Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
Fox’s newest game show, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? has been topping the Nielsen national ratings charts and only slightly behind the #1 rated American Idol. Hosted by stand-up comedian, Jeff Foxworthy, this new game show offers adult contestants a chance at $1 million by answering a series of questions that are taken directly from elementary school textbooks. Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? measures a contestant’s knowledge of various subjects targeted at the 5th grade level. The subjects covered include Math, Geography, Social Studies, Science and Spelling.
This show has attracted so many viewers because both adults and kids can play along at home while watching. The show has 5 resident 5th graders that play the game alongside the adult contestant. During each round, the contestant chooses one 5th grader to be his classmate and is given a chance to receive help from them if necessary. The contestant who answers 10 questions correctly receives $500,000, and gets a shot at answering an additional question for $1 million.
To make the game more interesting, each contestant is allowed 3 ‘cheats’ before they are eliminated. The cheat options are to ‘Peek’, ‘Copy’ or ‘Save’. ‘Peek’ allows the contestant to look at the kid’s answer and decide whether or not they want to use it. ‘Copy’ is where the contestant must decide to use the kid’s answer. Lastly, ‘Save’ is used when the contestant guesses wrong but thinks the kid can answer the question correctly, thus saving the contestant. At any time, the adult contestant is allowed to take the money they’ve won so far (without answering the next question) the only requirement is that the adult contestant must look directly into the camera and say “I am not smarter than a fifth grader!”
Tune in next time to test your knowledge. Are you smarter than a fifth grader?
