What do talk show host Regis Philbin, champion skateboarder Tony Hawk and American Idol stalwarts Clay Aiken and Kellie Pickler have in common? Well, they’re all going back to school on national television. When Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? returns with its Celebrity Edition, a number of famous personalities will test their brain power for the benefit of various charitable causes.
Aside from Philbin, Aiken, Hawk and Pickler, the upcoming installment of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? will also feature Access Hollywood‘s Billy Bush and the reigning Miss America, Lauren Nelson.
The celebrities will face questions from show host, Jeff Foxworthy, covering a range of subjects normally taught in grade school. This includes math, science, art, social studies and geography among others. Whether the famous personalities can breeze through their subjects with ease or flounder miserably will depend on how much they can recall from their time as actual students.
In the event they run into difficulty, the celebrity scholars do have a lifeline where they can seek help in coming up with the correct answers. Under the rules of the Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? format, the adult contestants can employ the allowed cheat method of consulting with an actual fifth grader classmate for the right response in order to move on to the ultimate prize goal of $1 million.
Clay Aiken will attempt to do his best to raise funds for The Bubel/Aiken Foundation or TBAF, of which he is a co-founder. TBAF is already set to receive a minimum of $25,000 just for Aiken’s appearance but the American Idol runner-up and multi-platinum recording artist hopes to win as much for his charity as he possibly can.
Jerry Aiken, Clay’s uncle and executive director of TBAF, has expressed much enthusiasm over his nephew’s participation in the game show.
“We are excited about Clay’s appearance on the show to fundraise for the Foundation.” Jerry Aiken stated. “FOX has given us a great opportunity to move closer to our goal of 100 Let’s ALL Play camps in 2008. Clay’s appearance will also gain exposure for our goals of full inclusion. Of course we are hoping to win the million, but Clay’s being part of their hit show will be great for the Foundation either way.”
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? premieres on Thursday, September 6 from 8-9pm. Hour-long original episodes will also air Friday nights on September 14, 21 and 28 and October 5 at the same time slot on FOX. The celebrity edition will air some time in November.
-Rosario Santiago, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: FOX
(Image Courtesy of FOX)
Staff Columnist, BuddyTV
