV3	September 22, 2007	Danish
Estonia	Targem kui 5B	Indrek Tarand	TV3	September 13, 2008	Estonian
Finland	Fiksumpi kuin koululainen	Nicke Lignell	MTV3	November 6, 2008	Finnish
France	Êtes-vous plus fort qu’un élève de 10 ans?	Roland Magdane	M6	September 3, 2007	French
Germany	Das weiß doch jedes Kind![19]	Cordula Stratmann	Sat.1	July 6, 2007	German
Greece	Είσαι πιο έξυπνος από ένα δεκάχρονο;[20]	Sophia Aliberti	ANT1	January 19, 2008	Greek
Hong Kong	Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?(Traditional Chinese: 係咪小兒科)[21]	Leo Ku	TVB	October 25, 2008	Cantonese
Hungary	Okosabb vagy mint egy 5-es?	Attila Till	TV2	August 24, 2007	Hungarian
Iceland	Ertu skarpari en skólakrakki?	Gunnar Hansson	Skjár 1	October 21, 2007	Icelandic
India	Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?[22]	Shahrukh Khan	STAR Plus	April 25, 2008	Hindi
Indonesia	Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Indonesia)	Tantowi Yahya	Global TV (Indonesia)	April 4, 2009	Indonesian
Israel	?'האם אתה חכם יותר מתלמיד כיתה ו	Eyal Kitzis	Channel 2	July 2007	Hebrew
Italy	Sei più bravo di un ragazzino di 5a?	Massimiliano Ossini	Sky Vivo	October 6, 2008	Italian
Latvia	Vai tu esi gudrāks par piektklasnieku?	Māris Olte	TV3	September 8, 2007	Latvian
Lithuania	Penktokų iššūkis	Andrius Rožickas	TV3	September 2, 2007	Lithuanian
Mexico	Todo el mundo cree que sabe	Marco Antonio Regil	Televisa	June 13, 2009	Spanish
Netherlands	Ben je slimmer dan een kind?	Erik van der Hoff	Net 5	September 2, 2007	Dutch
New Zealand	Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old?[23]	Dominic Bowden	TV2	September 9, 2007	English
Norway	Er du smartere enn en 10-åring		TV3		English
Philippines	Kakasa Ka Ba Sa Grade 5?	Janno Gibbs	GMA Network	October 27, 2007	Filipino and English
Poland	Czy jesteś mądrzejszy od 5-klasisty?	Robert Korólczyk / Marzena Rogalska	TV Puls	October 29, 2007	Polish
Portugal	Sabe Mais Do Que Um Miúdo De 10 Anos?	Jorge Gabriel	RTP1	September 17, 2007 (1st edition) June 30, 2008 (2nd edition)	Portuguese
Romania	Te crezi mai deştept decât un copil de clasa a 5-a?	Virgil Iantu	Prima TV	Unknown	Romanian
Russia	Кто умнее 5-классника?	Alexandr Pushnoy	STS	December 9, 2007	Russian
Serbia	Da li ste pametniji od đaka petaka?	Voja Nedeljković	Fox televizija	September 2007	Serbian
Slovakia	Ste chytrejší ako piatak?	Peter Marcin	TV Markiza	2007	Slovak
Slovenia	Ste pametnejši od petošolca?	TBA (to be announced)	POP TV	TBA (to be announced)	Slovenian
South Africa	Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?[24]	Soli Philander	M-Net	January 27, 2008	English
Spain	¿Sabes más que un niño de primaria?	Ramón García	Telemadrid	July 2007	Spanish
Sri Lanka	Punchi Pahe Man	Vijaya Nandasiri	Sirasa TV	2008	Sinhala
Sweden			TV3		Swedish
Taiwan	Are You Smarter Than a Primary School Student? (Traditional Chinese: 百萬小學堂)	Zhang Xiao-yan (張小燕)	TTV	October 3, 2008	Mandarin
Thailand	ถ้าคุณแน่? อย่าแพ้เด็ก! (ประถม) (renamed from "ถ้าคุณแน่? อย่าแพ้ ป.4!")	Kanit Sarasin	Thai TV 3	October 1, 2007 (1st edition) October 13, 2008 (2nd edition)	Thai
Turkey	5'e Gidenden Akilli Misin?	Tolga Gariboğlu	STAR TV	June 2007	Turkish
Ukraine
United Kingdom	Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old?[25]	Noel Edmonds (primetime) Dick & Dom (daytime)	Sky One	October 7, 2007 (primetime) November 12, 2007 (daytime)	English
United States	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 daytime version	Jeff Foxworthy	Syndicated by 20th Television	September 2009	English
Vietnam	Ai thông minh hơn học sinh lớp 5?	Tạ Minh Tâm	HTV2	June 19, 2009	Vietnamese

[edit] 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.

[edit] External links

• Official Site

[edit] References