Australia's Brainiest

Australia's Brainiest is a television game show series produced in Australia by Crackerjack Productions, a FremantleMedia company; and currently airing on Network Ten. The format was taken from the British series entitled "Britain's Brainiest Kid".

The first series was titled Australia's Brainiest Kid, and was produced in May 2004, airing on the Seven Network on Sundays, starting 28 November 2004. It was hosted by Anna Coren. It was publicised through Australian primary schools, with children sitting an online test, followed by a selection of them taking a supervised written test. Of those that scored highly on these written tests, some of the highest scoring children appeared on the show as contestants.

The second series, also called Australia's Brainiest Kid, was produced in 2005, and was broadcast on Network Ten at 6:30 pm on Sundays, starting September 25 2005. It was hosted by Ten News newsreader Sandra Sully. Network Ten now air special shows as part of a series named Australia's Brainiest with Sully continuing as host.

Australia's Brainiest Kid

The format of Australia's Brainiest Kid went unchanged during its transition from Seven Network to Network Ten, except for the number of rounds and contestants - in Seven Network's version, there were 4 heats and a final, and 12 children per show; in Network Ten's version, there were 7 heats and a final, and 9 children per show.

2004 Series (Seven Network)

Over 5000 children sat the online test, 800 were selected to sit the supervised test. All of them won copies of the 2004 CD-ROM edition of "Encyclopædia Britannica".

Everybody in the third round went on to the final; they were competing for an Apple Computer iBook.

The winner of the first series final, Aaron Chong, won the title of "Australia's Brainiest Kid" and A$20 000 to be held in trust until he turns 18.

2005 Series (Network Ten)

12,000 children sat the online test for the second season of Australia's Brainiest Kid, aired on Network Ten. Some of them were selected to sit the supervised test. The seven winners of the heats, plus two others who made it into the final rounds of the heats played in the final.

This series had considerably more children participating, mainly due to the popularity of the first series.

All contestants received a Mathemagic computer tutor from the Australian Institute of Mathematics as a "participation" prize. The heat winners received ASUS laptops. The winner won a AU$20 000 trust fund.

The winner of the second series final, William Xi, won the title of "Australia's Brainiest Kid" and a trust fund worth $20,000 AUD that he cannot touch before his 18th birthday. The winner, William Xi along with Josie Bell, Mark Chaife and Gavan Chan were a very popular group of contestants on the show. (Interestingly, in addition to both winners being of Chinese descent, 5 of the final 6 contestants remaining in Series 2 were of East Asian extraction, and 6 of the final 9 contestants were of Asian descent.) This was parodied on an episode of "The Chaser's War on Everything" featuring an advertisement for "Australia's Brainiest Non-Asian Kid," in which a contestant is unable to answer "What's two plus three?" correctly. This was followed by dozens of upcoming specials, featuring numerous animals, inanimate objects, and three subliminal messages.

Australia's Brainiest Specials

Network Ten's specials include celebrities that often know each other from the work they do, often actors or people from another Network Ten programme, playing against each other; with the winner given the opportunity to donate money to a charity of their choice. Episodes of Australia's Brainiest are normally rated G.

Australia's Brainiest Comedian

Australia's Brainiest Comedian aired on November 24, 2005, and was repeated on April 16, 2006. This episode of Australia's Brainiest was given the television rating of PG, for mild coarse language.

Contestants
*Mikey Robbins (Winner)
*Red Symons (Runner-up)
*Bob Downe (Runner-up)
*Peter Berner
*Hamish Blake
*Greg Fleet
*Libbi Gorr
*Colin Lane
*Andy Lee

Australia's Brainiest TV Star

Aired on February 12, 2006. It was repeated on December 28, 2006.

Contestants
*Julia Zemiro (Winner)
*Andrew G (Runner-up)
*Gary Sweet (Runner-up)
*James Mathison
*Axel Whitehead
*Kate Kendall
*Paul Mercurio
*Mark Holden
*Ann-Maree Biggar

Australia's Brainiest Quiz Master

Australia's Brainiest Quiz Master aired on February 19, 2006, and featured winners from Nine Network's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", "Sale of the Century" and "Temptation". It was repeated on 21 December 2006.

Contestants
*Stephen Hall (Winner)
*Rob Fulton (Runner-up)
*William Laing (Runner-up)
*Martin Flood
*Maria McCabe
*Virginia Noel
*Brigid O'Connor
*Trevor Sauer
*Cary Young

Australia's Brainiest Housemate

Australia's Brainiest Housemate aired on February 26, 2006, and featured Big Brother Australia housemates from the first five seasons.

Contestants
*Jemma Gawned (Winner)
*Chrissie Swan (Runner-up)
*Tim Brunero (Runner-up)
*Bree Amer
*Trevor Butler
*Jess Hardy
*Saxon Small
*Pete Timbs
*Greg Mathew

Australia's Brainiest Radio Star

Australia's Brainiest Radio Star aired on March 5, 2006, and the contestants were radio announcers from major FM networks such as DMG, Macquarie Radio Network, and Austereo. It was repeated on December 7, 2006.

Contestants
*Tom Gleeson (Winner)
*Jo Stanley (Runner-up)
*Barry Bissell (Runner-up)
*John Blackman
*Brigitte Duclos
*Bianca Dye
*Samuel Johnson
*Amanda Keller

Australia's Brainiest Olympian

Australia's Brainiest Olympian aired on March 12, 2006. The winner's prize money was donated to [http://www.k-i-d-s.org.au/ K.I.D.S. Foundation] , a children's charity.

Contestants
*Steve Moneghetti (Winner)
*Neil Brooks (Runner-up)
*Matt Welsh (Runner-up)
*Steven Bradbury
*Elka Graham
*Shane Kelly
*Tamsyn Lewis
*Nova Peris-Kneebone
*Kerri Pottharst

Australia's Brainiest Musician

Australia's Brainiest Musician aired on March 19, 2006. The winner's prize money was donated to "Club Friday".

Contestants
*Phil Burton (Winner)
*Toby Allen (Runner-up)
*Dave Graney (Runner-up)
*Angry Anderson
*James Blundell
*Cosima De Vito
*Leo Sayer
*Melissa Tkautz
*Katie Underwood

Australia's Brainiest Neighbour

Australia's Brainiest Neighbour aired on March 26, 2006. The contestants were actors whose characters were in soap opera "Neighbours" at the time of its broadcast. The winner's prize money was donated to "Open Family", Australia.

Contestants
*Stephen Lovatt (Winner)
*Nell Feeney (Runner-up)
*Caitlin Stasey (Runner-up)
*Stefan Dennis
*Patrick Harvey
*Blair McDonough
*Ben Nicholas
*Brett Swain
*Eliza Taylor-CotterThis episode was filmed late at night from 10:30pm to 1:30am due to all the actors having to finish filming on set before coming to the studio. Fact|date=February 2007

Australia's Brainiest Footballer

Aired on April 2, 2006

Featuring players from the various codes of football such as soccer, AFL, Rugby Union and Rugby League. The winner's prize money was donated to the [http://www.mcfoundation.org.au/ McGuinness McDermott Foundation] .

Contestants
*Adam Kingsley (Winner)
*Nathan Buckley (Runner-up)
*Michael Crocker (Runner-up)
*Andrew Ettinghausen
*Peter Everitt
*Josh Hannay
*Jeremy Paul
*Jade Rawlings

Australia's Brainiest Cricketer

Australia's Brainiest Cricketer aired on April 9 2006, and contestants were Australian cricketers.

Contestants
*Paul Reiffel (Winner)
*Greg Blewett
*Ray Bright
*Damien Fleming
*Rodney Hogg
*Kim Hughes
*Geoff Lawson
*Greg Matthews
*Colin Miller

Australia's Brainiest Loser

Aired on August 6, 2006

Featured all of the contestants from the first Australian season of The Biggest Loser. The winner's prize money was donated to the Australian Red Cross.

Contestants
*Jo Cowling (Winner)
*Kristie Dignam (Runner-up)
*Shane Giles (Runner-up)
*Fiona Falkiner
*David Hilyander
*Harry Kantzidis
*Tracy Moores
*Vladimir "Big Wal" Milberg
*Adriano Sarnelli
*Artie Rocke
*Cat White

Australia's Brainiest BB06 Housemate

Australia's Brainiest BB06 Housemate aired on August 13 2006, and featured nine housemates from "Big Brother 2006". David donated his prize money to Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. This episode was classified PG without consumer advice. It was repeated on Thursday December 14, 2006.

Contestants
*David Graham (Winner)
*Dino Delic (Runner-up)
*Jamie Brooksby (Runner-up)
*Claire Madden
*Gaelan Walker
*Katie Hastings
*Camilla Severi
*Anna Lind-Hansen
*Michael McCoy

Australia's Brainiest Comedian 2

Australia's Brainiest Comedian 2 aired on August 17 2006, and featured an all new batch of Australian comedians. The winner's prize money was donated to "Anaphylaxis Australia". This episode was classified PG without consumer advice.

Contestants
*Peter Helliar (Winner)
*Cal Wilson (Runner-up)
*Dave Hughes (Runner-up)
*Dave O'Neil
*Russell Gilbert
*Jodie Hill
*Corinne Grant
*Frank Woodley
*Richard Stubbs

Australia's Brainiest Idol

Australia's Brainiest Idol aired on August 20 2006, and featured former contestants from the reality-TV series, Australian Idol. It was repeated on November 25 2006 on the eve of the Australian Idol fourth season finale.

Contestants
* Marty Worrall (Winner)
* Dan O'Connor (Runner-up)
* Amali Ward (Runner-up)
* Kate DeAraugo
* Casey Donovan
* Dan England
* Lee Harding
* Hayley Jensen
* Emelia Rusciano

External links

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* [http://www.cool.com.au/humour-jokes-satire/television-tv/australias-brainiest-kid-2005100767 Australia's Brainiest Kid]
* [http://www.cool.com.au/humour-jokes-satire/television-tv/australia-brainiest-kid-comedian-20051124112 Australia's Brainiest TV Specials]