Season 1
Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? is a South African version of the American reality game show of the same name created by Mark Burnett in which 5th Grader games are played by a single contestant, who attempts to answer ten questions (plus a final bonus question), with content taken from elementary school textbooks.
The show was produced by M-Net Local Productions and hosted by comedian Soli Philander.
Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? originally aired on M-Net from 27 January to 1 June, 2008, on Sundays at 18h00. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 19 hour-long episodes in one season.
The series later aired on DStv's M-Net Series and M-Net Series Reality channels. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? premiered on M-Net Series Reality on Tuesday 9 July 2013, at 23h30. New episodes broadcast daily, on weekdays.
Game Play
Each game is played by a single contestant, who earns money incrementally based on a payout ladder by answering trivia questions, with the game themed as a school quiz.
The contestant is presented with 10 school subject categories, with two questions at each grade level from first to fifth; the subjects are changed for each game.
The contestant chooses whichever category they wish and is asked a question taken from a school 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, which begins at R1000 and moves up to to R500,000, with a final eleventh question moving the contestant up to R1,000,000. This question is always a 5th grade question.
At any point up to the million question, the contestant may quit the game after seeing the question. For the R1,000,000 question, the contestant must decide whether to quit after seeing only the subject; if they choose to see the question, they must answer it.
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 corrolate 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.
Cheats
The selected classmate provides the contestant with three 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.
The contestant may copy the contestant which automatically locks the classmate's answer in as their own.
The final cheat it not exercised by the contestant, but comes into play after the contestant gives their first wrong answer. If the classmate has written the correct answer, they save the contestant.
Game End
Otherwise, the game ends and the contestant loses the game and wins nothing, unless they have correctly answered five questions, at which point they are guaranteed their winnings.
The cheats are not available on the R1,000,000 question; additionally, once all three cheats have been 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.
Tagline
Upon leaving the game either by quitting, or answering incorrectly, the contestant must profess to the camera the following: "I am not smarter than a 5th grader".
The set of the show:
Simthe Shangase, Adelaide Lendore, Laaiqah Bhika, Danny-B Smith and Tristan van Niekerk
TriviaTVSA Show PreviewThe show received over 20,000 entries. It was the first local production to be filmed in High Definition. The show cost 20% more to make than shows not filmed in High Definition. Considerations that needed to be taken into account included additional time and resources for make-up because of the clarity of High Definition.
The background of the set is a brick wall detail - each of the bricks is handpainted to make them as authentic as possible.
The show was directed by Gavin Wratten (Idols, The Block, Temptation, Nokia Face Of Africa).
Casting for the classmates took place around South Africa. There are 7 classmates in total who rotate their appearances across episodes.
The school uniforms they wear don't belong to any particular school.
The studio audience consists of contestants waiting their turn to appear on the show, their family members and extras from Rent-A-Crowd. Each extra was paid R150 per show.
SeasonsSeason 1 (19 episodes)
Channel: M-Net | Premiere: 27 Jan 2008 | Finale: 1 Jun 2008 | Sundays, 18h00
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 1 Feb 2008 | Finale: 6 Jun 2008 | Fridays, 21h00
Channel: M-Net Series Reality | Premiere: 9 Jul 2013 | Finale: 2 Aug 2013 | Weekdays, 23h30