What To Know
- Nation’s Dumbest premiered with 12 celebrity contestants on July 15.
- The contestants had to take part in challenges and answer elementary-level trivia questions.
- The player who performed the best was able to leave the competition, with the others remaining in the classroom with the possibility of being crowned “Nation’s Dumbest.”
A group of 12 celebrities headed back to school in the new Fox series Nation’s Dumbest, which premiered on July 15. Unlike other competition shows, the goal here is not to make it to the end, because the last person left standing will officially be named the “Nation’s Dumbest.”
The premiere began with a logic test. The contestants had to hold onto two ends of a rope that were too far apart to reach without some help. A number of props were provided for the players to utilize, and they had three minutes to figure out how to grab onto both ends of the sash at the same time.
Jon Heder, of Napoleon Dynamite fame, completed the challenge the fastest. The other stars who were able to finish the logic test were JoJo Siwa, Matt Leinart, and Elle King. Eight celebrities did not complete the task: Anthony Michael Hall, Ice-T, Hilaria Baldwin, Chase Hudson, Anthony Yang, Steve-O, Carmen Electra, and Drew Pinsky.
Every player started with two gold stars. The four who won the logic test each gained a star to bring their total to three, while the other eight lost a star and were left with just one.
Shane Mahood/ FOX
Next, the contestants had to hit the classroom. They had to individually answer elementary school-level questions, earning a star if they got a question right and losing one if they got it wrong. At the end of the round, only King and Leinart had three stars. Electra, Pinsky, Baldwin, Ice-T, Heder, Siwa, and Steve-O finished with two stars, while Hall, Yang, and Hudson ended the round with one star.
The players then tested their zoological smarts by answering questions about animals. Siwa, Yang, Baldwin, and King won that round and gained stars. This put King, Baldwin, and Siwa at three stars, Yang and Leinart at two stars, and the rest of the cast with one star.
Another challenge was next, and this time, the players were split into teams captained by King and Baldwin. The teams stacked up as follows: Team Baldwin (Hudson, Steve-O, Leinart, Pinsky, and Yang) and Team King (Electra, Ice-T, Siwa, Hall, and Heder.) Baldwin’s team won the competition.
Heading into the final exam, the three-star holders were Yang, King, Baldwin, Siwa, and Leinart, while Hudson, Pinsky, and Steve-O had two each. Hall, Electra, Ice-T, and Heder finished with one star. This all came into play during the final exam, as the stars represented the number of lives each player had as they answered more trivia questions.
The competition came down to Yang, a former presidential candidate, and King, a singer. It was King who won, which meant Yang who was sent back to the classroom with the others, and King who went home. And on this show, home is exactly where you want to be! King officially will not be crowned “Nation’s Dumbest.”
Nation’s Dumbest, Wednesdays, 9/8c, Fox
