Australia's Brainiest Kid

The 2005 format of the show on Network Ten is an eight-part series culminating in a 90 minute grand final which will see the seven weekly winners and two wildcard contestants battling for the title of ‘Australia’s Brainiest Kid’ and the $20,000 prize money.

The contestants are 11 and 12 year old primary school students who have had to complete an on-line exam and a supervised test before being chosen to appear on the show. The kids have clearly spent a lot of time, either in the library or on-line, reading up on a range of topics and are also allowed to nominate their own special topic about which they are quizzed if they make it to the final round.

On its website, the show purports to be a “challenging test of knowledge, skill and tactics” to find our nation’s most intelligent kid. Now, let’s think about that a bit more. A quick check of the Macquarie dictionary reveals that the word brainy is indeed a synonym for intelligent which is defined as:

1. Having good understanding or mental capacity; quick to understand
2. Showing quickness of understanding as actions, utterances etc.
3. Having the faculty of understanding.

Hang on a second, the “gruelling general knowledge questions and mind teasers” and questions on “specific topics such as literature, history, mathematics and science” aren’t testing the kids’ understanding, they are testing their ability to regurgitate facts, that is, their knowledge. Another dip into the Macquarie dictionary shows that knowledge is:

1. Acquaintance with facts, truths or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition
2. Familiarity or conversance, as with a particular subject, branch of learning etc.

The questions are written to test the kids’ knowledge on a range of topics and, going by some of the questions in the first two episodes, studying up on other television shows on Channel Ten is a big advantage. In addition, I fail to see how the kids are being tested on their skill and tactics and how this is supposed to relate to their intelligence.

‘Australia’s Brainiest Kid’ is hosted by Sandra Sully who tries to put the kids at ease when they are under great pressure to perform well. There is great suspense as the fresh-faced contestants take it in turns to answer questions and then face elimination at the end of each round as the leader board is revealed. The sense of theatre is enhanced by the use of dramatic lighting and music and camera shots of the kids’ parents. So in the search for Australia’s ‘Most Knowledgeable Kid’, watching Channel Ten at 6:30pm on Sundays is sure to entertain. What could be more fun than watching kids crack under pressure, seeing them swear when they get a question wrong or cry if they lose.

Comments (3)

This show is great written by Karishma Mohan on August 17, 2006 Australia's brainiest kid is a great show for kids who like general knowledge!!!!!!!!! : how? written by marcus on August 26, 2006 I really wanna join but i dont know how. Can you please tell me how do you join the competetion? smarter kids written by tully on December 9, 2006 the show is great and all but you need to get smarter kids who arnt asian i am not trying to be racist but they win every series and it isnt fair also when been on television you can crack under presser so to make your show better give those guys a fair chance and make sure there smart because im the same age and im smarter than most of them.

Write comment

Name:

Email:  Your email is not displayed or shared

Title:

Comment:

Write the displayed characters Add Comment

Tag it:

 i think the person responsible for the australia's brainiest kid's website should keep the old series news on as well, eg. pictures of the winners and the runners-up or something because i can't find anything about the winners.

Fiona, June 19, 2006 5:43

 hey, i was on a.b.k. last year (2005) i made it to the second round of my heat on tv. we were treated great, free flights, transfers and so on plus free hotel. the mathemagic thing is very good.

harrison, June 9, 2006 8:47

 how can i enter? please let me enter. this really means a lot to me and please send me back an email giving me informstion on how i can enter. please please please puh-leeze???

Amanda Abbasszadeh, May 15, 2006 5:39

 i thought that it was ok but some of the questions that some of the contestants got wrong were so easy

Arwen, February 17, 2006 4:45

 Hi Brooke, you are right when you say that the letter C represents 100 in Roman Numerals but, on the recent 'Australia's Brainiest TV Star' show, Sandra asked Anderw G what the letter D represents and he gave the correct answer, 500.

Space Cadet, February 14, 2006 4:16

 dear reader,last night on the show australia brainest tv star the question that you gave andrew g in round 3 about the roman numerals what was 100 in numerals yous said it was D but in roman numerals 100 is C because we looked on two sites and they both said the anwser is C we just wanted to let you know. from brooke glanville and stefani carter

Brooke glanville, February 12, 2006 5:35