Hard Quiz


Hard Quiz is an Australian television comedy quiz show, which premiered on ABC on 19 October 2016. Hosted by Tom Gleeson, the show is a spin-off of his "Hard Chat" segment on the satirical television news program The Weekly with Charlie Pickering.
Gleeson has claimed he was surprised by the success of the program, saying he had given up hope of being a star.
On 24 May 2019, Gleeson announced he was stepping down as host and quitting the program via a media release. On 26 May 2019, Gleeson was announced as a nominee for the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television. He later tweeted that he would "un-axe" the show if he wins the Gold Logie. Gleeson subsequently won the Gold Logie, and show was announced to be returning on 31 July 2019.
It was announced by Gleeson on 31 July 2019, in a radio interview with Triple M, that the show's return in 2020 for its fifth series would see it expand to 40 new episodes.

Format

Hard Quiz features four contestants, each of which have selected a specialist subject area. The contestants in turn each receive 5 questions regarding their specialist subject areas, followed by questions from a subject Gleeson chooses and then general knowledge questions. Contestants receive 5 points for answering a question correctly, and lose 5 points for answering a question incorrectly. During the Experts' Round, a contestant may attempt to answer a question from another contestant's subject area. This is known as "The Steal". If a Steal is successful, the contestant receives 10 points but will only lose 5 points for an incorrect Steal attempt. The contestant with the lowest score at the end of both the Experts Round and The People's Round are eliminated from the show. In the event of a tie for lowest scorer, the tie is broken with a Hard-Off, where Gleeson presents two options for a given question, which the first contestant to buzz in then answers. If the answering contestant chooses correctly, the other contestant is eliminated and vice versa if the answer given is incorrect. The final two contestants answer questions regarding their chosen subject area in a best of 5 penalty shootout-style format, with the winner receiving a trophy – the Hard Quiz Big Brass Mug.

Series Overview

Episodes

Series 1 (2016)

Names in Bold are the winners

Series 2 (2017)

Names in Bold are the winners

Series 3 (2018–19)

Names in Bold are the winners

Series 4 (2019)

Names in Bold are the winners

Series 5 (2020)

Names in Bold are the winners

Specials

Names in Bold are the winners

Awards and nominations