It takes cunning, nerve and a lot of smarts to sweep this floor.
Rob Lowe hosts The Floor (Tuesdays at 9pm ET/PT beginning Jan. 2 on FOX), a new quiz show in which 81 players who proclaim to be experts in a unique category — including stuff like famous sidekicks, junk drawer items, dogs, sports movies, birds, mobile apps, The Simpsons, and spices and condiments — occupy a space on a grid.
A player is chosen at random to challenge another contestant in a fast-paced duel of knowledge, with the winner claiming the loser’s space. Over 10 weeks, the player who conquers all the spaces on The Floor wins $250,000.
What does it take to be an expert? “Part of the fun is that some of them are literally credentialed in that area,” Lowe explains. “Somebody’s expertise might be the solar system, and they would be an astronomer. So it makes sense. On the other hand, a guy might own a restaurant, but he’s an expert on one-hit wonders of the ’80s. It can be either one’s obsession or one’s vocation.”
Of course, there’s a twist. “You’re an expert in your category, but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to be able to play in your category,” Lowe says. “If you win in your battle, you inherit that category. The good news is you win. The bad news is that you’re now no longer representing the category that you came here with.”
As the game progresses, shrewd players will develop a strategy based not only on the categories, but also on the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the players who occupy them.
“Of the 81 people, approximately eight are booted off every week. They lose and they’re gone,” Lowe says. “By the time you get to the end of the season, there are very few players left, and we’ve gotten to know them. We know that person’s a killer. Or we know this person actually now is on a piece of the floor that isn’t their area of expertise, so they might seem weak. So that kind of strategy element really is what makes the show special.”