Britain's Brainiest is a British television quiz show produced by Celador Productions and aired on ITV. The show originally aired as a one-off special as 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.

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 Following the success of the one-off special, a full adult series was commissioned and aired at the beginning of 2002. 12 contestants that shared the same occupation (e.g. taxi drivers, estate agents) competed in each episode.

The format was largely the same from the 2001 special, with some changes. Only a single set of 12 multiple choice questions were played in the first round, with the best six contestants advancing to the subject-based round. Also, after the mammoth tie-breaker in the 2001 special, any ties for qualifying positions after the first two rounds were broken by a tie-breaker game called 'Missing Link', where the contestants were given two words and had to work out which word in between would connect them. The contestant(s) who solved it in the fastest time remained in the game.

Another game that was also introduced in this series was 'Codebreaker', which was used to determine the order of play in the second and final rounds. Contestants had to crack a numbered code that spelt out a word with a clue to help them, those who cracked it in the fastest time got to play first in the round that followed.

2002 kids series The show was resurrected at the end of 2002 for a full kids series, with ten half-hour heats and qualification to a 90-minute grand final show. The heats were shown across a two-week period in a weekday teatime slot, presented by Tess Daly, and the grand final was shown on New Year's Eve 2002 and hosted by Carol Vorderman again.

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

International versions

Legend: Currently airing   No longer airing   Upcoming or returning version  

Country Name Host Channel Year aired StatusԱմենախելացինNazeni HovhannisyanArmenia TV 14 March 2015 – 24 December 2017 No longer airing 17 March 2019 – 22 June 2019Australia's BrainiestAnna Coren (2004) Samuel ShaedSeven Network 5 November 2004 – 2006 No longer airing Sandra Sully (2005–2006) Samuel Shaed Network TenƏlaçı Leyla Aliyeva (2015–2018) AzTV 19 October 2015 – present Currently airing İlahə Şixlinskaya (2018–present) AzTV İctimai Television()Het Verstand Van Vlaanderen Koen Wauters (2004–2005)Vtm 2004–2008 No longer airing Rani De Coninck (2006–2008)()Le Grand Concours Alain SimonsRTL-TVI23 March 2002 No longer airing Sandrine DansDanmarks Klogeste Barn Thomas MygindTV Danmark 31 August 2005 No longer airingLe Grand ConcoursCarole Rousseau (2002–2018)TF123 March 2002 – present Currently airingLaurence Boccolini (2018–2020)Alessandra Sublet (2021–2022)Arthur (2022–present)Le Grand Concours des animateursCarole Rousseau (2003–2018)Laurence Boccolini (2018–2020)Alessandra Sublet (2021–2022)Arthur (2022) 11 February 2003 – 15 January 2022 No longer airingValiojoukko Satu RuotsalainenMTV3 11 September 2004 – 18 December 2004 No longer airingყველაზე ჭკვიანი Nino KhoshtariaRustavi 2 2004–2013 No longer airingDeutschlands klügsteSonja ZietlowRTL Television 22 December 2001 – 2003 No longer airing Bärbel SchäferRTL II 22 March 2011Ο Πιο ΕξυπνοςAntonis KafetzopoulosMega Channel 26 January 2004 – May 2004 No longer airingIl migliore - Sfida d'intelligenzaMike BongiornoRete 4 4 May 2006 – 24 May 2007 No longer airingBrainiest (ブレイニスト) Yoko OshitaTV Asahi 7 January 2012 No longer airingمين بيعرف Nadia Bsatmtv 15 March 2016 – present Currently airingNew Zealand's Brainiest KidBernadine Oliver-KerbyTVNZ February – March 2006 No longer airingDzieciaki z klasą Martyna WojciechowskaTVN 29 March 2004 – 7 June 2004 No longer airing 6 March 2005 – 5 June 2005Mentes BrilhantesBárbara GuimarãesSIC 6 October 2002 – 17 November 2002 No longer airingСамый умныйIn common with UkraineTina KandelakiSTS 8 March 2003 – 31 December 2012 No longer airingSingapore's Brainiest Cheryl FoxMediaCorp Channel 5 2003–2005 No longer airingSveriges smartaste barn Sofia WistamTV3 2007 No longer airing Roger Nordin 2009Bilen Parmak Kaldırsın Cemil BüyükdöğerliTRT Çocuk 20 March 2009 No longer airing Найрозумніший Дорослі ігри Paulo Skorohodko1+1 24 August 2008 – 28 December 2008 No longer airingСамый умныйIn common with RussiaTina Kandelaki1+18 March 2003 – 31 December 2012 No longer airingInter Ludmila DobrovolskaUkrayina 10 March 2013 – 17 June 2013 No longer airing()Chinh phục - Vietnam's Brainiest Kid Nguyễn Thanh VânAn Huy TrầnVTV6 4 December 2013 – 14 January 2015 (season 1–2)25 October 2017 – 31 January 2018 (season 3) No longer airingVTV3() Tìm người thông minh Phương Thảo HTV7 1 March 2008 – September 2008 No longer airing

References and notes

External links