Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? (American game show)

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); 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 $1,000,000 (see "Million Dollar Question" below).

Five fifth graders (some of whom are also professional child actors)[17] appear on each show and play along on stage – in general, each episode in a season has the same cast of children. Prior to the show, the children are provided with workbooks which contain a variety of material, some of which could be used in the questions asked in the game.[18][19] The player chooses one to be their "classmate", who stands at the adjacent podium and is called upon for assistance in choosing a subject; the other four sit at desks off to the side. Each child acts as the classmate for two consecutive questions, after which another child is picked from those who have not yet played in that game.

If the contestant gets an answer incorrect (and while the classmate also answer incorrectly (see "Cheats" below)), the contestant will "flunk out" and leave with either nothing, or $25,000 if they correctly answered the fifth question. The contestant may choose to "drop out" at any point during the game (with the exception of the peek cheat noted above), which entitles them to leave the game with any winnings they have accrued.

Contestants have three forms of answer-assistance options (two cheats and a Save), each available for use once per game (up to, but not including, the $1,000,000 bonus question).[20] The two cheats, Peek and Copy, can be invoked by the contestant to aid in making a decision as follows:

• Peek: The player is shown their classmate's answer and may choose whether to go along with it or not; however, upon using this cheat, the contestant must attempt the question and is not allowed to "drop out"
• Copy: The contestant is locked into using their classmate's answer, without being able to see it first. The classmate must provide the correct answer in order to advance to the next stage, otherwise the contestant loses. When this cheat is used in the 2015 revival, the classmate is allowed to discuss his/her answer with the other fifth graders and change it if desired.
• Save: A "Save" is simply a rule in the game, where a contestant is credited as a correct answer if the contestant answers incorrectly but their classmate is correct. Unlike the Peek or Copy, the contestant cannot elect to use the Save, but it is passively used on their first incorrect response. However, if the classmate's answer is also incorrect (or the classmate's answer is the same as the contestant's), the contestant loses. Players could use the Save in tandem with the Peek to have two possible answers, theirs and their classmate's. (The Save was removed in season 2 of the syndicated version, and does not apply in the Nickelodeon version, since there is no money penalty for a wrong answer in that version.)

Once all three forms of assistance are used or once the tenth question is answered correctly, whichever comes first, the classmates must return to the tables and no classmates will provide help at this point.

"Classroom Club" questions were introduced into the game at the beginning of the second season. These questions are written by elementary school students, who submit them via the show's Web site. When one is used, the school of the student who wrote it receives a computer lab, courtesy of the show. "Field Trip" questions, introduced in the third season, feature a video clip of a National Geographic Channel correspondent asking the question from an appropriate location somewhere in the world. In the 2015 revival, the $10,000 question also rewarded $10,000 to a grade school (connected to the studio via Skype) towards refurbishments and improvements if the contestant answered correctly.[16]

Upon reaching the final question, several rules changed slightly for the final question. The contestant is only given the information on the name of the subject for the bonus question, which is a fifth-grade subject (sixth-grade in the 2015 revival); the contestant then make a decision on whether they drop out with the $500,000 they won, or risk $475,000 to attempt the question. Once they choose to see the question, the contestant was deemed to have took the risk and must attempt the question (which is always a short-answered question) without relying on classmates or cheats, nor "drop out".[20]

If the contestant answered the final question correctly and won the $1,000,000 top prize, the contestant will be entitled to profess to the camera "I am smarter than a 5th grader."; however, if at any point during the game the player drops out or flunks out, they must face the camera, state their name, and declare "I am not smarter than a 5th grader."

Each season, a new group of children are cast to appear as the "classmates" on the show.[21] Any child cast must be "smart, funny, and outgoing", and must actually be in the 5th grade (age 9, 10 or 11) during the television season finales.[21]

Contestants who make it through the auditioning process are required to sign a one-year contract stating that they will not tell anybody how much money they make, and that they cannot tell or release any information about the actual auditioning process, such as the number of screening processes, the questions asked by the auditioners, and the actual credit for being accepted onto the show.

During every classmate's final appearance on the show ("Graduation Night"), each classmate receives a $25,000 savings bond.

Beginning in season 2, many celebrities played the game and donated their winnings to the charity of their choice. Of these celebrities, Gene Simmons was the most successful, winning $500,000 for Glazer Pediatrics AIDS Foundation.[22] In addition to these celebrities, former Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings and Nobel Prize winner George Smoot, both of whom were playing on their own behalf, won $500,000 and $1,000,000 respectively, for the latter becoming the second top prize winner. Jennings's stint on the show helped propel him back into the lead for the most money won on game shows by one person in the United States.[lower-alpha 5]

The game play for this version of 5th Grader is similar to the original Fox network version. Games are played by a single contestant, who attempts to answer questions correctly plus one final fifth grade bonus question with the assistance of one of three fifth grade classmates (instead of five on the network version), who vary each week. In addition, each classmate can be used for up to three questions (as opposed to two on the network version).

Contestants are required to attempt all questions, and do not flunk out simply by answering a question incorrectly, instead losing all money earned to that point. If a player has any money left after all questions are asked, they are given the choice to either drop out with the money earned, or answer a 5th-grade bonus question worth 10 times their earnings. The maximum winnings are $25,000 without the bonus question, and therefore $250,000 if it is answered correctly.

If the contestant answers the bonus question wrong, they lose everything, but if they had earned at least $2,500 before the bonus question, then they receive a consolation prize in the form of a $2,500 prepaid card. If they had earned less than $2,500, the value of the card is $250. On celebrity episodes, the consolation prizes are cash donations to the celebrity's favorite charity.

In Season 1, there are 10 regular questions before the bonus question. Season 2 shortened the game by reducing the number of questions before the bonus question down to eight while fifth grade questions are removed from the main game. The "Save" was also removed, and contestants were no longer allowed to skip to a higher-grade question before attempting at least one question from each lower grade.

Once the first part of the game is completed, the contestant faces the fifth grade. Five subjects are shown to the contestant, each with one fifth grade-level question. The contestant is given 60 seconds to answer all five questions. As in the first part of the game, the contestant must press the button on his or her desk to lock in an answer.

To help the contestant, one "final cheat" is allowed, which the contestant can use on any question; the final cheat allows the contestant to discuss that question with the last remaining member of the class (without a stated time limit) after the other four questions have been completed and their answers revealed. Cena does not move on to the next question until the contestant has acted on the current question by either answering or declaring an intention to use the final cheat.

After all of the questions have been acted on, or time has expired, the questions that have been answered are reviewed, and the correct answers revealed. If the contestant has used the final cheat, that question is then addressed last after the other four questions have been resolved. The contestant is then allowed to discuss that question with the last remaining classmate. Once the discussion is over, the contestant locks in an answer to that question, and is then told whether the answer is right or wrong.

Each correct answer increases the multiplier by one (for example, two correct answers would be three times the bank; a $10,000 bank worth a total of $30,000); correctly answering every five fifth-grade questions correctly increases the initial bank by ten.

As like the original version; winning the maximum prize of $100,000 entitled a contestant to confess to a camera that "I am smarter than a 5th grader!"; if the contestant did not win the full $100,000 instead have to declare the statement: "I am not smarter than a 5th grader."

The following is the cast for the Nickelodeon version:[25]

• Chloe Casanova
• Quinne Daniels
• Nick D'Ambrosio
• Patrick D'Amico
• Colin Heintz
• Amira Martin
• Isabella Schmitt
• Cooper Stutler
• Mia Tillman
• Tristan Tucker Jr.
• Jamir Vega
• Saya Watkins

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."[26]

The first season of the original series averaged 11.5 million viewers.[27] The 2015 revival premiered on May 26, 2015 to 3.31 million viewers, scoring a 0.8/3 rating/share among adults 18–49.[28][29]