In 2007, Clay Aiken was in the studio, trying to be Smarter Than A 5th Grader.
Clay appeared during sweeps week in a celebrity edition of the show. All celebrities were guaranteed $25,000, but tried to win up to $1 million.
Each contestant was given eleven questions to answer correctly to win the million. It was no surprise to see Clay answering correctly for the first nine questions. He chose to walk away when he had some hesitation about the tenth question. He walked away with $300,000 for the Bubel-Aiken Foundation(The National Inclusion Project). Clay commented that the money would fund 30 summer camps in 2008.
Clay did very well. The following are the amounts won by all the celebrities during the week.
Clay Aiken 350,000
Miss America 2007, Lauren Nelson 175,000
Tony Hawk 175,000
Regis Philbin 175,000
Kellie Pickler 50,000
Billy Bush 25,000 (guessed and was wrong on the 300K question)
Sit back, get a cup of coffee and watch the fun video of Clay on the show.
It’s been quite a few years, but it still is fun to see this!
Clay is a smart man and I am glad he was able to make so much money
for the National Inclusion Project!