Ever watched "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader"?

[Rick Lee]

Man, these contestants must be the ones who got rejected from Jay Leno's "Jaywalking". The little kids are actually pretty bright.

So last night's main contestant was a USC student who got a 1390 on his SAT's. He needed help with the first three questions. He got one or two on his own.

1) What was the first name of the first First Lady of the U.S?

2) What country is Bavaria in?

3) The chimpanzee's native habitat is on which continent?

4) Which of the following are considered blood vessels - cilia, (I forget the othe) or capillaries?

He walked with $175k when he gave up on "What is the official language of Australia?"

Next girl was an art student somewhere. First question was "How many consonants are in the word 'vowel'"? The spelled it "voul" and said the answer was two.

Mind you, this was an art student. Next question: Vincent Van Gogh was born in which country? She picked France.

Is this stuff unreal or what? The 1390 SAT kid jumped up and down like he had won the lottery after each question, all of the answers to which he either guessed completely or had the kids help him.

What are the chances I'd get picked as a contestant when I can answer every question correctly without even pausing and don't need help from any of the kids? Can I win $1 million that easily?

[stevepaa]

where is the gobi desert?

most people would not know van gogh was born in netherlands.

[M.D. Holloway]

They had a history major who graduated from UCLA - he didn;t know who the first President to be impeached was. OK, the common person might not know this but a UCLA history major?

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

What are the chances I'd get picked as a contestant when I can answer every question correctly without even pausing and don't need help from any of the kids? Can I win $1 million that easily?

I've never met you, but have always assumed that you were older than a 5th grader

[Rick Lee]

Truth be told, when I went onto their website during the show last night, I picked all the 5th grade questions and some of them DID make me guess. I knew the Civil War general elected president in 1862 was Grant. But the next question on how many times he was elected, I was unsure of. Obviously, if he had been elected twice, then once was also a technically correct answer and I knew thrice was wrong. The other stuff I knew right away too, but was pretty sure I hadn't learned it by 5th grade.

Although I did not know for a fact where Van Gogh was born, I knew he was Dutch and I knew that before I ever went to his museum in Amsterdam. So the Netherlands would have been my educated guess and I don't think that show has trick questions. One might think Chopin, by the way his name is pronounced, was French too (I know he was not). But they don't ask those kinds of questions.

[ckissick]

I watched once and I knew every answer with ease until the last one for a million bucks. The contestant got there with the help of the kids on some simple questions. The contestant didn't risk a sure $500K and stopped there.

They showed the final question anyway, and I didn't have any idea. It was, "Who was the first European explorer to travel up the St. Laurence River?" Being a California native, how would I know that? My Canadian friend and his wife both knew it. Answer below:



































Jacques Cartier. OK, what Americans out there knew it? Lesson, stop at $500K.

[Rick Lee]

Oh, and $20 says that idiot who didn't know where Bavaria was probably drives a BMW his folks gave him.

[Rick Lee]

Ah, there was a question on the website on the nationality of Vasco de Gama. I got that one wrong.

[DaveE]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Oh, and $20 says that idiot who didn't know where Bavaria was probably drives a BMW his folks gave him.

Sure. British Motor Works, right?

[widebody911]

I watched it once; I like the concept of the show, but it needs a faster pace, like Jeopardy - too much slagging about.

[Rick Lee]

My fiance says I'm nuts for not trying to get on the show. I'll be in LA next week after next, but don't think I can get an audition that fast. Maybe I'll try when I move to Phoenix and have to go to LA a lot for business. But then after I was calling out the answers without pausing, she said I couldn't get picked because I wouldn't be entertaining, wouldn't need the kids' help and wouldn't think out loud like some of these bozos when they try to reason it out and have no idea what the answer it. I guess getting a high SAT score doesn't mean you know anything about the world.

[stevepaa]

College Bowl contestants don't make TV appealing any more.

[Eric Coffey]

The game's model needs to be revised though. Nobody in their right mind would risk loosing 475k to go for the 1M without seeing what the question is. Either let the contestants see the question (make it harder, maybe a final "6th grade" question), or let people use the kids' help/cheats if they have any left at that stage.