How "Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?" helps audiences embrace being "confidently wrong"

Whether it’s the thrill of shopping for groceries or the anxiety of getting called on in class to answer a question you don’t know, every great game show taps into some universal human experience, says Ron Funches, an actor, comedian and guest on Prime Video’s new game show, Are you Smarter Than a Celebrity?

“Supermarket Sweep was just about being in a supermarket, and we all do that. With Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, we all have the knowledge of going back to school and remember being in front of the class and not knowing an answer, or celebrating because you did know an answer, or thinking you did know an answer and getting it wrong and looking foolish,” Funches says. “It's all these things that are very easy, and that we've all gone through, and I think that's what makes this game show special.”

Hosted by Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? continues the premise of testing how well adult contestants can recall grade school learnings first seen in Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? offers a fun, new twist on the premise of the original popular format. Each game will welcome an adult contestant who will rely on a classroom full of celebrities from comedy, screen, and sports to help them answer 11 questions on a range of subjects, pulled from elementary curriculum, in an effort to win a $100,000 prize. Rather than compete against the stars, contestants enlist their help and, in some cases, can even “cheat” off of them. And on the final question, worth $100,000, the contestant selects one celebrity to discuss the answer with before locking in. The final question is always at the 6th-grade level.

Complete with intellectual and physical challenges, life-changing prizes, and bragging rights—game shows have captivated audiences for nearly a century. They are bonding events that have endured through to the streaming age. Game shows offer brands a chance to connect with captivated audiences as they wait to see if a contestant will remember how many miles is in a modern marathon. Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? debuts as Prime Video has introduced ads into shows and movies, giving brands a chance to reach millions of customers around the world.

For its Prime Video debut on October 16, the new game show enrolled star pupils across a range of subjects including comedy, television, podcasts, and sports. We sat down with four members of the new class—Nicole Byer, Ron Funches, Natasha Leggero, and Sophia Stallone—to discuss why game shows are just as popular as they’ve ever been, what it’s like to be back in the school desk, and why Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? should be a part of your programming schedule on a school night or any night.

Funches: We all play games. I have a two-year-old and a 21-year-old. My two-year-old is always just like, “Daddy, come play with me,” and it reminds you that that's our natural state of being. Game shows remind you that as well, because it allows you to have these stakes and allows you to see people win and lose, and we have fun. That's what makes game shows universal. It's one of the reasons I love them to death. I watch a lot of game shows. I want to host a game show. I'm a big believer in game shows because they are something that are for everyone.

Leggero: It's fun, and you get to see personalities, and it's like you're invited to this party that you can kind of like be a part of, especially when there are comedians involved. And you know, there's a sentimental value of these shows. You remember them as a child and you can watch them with the whole family now. I'm a new mom. I mean, not that new. My kid's five, but you know, she's just now starting to watch things that aren't exactly cartoons, and I'm like, “Oh, what are the shows that we can all watch together?” And I think a lot of game shows fall into this family category. And that's really fun, too.

Byer: I think any game show where there's trivia or questions brings people together, because you truly get to sit with your loved ones or your friends or whatever, and you get to be like, “No, I know that it's definitely this,” and then when it's wrong, you kind of get to laugh at yourself. And when the people on the TV get it wrong, you get to laugh with them, because we laugh at ourselves. If you’re going to be wrong, be confidently wrong. It’s how I live my life. I am confidently wrong all the time.

Stallone: When you're called up to actually help the contestant make it to the next round, it's a lot more strenuous to get the answer right, because you're really, you know, you're the person that can get them the money, and if they get it wrong, they're looking to you. And, you know, we're also not mathematicians here. So, it's like, what can we gather from 15 years ago? And yeah, it is magnetized. I mean, with the lights, the audience, the hosts, the contestants, it's a lot, it's a lot of pressure. And so, you know, sometimes anxiety can come into it, but as Nicole said, “Be confidently wrong.”

Leggero: I was having a lot of memories doing the show that I hadn't thought about in so long. Like, you know, “Where do I fit in in school?” and “Who was I?” and you know the story. We all kind of told some personal stories and you kind of see like, “Oh, I used to be like this, and now I'm here.” It was, I don't want to say traumatizing, but very revealing.

Byer: It's always disappointing because you're always rooting for the contestant. Everybody comes very fresh-faced and really excited, and so you get excited for them. Then when they get it wrong and they go home with nothing, you're like, “Oh God!” and you just feel bad. And then when someone wins, you feel great. You're so ecstatic for them.

Funches: It's access and finding ways to relate to people in new ways? I think celebrity culture in general seems so polished and so unreal. So, when you have a show like this, or you have reality TV, and you see people in their day-to-day lives or when they are forced to answer real questions that a second, third, or fourth grader should know, they think, “Okay, well, maybe they can dance, or they know comedy, or they are good at football, but I'm smarter than that,” and that makes you feel good inside. Or if you have someone you really like and think, “Oh, they're actually kind of smart and they're fun.” I think in a time where so much is about how you perceive someone, when you really get to look at someone and be like, “Okay, they're actually who they say they are,' that's really fun.”

Stallone: I think, just to have a good laugh and to really feel the energy that was between all of the celebrities. We were so in sync, and we all got along genuinely from the first moment we stepped on set. And I can easily say, I can call any of them, and you know, they would answer the phone. I would say that it's just nostalgic, it's warm, it's exciting, and I hope you guys just have fun with it and don't take it so seriously, and you just enjoy the hilarity of the show as it is.

Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? brings together everything we’ve come to love about game shows, some of our favorite and most charismatic celebrities, and a chance for viewers to sit back and relax—or lean in and confidently yell answers at the TV. The new game show premiered with three episodes on October 16 as part of Prime Video’s Winning Wednesdays program. Winning Wednesdays’ programming includes Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity?, Buy It Now, Wish List Games and Pop Culture Jeopardy!