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. Standing in separate LED squares of a floor grid, contestants with expertise in a variety of trivia subjects challenge each other in head-to-head duels, with the winner of each duel taking over all territory controlled by the loser. The winner then chooses whether to go on the offensive to try and gain more territory or let the Floor choose a new challenger. The contestant who gains full control over the Floor takes home $250,000 as the grand prize for winning the game.
Fox announced on June 29, 2023, that it ordered the series. Season 1 was recorded August 2–6, 2023 at Ardmore Studios in Bray, Ireland. An announcement on September 13, 2023, named Rob Lowe as host and producer. On November 6, 2023, Fox announced that the series would premiere on January 2, 2024. On May 12, 2024, the show renewed for a second and a third season. The second season premiered on September 25, 2024. On November 18, 2024, Fox announced that the third season would premiere on February 9, 2025, following Super Bowl LIX, and keeping its regular timeslot starting on February 12, 2025. On May 10, 2025, the show renewed for a fourth and fifth season. The fourth season premiered on September 24, 2025. The fifth season premiered on April 8, 2026.Variety: Fox Sets Spring Premiere Dates for MasterChef, Running Wild With Bear Grylls, The Floor and More On February 6, 2026, the show renewed for a sixth and seventh season. The sixth season premiered on September 13, 2026.https://deadline.com/2026/07/fox-fall-premiere-dates-2026-1236982140/
Format Each season begins with a pool of contestants standing in separate square spaces of a large grid on the studio floor. Each contestant has a category in which they feel particularly knowledgeable. However, the producers of the show ultimately decide the categories the contestants have. Season 1 featured 81 contestants in a 9-by-9 grid; as of Season 2, 100 contestants play on a 10-by-10 grid. The floor measures 20 by 12 meters, or roughly 66 by 39 feet.
The game progresses over the course of a season with the grand prize awarded to the contestant who ultimately controls the entire floor. Secondary prizes are awarded throughout the season to the contestant with the most territory at the end of each episode after a certain number of duels (usually eight, but on occasion nine). For seasons two, three, and five, every third episode (disregarding the finale's tiebreaker) has nine duels per episode. For the fourth season, every third and fourth episode (excluding the final two episodes) has nine duels per episode.
One contestant is chosen at random (via "The Randomizer") to be a challenger and shown the categories of all opponents whose territories share at least one side with their own, then chooses one of them to challenge face-to-face in a head-to-head duel. The specifics of the duel remain undisclosed until the challenger selects an opponent, with the format defaulting to visual unless specified otherwise by the host. The two contestants take turns identifying a series of images or words associated with the challenged opponent's category. They are each 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 to stop their clock and turn control over to their opponent. Infinite 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 song lyric, or naming the movie from which a famous quote is taken. Season 2 introduced audio duels, in which the contestant has to decipher the answer via audio cue with visuals provided to indicate turn order. Season 3 introduced association duels, in which the contestant is shown three clues and must state their common link. Season 4 introduced video duels, which show clips instead of images. Season 5 introduced close-up duels, in which the contestant has to decipher the clue while zoomed. Once a category has been selected and played, it is permanently removed from play and cannot be chosen again, ensuring each category can only be played once.
The first contestant to run out of time is eliminated from the game (if the category is completed with all images or clues identified within time, the contestant with more time left wins the duel) and gives up all of their territory to the winner, who inherits the challenger's category or keeps their own (if the challenger). The winner may then either challenge another opponent or return to the grid; in the latter case, a new contestant is selected as a challenger at random from those who have not yet played a duel. This rule is a change from the original Dutch format, and instituted to prevent contestants from reaching the final duel without having already faced an opponent. Once all the remaining contestants have played a duel at least once, everyone becomes eligible for selection as a challenger. When only two contestants remain, the one controlling more territory (in season 1) decides which category is played. The other category remains unplayed. Beginning with season 2, the final duel is played as a best-of-three, with the first contestant to win two rounds declared the champion. Each remaining category is used for one of the first two rounds only. The contestant in control only selects which of the two known remaining categories will be played first (they will be the challenger in the first round, while the winner of the first round is the challenger in the second). If a third round is necessary, it will be played with a mystery category. The contestant who goes first will be decided randomly in the tiebreaker round.
At the end of each episode, apart from the final episode, the contestant holding the most territory wins $20,000 (increased to $40,000 in season 4 for the first episode only). In the event of a tie, the leaders share the money equally. The last contestant standing at the end of the final episode of the season (2 hours in season 1, 4 and 5 and one hour in seasons 2 and 3) takes over the entire floor and wins the grand prize of $250,000. The overall prize pot is $430,000 in season 1, $470,000 in seasons 2, 3 and 5 and $480,000 in season 4.
Beginning with Season 2, contestants who achieve three consecutive duel victories (by electing to play on twice after any win) are awarded a five-second "Time Boost." This bonus can be added once to the contestant's clock at the start of any subsequent duel, with the exception of the best-of-three final round, in which the Time Boost is not permitted and is therefore removed from play. A contestant in possession of a Time Boost must elect to use it before a duel starts. If a duel is won with a Time Boost (or the time boost is saved for later), it is counted as a win towards another (as of the fifth season).The Floor, Season 5 Episode 11 However, a player may only hold one time boost at a time, and if a player wins thrice and already holds a time boost, another time boost cannot be earned. If a contestant chooses to return to the floor before three consecutive wins are earned, the win total is reset to zero.
In Season 4 onward, contestants who achieve three consecutive duel victories will be able to choose to steal a category from another contestant (swapping with them) or receive a time boost. A category may be stolen while also holding a time boost but the category steal must be used immediately. After either bonus is chosen, the win total is reset to zero.
In addition, in Season 4, one space was secretly designated as the "Golden Square", which rewarded a $10,000 bonus to whoever wins a duel after the category from that square is challenged.
In Season 5, the contestant who had won the most duels at the midway point of the season were awarded the "Territory Freeze", meaning that the contestant cannot be challenged by any other contestants until everyone else has played at least one duel. Any players who are unable to eventually challenge another player due to frozen territory will at some point after the freeze has concluded be moved to the nearest open bordering square(s) so they can continue to play. The frozen territory will claim any unclaimed empty square(s) that remain after the move, maintaining the same amount of territory (# of spaces) as they had before the move.
In Season 6, a new advantage called the Power Shot was announced where one contestant can select another contestant to be the next challenger after having won 3 duels in a row and then returning to the floor, instead of the randomizer selecting the next challenger. The Power Shot can even be applied to contestants who have already dueled while players who have not dueled remain.
Results by contestant
Original categories are listed first & shown in boldface. Inherited categories are listed after the original category without boldface. A hyphen indicates a more specific topic in the associated category. The specific topic is italicized. Parentheses indicate what a category refers to if a colloquial phrase; it also specifies the category's style of play if specified to be non-visual or text-based (audio, association, video, etc.). A strikethrough indicates a stolen category from its owner by another contestant (The contestant who stole or took the category is listed). A golden square has the square number colored golden. [] Brackets indicate the remaining words of a topic that have had their title shortened. A cyan square indicates that the contestant has earned the Territory Freeze.
Season 1