Britain's Brainiest

Britain's Brainiest
Also known asBritain's Brainiest Kid
GenreGame show
Created byDavid Briggs
Colman Hutchinson
Presented byCarol Vorderman
Tess Daly (2002: Kids Heats)
Theme music composerMatthew Strachan
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes18
Production
Production locationElstree Studios (Shenley Road)
Running time30–90 minutes
Production companyCelador
Original release
NetworkITV
Release9 August 2001 (2001-08-09) –
31 December 2002 (2002-12-31)

Britain's Brainiest is a British television quiz show produced by Celador and aired on ITV. The show originally aired as a one-off special ad Britain's Brainiest Kid on 9 August 2001, hosted by Carol Vorderman. An adult series ran from 2 January to 6 February 2002 and a subsequent kids series aired from 9 to 31 December 2002.

Format

2001 special

The original featured four different rounds:

  • A set of 12 multiple choice questions, whittling down the number of male contestants from 12 to 3.
  • A set of 12 multiple choice questions, whittling down the number of female contestants from 12 to 3.
  • A subject-based round, where contestants answered questions on two subjects, this halved the number of competitors to 3.
  • A final round, where the remaining 3 contestants were tested on their own specialist subject and that of their fellow finalists

The winner of the original special was Laura Hibbert of North Yorkshire, whose specialist subject was Charles Dickens.[1]

Alex "Brains" Marshall was runner up. Marshall's specialist subject was the United Arab Emirates. Richard "Helium" Thomas came third. His specialist subject was the Plantagenets.

2002 adult series

Information needed

2002 kids series

The show was resurrected, with ten half-hour heats and qualification to a 90-minute grand final show. The heats were presented by Tess Daly, and the grand final by Carol Vorderman again. There was also a format change in 2002, with tie breakers being replaced by "Codexs" after the mammoth tie-break in the 2001 special.

The winner of the 2002 series was Christopher Guerin, from Birmingham (specialist subject: Thomas Becket).[2] He went on to receive three mathematics degrees including one at the University of Cambridge, and as of 2023 is a maths teacher and assistant secondary school principal.[3]

International versions

Legend:   Currently airing     No longer airing     Upcoming or returning version  

Country Name Host Channel Year aired Status
 Armenia[4] Ամենախելացին
Amenakhelatsin 		Nazeni Hovhannisyan Armenia TV 14 March 2015 – 24 December 2017 No longer airing
17 March 2019 – 22 June 2019
 Australia Australia's Brainiest Anna Coren (2004)
Samuel Shaed 		Seven Network 5 November 2004 – 2006 No longer airing
Sandra Sully (2005–2006)
Samuel Shaed 		Network Ten
 Azerbaijan[5] Əlaçı Leyla Aliyeva (2015–2018) AzTV 19 October 2015 – present Currently airing
İlahə Şixlinskaya (2018–present)
AzTV
İctimai Television
 Belgium
(In Dutch)[6] 		Het Verstand Van Vlaanderen Koen Wauters (2004–2005) Vtm 2004–2008 No longer airing
Rani De Coninck (2006–2008)
 Belgium
(In French)[6] 		Le Grand Concours Alain Simons RTL-TVI 23 March 2002 No longer airing
Sandrine Dans
 Denmark[7] Danmarks Klogeste Barn Thomas Mygind TV Danmark 31 August 2005 No longer airing
 France Le Grand Concours Carole Rousseau (2002–2018) TF1 23 March 2002 – present Currently airing
Laurence Boccolini (2018–2020)
Alessandra Sublet (2021–2022)
Arthur (2022–present)
 Finland[8] Valiojoukko Satu Ruotsalainen MTV3 11 September 2004 – 18 December 2004 No longer airing
 Georgia[9] ყველაზე ჭკვიანი
Yvelaze chkviani 		Nino Khoshtaria Rustavi 2 2004–2013 No longer airing
 Germany[10] Deutschlands klügste Sonja Zietlow (2001–2003) RTL Television 22 December 2001 – 2003 No longer airing
Bärbel Schäfer (2011) RTL II 22 March 2011
 Greece Ο Πιο Εξυπνος
O Pio Exypnos 		Antonis Kafetzopoulos Mega Channel 26 January 2004 – May 2004 No longer airing
 Italy Il migliore - Sfida d'intelligenza Mike Bongiorno Rete 4 4 May 2006 – 24 May 2007 No longer airing
 Japan[11] Brainiest (ブレイニスト) Yoko Oshita TV Asahi 7 January 2012 No longer airing
 Lebanon[12] مين بيعرف
Min Byaarif 		Nadia Bsat mtv 15 March 2016 – present Currently airing
 New Zealand[13] New Zealand's Brainiest Kid Bernadine Oliver-Kerby TVNZ February – March 2006 No longer airing
 Poland[14] Dzieciaki z klasą Martyna Wojciechowska TVN 29 March 2004 – 7 June 2004 No longer airing
6 March 2005 – 5 June 2005
 Portugal[15] Mentes Brilhantes Bárbara Guimarães SIC 6 October 2002 – 17 November 2002 No longer airing
 Russia Самый умный[16]
Sami‘y umni‘y 		Tina Kandelaki STS 8 March 2003 – 31 December 2012 No longer airing
 Singapore[17] Singapore's Brainiest Cheryl Fox MediaCorp Channel 5 2003–2005 No longer airing
 Sweden Sveriges smartaste barn Sofia Wistam (2007) TV3 2007 No longer airing
Roger Nordin (2009) 2009
 Turkey[18] Bilen Parmak Kaldırsın Cemil Büyükdöğerli TRT Çocuk 20 March 2009 No longer airing
 Ukraine[19] Найрозумніший Дорослі ігри
Nayrozumnishy'y Dorosli igry 		Paulo Skorohodko[20] 1+1 24 August – 28 December 2008 No longer airing
Самый умный[21]
Sami‘y umni‘y 		Tina Kandelaki 1+1 8 March 2003 – 31 December 2012 No longer airing
Inter
Ludmila Dobrovolska Ukrayina 10 March 2013 – 17 June 2013 No longer airing
 Vietnam
(National version)[22][non-primary source needed] 		Chinh phục - Vietnam's Brainiest Kid Nguyễn Thanh Vân
An Huy Trần 		VTV6 4 December 2013 – 14 January 2015 (season 1–2)

25 October 2017 – 31 January 2018 (season 3)

No longer airing
VTV3
 Vietnam
(Southern Regional version) 		Tìm người thông minh Phương Thảo HTV7 1 March 2008 – September 2008 No longer airing

References and notes

  1. ^ "Laura is Britain's brainiest youngster". The Northern Echo. 11 August 2001.
  2. ^ "CBBC Newsround | Christopher, 12, is Brainiest kid in Britain". BBC News. 1 January 2003. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  3. ^ "Mensa: What happens when 'child geniuses' grow up". BBC News. 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  4. ^ "Brainiest". armeniatv.am. Archived from the original on 30 September 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Əlaçı". 15 October 2015 – via Facebook.
  6. ^ a b "RTL-TVI : Générique Le Grand Concours des Enfants (2006)". GenTV.be. 19 September 2006. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Danmarks klogeste barn (2005– )". IMDb. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Viihde - MTV.fi" (in Finnish). Mtv3.fi. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  9. ^ "Rustavi 2". Rustavi 2. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  10. ^ "RTL 2 - Moderatorin". 29 September 2011. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  11. ^ テレビ朝日｜Brainiest（ブレイニスト）. Tv-asahi.co.jp. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  12. ^ "Min Byaarif / Season 2". Lebanon: MTV. Archived from the original on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  13. ^ "New Zealand's Brainiest Kid". Archived from the original on 13 February 2012.
  14. ^ "MediaNews.com.pl". Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  15. ^ "VÊM AÍ AS MENTES BRILHANTES - TV & Media - Correio da Manhã". Cmjornal.xl.pt. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  16. ^ In common with Ukraine
  17. ^ "Singapore's Brainiest". Archived from the original on 3 January 2009.
  18. ^ "Bilen parmak kaldırsın". Cicicee.com. 13 March 2009. Archived from the original on 14 December 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  19. ^ Канал "Україна" відновить формат шоу "Найрозумніший", але без Тіни Канделакі. Telekritika.ua. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  20. ^ Програму "Найрозумніший. Дорослі ігри" на "1+1" вестиме Павло Скороходько. Telekritika.ua. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  21. ^ In common with Russia
  22. ^ "Chinh Phục - Vietnam's Brainiest Kid". Retrieved 14 May 2014 – via Facebook.