Originally aired on Thursday, 06/07/2007
Episode Rating: *** (3 star out of 5)
Episode Overview: Well, are you? We test our knowledge alongside three brave adults who attempt to match wits with the young classmates of Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?
On tonight's episode of Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?, host Jeff Foxworthy welcomes three professionals to match wits with our young students: Jacob Hays, Alana Etheridge, Kyle Collier, Spencer Martin and Marki.
The game is played as follows: for every two questions, the adult will have a fifth grade classmate to help. The adult can either Peek (look at the classmate's answer before locking in his/her own answer), Copy (take the other person's answer as his/her own no matter what) or Save (use the fifth grader's answer as a backup in case their own is incorrect). They have a series of ten questions, from categories and grade levels from first to fifth. If they answer all ten correct, they can win $500,000 or go on to play for the million. They will also have the opportunity to take their winnings at various points in the challenge. If they lose, they must admit on national television that they are not smarter than a fifth grader.
First adult up to play is Dennis, a Chief Financial Officer. He is very energetic, and gives Jeff an apple, for which he is rewarded with the honor of being called "first brown-noser" on the show. Because he has a daughter named Alana, like one of the fifth graders, he decides to save her to be a classmate later on in the challenge, and starts with Spencer.
He gets his first question, in first grade science, correct on his own. The question is "Which has seeds: oranges, potatoes or carrots?"
He also gets the second grade animal science correct for $2000, answering False to "Chickens are cold-blooded."
Kyle is up next to help him. Dennis gets the third grade world history question correct for $5000, saying True to "Vikings - aka Norsemen - originated in Scandanavia."
Kyle helps Dennis answer the fourth grade geography question for $10,000. Dennis peeks to learn that Portugal is the answer to "What country borders Spain to the west?"
Jacob now comes to help and says he wants to help him win because he thinks that Dennis's "daughters are cute." Dennis answer correctly the second grade math problem: "Jacob always goes bowling 3 times a week. How many times does he go bowling in 11 weeks." Dennis gives the correct answer of 33.
Now that he has won $25,000, he could take his winnings, but he continues to play. He answers correctly that the letter "n" appears three times in the word environment, and gets to $50,000 winnings.
Alana now comes to help him, but unfortunately between the two of them, they cannot name the canal built on the Hudson River. He goes home with $25,000.
Next to play is a high school teacher, Levi. Unfortunately, his profession doesn't help him out that much. He does not know that Georgia was the state named for a British monarch. He also thinks that birds are mammals, but luckily in both cases, his classmate Kyle comes to his rescue.
Since he is a football coach and history teacher, he is able to answer correctly that the Gold Rush started in the 1840's, relying on the San Francisco '49-ers to jog his memory. However, he misses the question "What continent is Mt. Kilimanjaro on?" answering Asia. Luckily, at least his students in the audience know the answer (Africa) so maybe there is more hope for the future. He at least made it to $5000.
Last up to play is an actual rocket scientist named Michael. In a completely humiliating turn of events, the rocket scientist doesn't get a single answer correct. He answers True to Vermont was one of the original thirteen states (it was the fourteenth). And both he and his fifth grader do not know that Lake Michigan borders Indiana. The rocket scientist is sent home empty handed, and one can only hope he is not the victim of too much teasing on the part of his co-workers.
- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of Fox)