Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Totally Explained

Everything about Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader totally explained

For information related to a version of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? airing in a specific country, see 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 format originally appeared in the United States on the Howard Stern Show, where Stern would pit adults against children to test their intelligence whilst humiliating the adult. 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 fact that an adult wouldn't know the information generally taught in elementary grade school, due to the fact it's rarely used in adult life.
The contestant is presented and entered in textbook for the grade level of the particular question. 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.

Question Values (original U.S. version)
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	*Bonus*
$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 don't 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's 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.
Upon leaving the game either by quitting, or answering incorrectly, the contestant must profess to the camera, "I am not smarter than a fifth grader."

Million Dollar Question Losers

Meghen Miles lost $475,000 on a question about Chuck Yeager. Steve Nalepa lost $475,000 on a question about on the Explorer program.

Versions

The show has spawned many versions around the world:

Name	Host	Channel	Premiere	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	September 26, 2007	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
Това го знае всяко хлапе!	Dimitar & Deo	bTV	September 15, 2007	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 quinto básico?	José Miguel Viñuela	MEGA	April 2, 2008	Spanish
¿Sabes más que un niño de primaria?	Jose Gabriel Ortiz	Caracol TV	February 20, 2008	Spanish
Jsi chytřejší než páťák?	Michal Suchánek & Richard Genzer	TV Nova	2007	Czech
Er Du Klogere End En 10-Årig?	Jan Gintberg	TV3	September 22, 2007	Danish
Fiksumpi kuin koululainen	Nicke Lignell	MTV3	autumn 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
Είσαι πιο έξυπνος από ένα δεκάχρονο;	Sofia Aliberti	ANT1	January 19, 2008	Greek
係咪小兒科	TBA	TVB	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
Kya Aap Paanchvi Fail Champu Hain?	Sunil Grover	Filmy	June 7 2008	Hindi
?'האם אתה חכם יותר מתלמיד כיתה ו	Eyal Kitzis	Channel 2	July 2007	Hebrew
TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
Vai tu esi gudrāks par piektklasnieku?	Māris Olte	TV3	September 8, 2007	Latvian
Penktokų iššūkis	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

Kakasa Ka Ba Sa Grade 5?	Janno Gibbs	GMA Network	October 27, 2007	Filipino and English
Czy jesteś mądrzejszy od 5-klasisty?	Robert Korólczyk	TV Puls	October 29, 2007	Polish
Sabe Mais Do Que Um Miúdo De 10 Anos?	Jorge Gabriel	RTP1	September 17, 2007	Portuguese
Te crezi mai destept decat un copil de clasa a 5-a?	Virgil Iantu	Prima TV	Unknown	Romanian
Кто умнее 5-классника?	Alexandr Pushnoy	STS	December 9, 2007	Russian
Da li ste pametniji od đaka petaka?	Voja Nedeljković	Fox	September 2007	Serbian
Ste chytrejší ako piatak?	Peter Marcin	TV Markiza	2007	Slovak
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

ถ้าคุณแน่? อย่าแพ้ ป.4!	Kanit Sarasin	Thai TV 3	October 1, 2007	Thai
5'e Gidenden Akilli Misin?	Tolga Gariboğlu	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

Adaptation

There is also an adaptation of Are you smarter than a 5th Grader:

Country	Name	Host	Channel	Premiere	Language
	Masa Kalah Sama Anak-Anak	Helmy Yahya and Becky Tumewu	tvOne	March 28, 2008	Indonesian

Further Information

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