Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

HOST: Jeff Foxworthy
AIRDATES: February 27th, 2007 - September 18th, 2009
CHANNEL: FOX
THEME: David Vanacore with Blessed Kateri Children's Choir

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? was the show where you could win $1,000,000, if you could prove to the world that you ARE smarter than a 5th grader!

There are five 5th graders

in the host's classroom. They are introduced to an adult classmate

contestant, whose 5th grade picture (or grade school picture if 5th grade was unavailable) is seen on the chalkboard screen, and host Foxworthy announces the elementary school they attended at the time of their 5th grade tenure. The contestant picks a classmate

to have at their side for the next two questions, or until help was needed. The kids take the same "test"

as the contestant does.
There are 10 grade-school

subjects, with two questions per grade level from 1st to 5th grade. The higher the grade, the more difficult the question. Each question was re-worded to ensure the contestant's difficulty in answering the question. The contestant can choose their subjects in any order they wish to. The money tree is as follows:

Correct answers	Winnings
10	$500,000
9	$300,000
8	$175,000
7	$100,000
6	$50,000
5	$25,000
4	$10,000
3	$5,000
2	$2,000
1	$1,000

The contestant is also allowed three

Cheats: a Peek at their selected classmate's

answer to help them decide on whether or not to go with their gut, but they must answer the question after using this Cheat. The second is a Copy cheat, where the contestant is automatically locked in with their selected classmate's answer, without being able to see it first. The third is an automatic cheat, the Save cheat. If a contestant answers incorrectly, their selected classmate must be correct for the contestant to receive the amount of money the question is worth. Whenever a contestant answers 5 questions correctly, they are guaranteed $25,000 if they "flunk out," as in answering incorrectly, and their classmate's Save answer was incorrect, if the Save was still in tact. After all the Cheats are used, if a contestant is unsure of a question, they can elect to "drop out"

of school and keep the money they have won up to that point. However, upon "flunking out" or "dropping out," the contestant must look at the television audience via-camera and

tell them they are not smarter than a 5th grader.

$1,000,000 QUESTION

If a contestant got past the test and won $500,000, they are now eligible for the $1,000,000

question. What's different about it is, whatever Cheats were saved up to that point, they're gone. Plus the help of the classmates, they're gone too. The contestant is now on their own for the $1,000,000. S/he is shown the subject for the $1,000,000 question and can decide whether to "drop out" with the $500,000 after seeing the subject, or go for the question and the $1,000,000. But if the contestant elects to go for the

question, they cannot "drop out," as they must answer the question. If they get it wrong, it's a "flunk out"

and they leave with $25,000. However if they correctly answer the question, that contestant wins

$1,000,000, and can proudly tell the home audience they ARE smarter than a 5th grader!

THE $1,000,000 WINNERS

KATHY COX	GEORGE SMOOT

SYNDICATED VERSION

On September 21st, 2009, the game was tweaked. With the syndicated format, there are now three classmates instead of five in the network version, who vary each week. The classmates can be used for up to three questions. Here is the new layout table for the payouts:

5th grade questions	$5,000
4th grade questions	$3,500
3rd grade questions	$2,500
2nd grade questions	$1,000
1st grade questions	$500

In this format, contestants didn't "flunk out" if they answered incorrectly, they just lost all winnings up to that point. The Cheats were still the same, and when all 10 questions were finished, whatever the contestant had won up to that point, they could elect to drop out and take their money home, or go for a bonus question (5th grade level) that could multiply their winnings by 10. The most anyone could win in this format was $25,000, so there is a possibility someone could leave with $250,000. If they missed the question and flunked out, they would win a prepaid card, depending on the scenario at the bonus question. If the contestant had more than $2,500 in their bank and flunked out, the prepaid card would be $2,500, otherwise it'd just be $250.
When season two began on September 20th, 2010, the game was shortened. The 5th grade questions were removed, making the number of questions 8, plus the 5th-grade bonus question. The 3rd and 4th grade questions were increased to $3,500 and $7,500 respectively, and the "Save" cheat was removed. Another new rule was that contestants could no longer skip to a higher-grade question before attempting at least one question from each of the lower grades. Because of low ratings, the show was cancelled on March 24th, 2011.

- The concept of the show was a regular bit on The Howard Stern Show, and was pitched as Do You Remember Grade School? in November 2006. It was a six-question quiz form. The only one able to beat it was Peter Liguori of FOX. On January 31st, 2007, FOX picked up the show for a six-episode run, and Jeff Foxworthy was announced as the host on February 9th. Less than eight weeks after being pitched, the very first episode aired.
- Prior to the shows, the Class was given a series of notebooks to help them study, some material could be used as questions during the "tests" the real contestants faced. When the class "graduated," they recieved a $25,000 savings bond.
- Jeff Foxworthyis a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, known for his "you might be a redneck" jokes. Foxworthy released six major-label comedy albums, and his friend and Comedy Tour partner, Larry the Cable Guy appeared as a celebrity contestant on this show. Foxworthy is also a hunter and devout Christian, has been married to Pamela Gregg since September 18th, 1985 and has two daughters, Jordan and Julianne.
- Kathy Cox, the first $1,000,000 winner, was the Superintendent for Georgia public schools at the time of her appearance. Kathy intended to donate the winnings to three different schools in Georgia: Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon, Atlanta Area School for the Deaf in Clarkston, and Georgia School for the Deaf in Cave Spring. Not long after her win however, her husband declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy and the money was sent back to FOX, which caused a riot between the schools and the office of Gary Brown in Newnan, who said the money should go to the creditors. However in October 2010, Bankruptcy Judge W. Homer Drake signed off on an agreement, which allowed the winnings to be split evenly between the creditors and the three schools. Cox resigned in July 2010 as Superintendent to take a C.E.O position of a new non-profit Education Delivery Institute in Washington D.C.
- George Smoot, the second and last $1,000,000 winner of the primetime era who won on the final primetime episode, is a Nobel-prize winner behind the Big Bang Theory. His Nobel Prize was earned in 2006 for his work on COBE with John C. Mather. He became the only man in 5th Grader history to keep his $1,000,000 prize.
- The show began as a three-day special on February 27th, 2007, with the first two shows 30-minutes long. Regular one-hour episodes began airing Thursdays between March 1st and May 10th that same year.
- Some of the students in the classroom are child actors. Laura Marano, the younger sister of Vanessa Marano, was a regular throughout season one, and has played the role of main character daughters in Without a Trace and Back to You, though she was replaced by Marki Ann Mayer halfway through the season of 5th Grader, most likely because of Marano's acting career. Sierra McCormickfrom season two stars as Olive Doyle on Disney Channel's A.N.T. Farm, and has played in other various television series such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Monk. Taylar Henderfrom the syndicated version was part of a few television series and provided additional voices in the video game, Toy Story 3: The Video Game. Deadtime Stories: Grave Secrets, a film Hendar starred in, is due out in 2012.

MY RATINGS:

When one looks at a game show like this, they would say, "Oh, come on! Winning $1,000,000 is as easy as pie!" Well that may be true, but the producers purposely botched the questions to make it look a little tougher for the adults. Jeff Foxworthy, great with his "redneck" jokes, but boy did he pull this show off very well! The set was a great design for a classroom, and everything really was put into place. I think what really gave this show the axe was the second format of the syndicated version, no 5th grade questions (save for the bonus), no "Save," and that really pulled away from what was great for 5th Grader. The students in the classroom, some did get the tough questions, but they were pretty bright. I'm surprised to know how some of these students are child actors, and their futures in the acting industry really look bright, like Sierra in A.N.T. Farm and Taylar doing various work. Towards George Smoot, the man behind the Big Bang Theory and all, great win. As for Kathy Cox, boy do I have sympathy for her. I'm from the state where she was school Superintendant, and for her to lose the money for the schools when her husband filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy...tough break. But, it really put a smile on my face when the decision was finally made in 2010 to split the winnings between the creditors and the schools, and I learned it was one of the creditors who originally gave that idea, and that was the best thing to happen. No matter what though, I congratulate those who tried to be smarter than a 5th grader...but my hats off to Mrs. Cox and Mr. Smoot. This was a great show, hands down.
By the way guys, the sunglasses Foxworthy's wearing in his small picture above is not a reference to his religion. He momentarily borrowed the sunglasses of John Morrison, a WWE Superstar

NETWORK VERSION: 4.5 stars
SYNDICATED VERSION 1: 5 stars
SYNDICATED VERSION 2: 1.5 stars (it was the new format!)

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