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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. 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.

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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. 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.
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; therefore, the show is essentially a test to see how much a below-average 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 chooses to see the question, he 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 was enough for him to beat Brad Rutter's record for the most amount of money won on game shows by $353,312.29.
| 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 |
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; 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. 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 original working title of Do You Remember Grade School would have been more appropriate, but was dropped in favor of the title as we know it for entertainment purposes, specifically making adults look stupid and then exploiting the supposed stupidity, which is an irony because adults are supposed to teach children. But it is not just to be mean to parents. Its teaches them more that nobody is perfect, even themselves. And if they had to live in a kids shoes they would likely not survive, therefore teaching adults to not simply respect their elders, but youth as well.
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."
International versions
The show has spawned many versions around the world:
| Country | Name | Host | Channel | Premiere | Language |
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 | ¿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 | September 26, 2007 | English |  | Dreizehn | Christian Clerici | ORF1 | September 27, 2007 | German |  | Slimmer Dan Een Kind Van 10? | Goedele Liekens | vtm | September 6, 2007 | Dutch | | Êtes-vous plus malin qu'un enfant de primaire ? | Alain Simons | AB3 | September 6, 2007 | French |  | Você é Mais Esperto Que um Aluno da Quinta Série? | Silvio Santos | SBT | September 23, 2007 | Portuguese |  | ???? ?? ???? ????? ?????! | Dimitar & Deo | bTV | September 15, 2007 (cancelled on February 20, 2009) | Bulgarian |  | Are You Smarter Than a Canadian 5th Grader? | Colin Mochrie | Global | October 25, 2007 | English | | La classe de 5e | Charles Lafortune | TVA | Fall 2008 | French |  | ¿Sabes más que un niño de 5º Básico? | José Miguel Viñuela | MEGA | April 2, 2008 | Spanish |  | New 5th Grader (Simplified Chinese: ??????) | He Hao-peng | Guangdong TV | August 2007 | Cantonese |  | ¿Sabes más que un niño de primaria? | Jose Gabriel Ortiz | Caracol TV | February 20, 2008 | Spanish | | | Jsi chytrejší než páták? | Michal Suchánek & Richard Genzer | TV Nova | 2007 | Czech |  | Er Du Klogere End En 10-Årig? | 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 |  | ??sa? p?? ???p??? ap? ??a de???????; | Sophia Aliberti | ANT1 | January 19, 2008 | Greek |  | Is It Child's Play?(Traditional Chinese: ?????) | Leo Ku | TVB | October 25, 2008 | 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 | Hindi |  | Masa Kalah Sama Anak-Anak | Helmy Yahya and Becky Tumewu | tvOne | March 28, 2008 | Indonesian | | Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Indonesia) | TBA | Global TV (Indonesia) | 2009 | Indonesian |  | ?'??? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ???? ? | Eyal Kitzis | Channel 2 | July 2007 | Hebrew |  | Sei più bravo di un ragazzino di 5a? | Massimiliano Ossini | Sky Vivo | October 6, 2008 | Italian |  | Vai tu esi gudraks par piektklasnieku? | Maris Olte | TV3 | September 8, 2007 | Latvian |  | Penktoku iššukis | Andrius Rožickas | TV3 | September 2, 2007 | Lithuanian | | | 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 |  | Er du smartere enn en 10-åring | | | | | | Kakasa Ka Ba Sa Grade 5? | Janno Gibbs | GMA Network | October 27, 2007 | Filipino and English |  | Czy jestes madrzejszy 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 destept decat un copil de clasa a 5-a? | Virgil Iantu | Prima TV | Unknown | Romanian |  | ??? ????? 5-?????????? | Alexandr Pushnoy | STS | December 9, 2007 | Russian |  | Da li ste pametniji od daka petaka? | Voja Nedeljkovic | Fox televizija | September 2007 | Serbian |  | Ste chytrejší ako piatak? | Peter Marcin | TV Markiza | 2007 | Slovak |  | Ste pametnejši od petošolca? | TBA (to be announced) | POP TV | TBA (to be announced) | Slovenian |  | Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? | Soli Philander | M-Net | January 27, 2008 | English |  | ¿Sabes más que un niño de primaria? | Ramón García | Telemadrid | July 2007 | Spanish |  | Punchi Pahe Man | Vijaya Nandasiri | Sirasa TV | 2008 | Sinhala |  | | | TV4 | | Swedish | | | Are You Smarter Than a Primary School Student? (Traditional Chinese: ?????) | Zhang Xiao-yan | TTV | October 3, 2008 | Mandarin |  | ?????????? ???????????!
(renamed from "?????????? ??????? ?.4!") | Kanit Sarasin | Thai TV 3 | October 1, 2007 (1st edition)
October 13, 2008 (2nd edition) | Thai |  | 5'e Gidenden Akilli Misin? | Tolga Gariboglu | STAR TV | June 2007 | Turkish |  | | | | | | Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old? | Noel Edmonds (primetime) Dick & Dom (daytime) | Sky One | October 7, 2007 (primetime) November 12, 2007 (daytime) | English | | Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? | Jeff Foxworthy | FOX | February 27, 2007 | English |
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.
External links
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