The Floor (American game show)

The Floor is an American game show based on the Dutch game show of the same name. The series is hosted by Rob Lowe and premiered on January 2, 2024, on Fox. The game is based around a floor grid of 81 squares, each of which is occupied by a contestant with expertise in a different trivia category. Pairs of contestants face each other in head-to-head trivia duels, with the winner taking over all territory controlled by the loser.

The game progresses over the course of a season with the grand prize awarded to the player who ultimately controls the entire floor. Secondary prizes are awarded throughout the season to the player with the most territory at the end of each episode.

The show's first season aired every week on Tuesday from January 2–February 27, 2024, occupying Fox's 9 EST/8 CST primetime slot (except for a special 2-hour season finale, which aired at 8 EST/7 CST). Jacquelyn Kenny, an experiential marketer from New York City, defeated design manager Arthur in his inherited category of "Fashion Icons" to claim the series' first $250,000 prize. In May 2024, the show was renewed for a second and a third season.

Format
The season begins with 81 contestants standing in separate spaces of a 9-by-9 grid on the studio floor. Each contestant has a category in which they feel particularly knowledgeable.

One contestant is chosen at random and shown the categories of all opponents whose territories share at least one edge with their own, then chooses one of them to face in a head-to-head duel. The two contestants take turns identifying a series of images or words associated with the challenged opponent's category. They are given separate 45-second clocks, only one of which runs at any given time, starting with the challenger. The contestant in control must give a correct answer in order to stop their clock and turn control over to the opponent. Multiple guesses are allowed without penalty, and a contestant may pass whenever desired; however, they must wait three seconds for a new image or text to be shown. Some categories are text-based, requiring contestants to perform tasks such as filling in the missing word(s) of a book title or naming the movie from which a famous quote is taken.

The first contestant to run out of time is eliminated from the game and gives up all of their territory to the winner, who takes/retains the challenger's category. The winner may then either challenge another opponent or return to the grid; in the latter case, a new contestant is selected at random from those who have not yet played a duel. When only two contestants remain, the one controlling more territory decides whose category will be used for the final duel.

At the end of each of the first nine episodes, the contestant holding the most territory wins $20,000. In the event of a tie, the leaders share the money equally. The last contestant standing at the end of the tenth and final episode of the season wins the grand prize of $250,000. The overall prize money pot for the season is $450,000.

Production
On June 29, 2023, it was announced that Fox had ordered the series. On August 2-6, 2023, Season 1 was recorded at Ardmore Studios in Bray, Ireland. On September 13, 2023, Rob Lowe was announced as the host and would also serve as a producer. On November 6, 2023, Fox announced that the series would premiere on January 2, 2024. On May 12, 2024 the show was renewed for a second and a third season.

Episodes
Winners of individual duels are shown in boldface.

Episode mixup
On January 24, 2024, Hulu, Fox Broadcasting Company's website, and multiple international channels released Season 1, Episode 8 instead of Season 1, Episode 4, which Fox originally scheduled to release on this date and aired on U.S. Fox affiliates on January 23, 2024. Some distribution outlets had not corrected the error by as late as 7:00 pm EST on January 24. By January 25, 2024, all distribution outlets either replaced Episode 8 with Episode 4 or removed Episode 8 until the episode was released on February 20, 2024.