In this new game show from Fox, each contestant must answer ten questions, and each correct answer is worth progressively more money. The first one $1000, the second $2000, and so on, up to $500000. If they answer all ten questions, then they are given the opportunity to answer an eleventh question, worth $1 million.
To make things interesting, the contestants are all regular people, and they are given five “classmates”, who are all fifth graders (or of that approximate age). Each of their classmates can help for two questions. If they don’t do anything, the classmate has to sit down, and the contestant picks another to stand next to them for the next two questions.
Contestants also get two “cheats” - a peek and a copy. If they choose to peek at their classmate’s paper, they can take that answer and use it as their own, or they can give their own answer. If they copy, they must use the answer.
There is actually a third “cheat”, but it’s not called that. It’s the save. The save is if you answer and you get it wrong, then your classmate can save you - if they have the right answer. If they don’t, then you are out.
If you don’t get the million, then you have to look in the camera, and say to all the world that you are not smarter than a fifth grader.
The answers on the board are arranged in order, with two questions from each grade (first through fifth). What surprises me is that most contestants seem to answer the questions in bottom-up (or easiest first) order. This is odd because invariably they will use up their cheats on the early questions, and have nothing left for the harder questions. It would seem to make more sense to me if they started at the top and worked their way down, so that they could then answer the simpler questions on their own.
Thus far, we have seen only two people make it to the $500000 question, and neither has elected to view the question. The reason being that, once you see the question, you must answer it, and if you get it wrong, you drop all the way back down to $25000 - and perhaps more importantly, you can’t be helped by your classmates, even if you have a cheat left (one did, one did not). Of the two, one knew the answer and one did not.
Regardless, it’s an entertaining show to watch, because unlike some shows, the questions are actually somewhat easy (some are not), and though I am sure that it would be difficult if I were standing on stage, it’s fun to actually have a chance to be able to answer the questions! That, plus the whole family can watch.
Two variants would make it really entertaining to watch. One would be a “Kid’s Week” or something similar, like you see on other shows - where actual fifth graders participate. That would be very interesting to see, and they could compete for college scholarships or something. The other would be a “Celebrity Fifth Grader”, which could either be celebrities participating as contestants (they might not want to risk looking bad) or it could be celebrities in the class (they may not have the chops to help out).
Either could do wonders for the ratings, which as I understand it are quite good.
