The CNN Quiz Show

Host
Anderson Cooper
Broadcast (CNN)
Presidents Edition: February 16, 2015 The Seventies Edition: June 8, 2015 TV Edition: September 7, 2015 Famous Americans Edition: December 13, 2015 Race for the White House: February 21, 2016 The Eighties Edition: May 7, 2016

The CNN Quiz Show is a series of game show specials where three teams of two CNN anchors each battle it out for their favorite charities in a wild quiz show that test their knowledge of specific trivia.

The List of CNN Anchors and their charities[]

Presidents Edition
Teams	Charities
Jake Tapper & Alisyn Camerota	Home for Our Troops
Chris Cuomo & Don Lemon	HELP USA
Erin Burnett & John Berman	Save the Children

The Seventies Edition
Teams	Charities
Bill Weir & Alisyn Camerota	UNICEF Nepal Earthquake Relief
Richard Quest & Brooke Baldwin	Stand Up for Kids
Don Lemon & John Berman	The Tom Joyner Foundation

TV Edition
Teams	Charities
Chris Cuomo & Alisyn Camerota	The Huntington's Disease Society of America
Mike Rowe & Brooke Baldwin	The mikeroweWORKS Foundation
Don Lemon & John Berman	JDRF

Famous Americans Edition
Teams	Charities
Don Lemon & Kate Bolduan	The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation
W. Kamau Bell & Morgan Spurlock	The Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health
Robin Meade & John Berman	Willie Nelson's Farm Aid

Race for the White House
Teams	Charities
Jake Tapper & S.E. Cupp	Homes for Our Troops
Van Jones & John King	Crisis Text Line
Kate Bolduan & John Berman	The Boys & Girls Club of America

The Eighties Edition
Teams	Charities
Brooke Baldwin & Brianna Keilar	Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors
Alisyn Camerota & Don Lemon	Flint Child Health and Development Fund
W. Kamau Bell & Robin Meade	Habitat for Humanity International

Gameplay[]

Three teams of CNN anchors play a series of trivia rounds to see how much they know about the world around them.

Round 1: Buzz[]

It's a simple "buzz-in to answer a question" round. Anderson asked a series of questions each with four possible answers. The first anchor on any team to buzz-in with a correct answer scores 10 points for his/her team. Upon buzzing in, one half of a team's score board monitor turned red (depending on who was in first). All questions are jump-ins meaning that they don't have to wait for the question to be finished. A wrong answer gave the opposing teams a chance to answer. And no conferring is allowed.

NOTE: The SFX for this round is borrowed from the "Face-Off" cue from Family Feud. However, for the sound's pitch, it's lower in the "Presidents Edition", but higher in "The Seventies Edition", and normal in the "TV Edition" and "Famous Americans Edition".

Round 2: Face Off[]

Two random anchors (one from two different teams) face off in a round of 20 point questions. They stood before a red box with a big golden service bell on it. The first anchor to ring the bell and give the correct answer scored 20 points.

Round 3: Picture This[]

Each team had 60 seconds (one minute) to go through a series of pictures of famous people, places & things. A picture would come up on the screen, then the clue giver would give clues to what's in the pictures. S/he can say anything they want short of actually saying the answer; s/he also cannot do sounds like or rhymes with, and no initial letters of the answers. Each correct answer was worth 30 points.

Round 4: All Four One[]

Each team was shown four items and were given a series of facts about the items (one fact for each item). The team in control had 60 seconds (one minute) while taking turns to get as many right as they can. Each correct answer was worth 40 points.

Round 5: Match Make[]

There were three categories in the round. The team in control chose a category and the category meaning and a list of five people were presented. Then another list of items appeared and the object of the round was to match each person with each item in as little time as possible out of 60 seconds (one minute). This round was played on a touch screen where the anchors moved each item to which answer they each belong to. Points were awarded according to how fast they finished and/or how many they got right.

Now here's how they score:

Presidents Edition
Position	Points
1st Place	40 pts.
2nd Place	20 pts.
3rd Place	10 pts.

The Seventies Edition
Position	Points
1st Place	150 pts.
2nd Place	100 pts.
3rd Place	50 pts.

Other Games
Position	Points
1st Place	300 pts.
2nd Place	200 pts.
3rd Place	100 pts.

Final Round: The Big Bet[]

This was the Final Jeopardy! of the game and not to be confused with the final card on Card Sharks' Money Cards. During the final commercial break, all three teams each place their bet as to how much of their current scores they were willing to risk on one final question. One final group of four items were shown and starting with the trailing team, they each chose an item to play with. When an item was chosen, a video of the chosen item was shown. After that, the question about the chosen item & attached video was asked and the team in control had 15 seconds (20 seconds from episode 1) to think of an answer. A correct answer added the wager but an incorrect answer deducted the wager.

NOTE #1: Jake Tapper did a little Jeopardy! act when his team made a choice and gave their answer.

NOTE #2: Upon winning the game, the "CNN" logo on the winning team's podium blinked.

Charity Money[]

The total prize pool on offer is $40,000 and here's how the money is divided:

1st Prize - $20,000
2nd Prize - $10,000
3rd Prize - $10,000

Trivia[]

Special #1: Presidents Edition[]

Despite being a special, this was the first game show to be broadcast on CNN of its kind.
This special aired on Presidents Day on February 16, 2015.
This edition has a 242,000 demo with 686,000 viewers in total.

Special #2: The Seventies Edition[]

The special was revealed by fellow CNN anchor, Ashleigh Banfield that Don Lemon was taping another edition of the show before it was officially announced.
This edition coincides with the documentary series The Seventies (aired on June 8, 2015).
This is the first time that this edition has aired in the same year as its "Presidents Edition" before it.
Before becoming a contestant, Richard Quest hosted the ABC primetime game show 500 Questions in the same year as this edition.
Former CNN Capitol Hill Reporter Lisa Desjardins (who now works for PBS' NewsHour) bashes this edition as a tweet to her former anchor/friend Richard Quest by saying: "Oh @richardquest I so loved working with you, but can't watch anymore anything about the CNN Quiz Show. Fun as it's meant to be, it hurts me."
This edition has a 178,000 demo with 509,000 viewers in total.

Special #3: TV Edition[]

This special aired on Labor Day on September 7, 2015.
Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs and CNN's Somebody's Gotta Do It host Mike Rowe is the first and only non-CNN anchor to compete in this special. Additionally, his first and only game show he hosted was the short-lived FX network series No Relation in 1996.

Special #5: Race for the White House[]

Originally, this latest special was supposed to air on February 15, 2016, but it got postponed due to justice Antonin Scalia's death. The special instead aired on February 21, 2016.