The game show that humbles many adults for their lack of knowledge of basic school subjects such as mathematics, science, history, geometry, and English is joining day time syndication, “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” The show was sold to Warner Bros. who will air it on multiple stations, five days per week, twice per day. One network being, CMT.

The set looks the same as the prime time set. The seating has been limited to a smaller number of audience members and no balcony, where the prime time version did have a balcony for audience.
Daytime set much the same. Above photo: Billy Bush from a previous prime time season. No word yet on if celebrities will be brought into the day time version.

Same looking set for daytime shows. Above photo: host, Jeff Foxworthy with celeb contestant, Billy Bush from a previous prime time season.

Host Jeff Foxworthy, in person is very down-to-earth, and oddly enough does have a teacher vibe/presence about him on stage. He joked with the audience, signed autographs, and even recited some of his “redneck dictionary words” for a fan. Then told the story of how his book of the play-on-words came to be. He stated that he initially thought he’d only be able to come-up with about twenty, but it soon turned into about two thousand.

The format is different, and the time frame is one half hour. Contestants come out to the stage to roll through ten topics given to them on a monitor “chalk board”. Contestants are allowed to bring up to four supporters who consist of family and friends to sit in the audience adjacent to the stage to cheer them on.

The fifth grade child actor, students on-stage that are there to play the game with contestants now consist of only three children versus five from the prime time show. Two different groups of three children are rotated from the morning shows, and the afternoon shows. So, no same children are there for any one whole tape day.

How The Game is Played:

There are ten categories on the board. The top two are the hardest questions, being “Fifth Grade” level questions, and worth $5000 each. The next two are “Fourth Grade” level worth $3,500 each; “Third Grade” at $2,500; “Second Grade”, $1000 each; last two are “gimme” questions that are “First Grade” level at $500 each. A total winnings consisting of $25,000 that can be increased to $250,000 after being multiplied by ten if the contestant answers the “Bonus Question” correctly.

If at any time, the player gets an answer incorrect, they lose all of the money they had earned up to that point. The only exceptions are the following: They get a $5000 question wrong, but the fifth grade student gets it correct. The contestant still earns the $5000; the contestant can choose to use their “save” safety net option and if the fifth grader gets the answer correct outside of the $5000 question, the money is still earned.

The other two safety nets contestants have are “copy” and “peek”. If a contestant chooses to use their “copy” option, they must lock-in the answer the fifth grader wrote down without seeing it first, and that’s the answer they play. If they use “peek”, then they can take a look at what the fifth grader wrote for an answer and decide whether or not they would like to lock it in as their answer.

Contestants play all the way through the board to the end. Once they reach the “Bonus Question” that multiples their money times ten, they get to see the subject category of the question, and decide if they’d like to continue. If they decide to SEE the question, however, they must answer it. If the contestant answers this “Bonus Question” incorrectly, they “give all the money back”. If they’ve earned at least $2,500 before the “Bonus Question”, then they get a consultation prize in the form of a $2,500 “Best Buy” gift card. If they have earned less than $2,500, the gift card is only $250. One contestant at today’s taping walked out with a $250 gift card. On the other side, a contestant was almost “smarter than a fifth grader” and earned $25,000 in their game, and decided not to go for the “Bonus Question”.

At the end of their defeat, contestants must still look into a camera and admit verbally, “I am NOT smarter than a fifth grader”.

On-Set:

The filming of the show is very fast-paced and organized. There seems to be a large fan-base of the show. Sunday’s afternoon shows filled-up, having to turn some audiences away!

As far as contestants, no word yet on if celebrities will be brought into the day time version to play.

The show started filming last Thursday, June 11th, and films seven shows per day. The syndicated version begins airing this September.