The Fox Broadcasting Network announced Monday that it will begin airing the quiz show Are You Dumber Than a Trump Supporter? beginning September 21. The hour-long program will run each weeknight at 8 p.m.
Contestants will compete against self-identified supporters of Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump to see who knows less about U.S. politics, civics, history, geography, and current events.
Fox spokesman Claud Poll calls Are You Dumber than a Trump Supporter? a new kind of game show.
"Contestants on quiz shows are usually rewarded for what they know. We think that format is, well, a bit elitist because it provides preferential treatment to smart people," Poll said. "We at Fox want to reward people for what they don't know."
Poll said that Fox executives hope to copy the success of Fox News.
Poll said that study after study show that Fox News anchors, pundits, and their guests are wrong far more than they're right - and they're wrong far more than anchors and pundits on any other cable news network.
In addition, he said, viewers of Fox News are less informed than people who get their news from other sources and less informed than people "who don't watch any news at all."
"And yet," Poll said with a grin, "Fox is the most watched cable network in America."
Are You Dumber Than a Trump Supporter? will be hosted by Fox News anchor Sean Hannity, a Trump supporter, who the Wall Street Journal's deputy editorial page editor called the "dumbest anchor" on Fox News.
"When we came up with the idea for the program," Poll said, "we immediately thought of Sean."
Questions about the truthfulness of Donald Trump's statements will be asked to both the contestant and a Trump supporter. Each incorrect answer increases the amount of money a contestant wins - but only if the Trump supporter answers the question correctly. The contestant will continue earning money - up to $1 million -- as long as he or she keeps answering questions incorrectly.
When Poll was asked if there were a sufficient number of false Trump statements to keep the show on the air.
"Oh yes," he said, "until at least the year 2030."
Poll then cited a study by PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-check website, that said only 22 percent of Trump's statements were accurate.
Poll stressed that a contestant couldn't win if he is merely as dumb as a Trump supporter.
"He'll have to be dumber than a Trump supporter," Poll said.
Is he confident that there are people like that?
"People will have to tune in to see for themselves. We think we'll find someone like that," Poll said. "Of course this won't be someone you would want to marry into your family or, for that matter, vote."