‘Nation’s Dumbest’ Game Show In The Works At Fox From BBC Studios

‘Nation’s Dumbest’ Emil Nylander

EXCLUSIVE: Fox is searching for the nation’s dumbest people for its latest unscripted effort.

The network is developing a U.S. adaptation of Nation’s Dumbest, a Scandinavian format that is being sold around the world by BBC Studios.

Created by Norway’s Montreux Film and Fjernsyn for TV2, the series is the first television show where the loser is the winner. Celebrities fight it out to be eliminated from the competition as quickly as possible to avoid being crowned the nation’s dumbest. From influencers to wrestlers, comedians to politicians, the contestants are put to the test in a series of physical and mental rounds about all the things you really should know.

Fox is calling its version a celebrity competition series that “flips the genre on its head because for the first time, the goal isn’t to win — it’s to get eliminated”.

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The U.S. version is produced by BBC Studios, which is behind Fox’s Celebrity Weakest Link, ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, and Netflix’s Outlast. It will be exec produced by Ryan O’Dowd, Krystal Whitney and Jenny Groom.

Nation’s Dumbest has been a hit in Norway, launching in August 2024, and it is now on its second season after becoming the country’s most-watched show.

BBC Studios subsequently sold the format to France’s TF1, Germany’s ProSieben and Joyn and Finland’s MTV3, and it also airs on Sweden’s TV4.

At the time of those deals, Matt Forde, President of BBC Studios Global Productions, called the “bold” and “entertaining” concept an “instant hit.”

It is the latest international format adaptation for Fox, which has remade Holland’s The Floor and The Quiz with Balls; Belgium’s 99 to Beat; Korea’s The Masked Singer and I Can See Your Voice; and Britain’s MasterChef, The 1% Club, Lego Masters and Farmer Wants a Wife.