The Floor (American game show)

Did You Know?

• Season 3's post-Super Bowl LIX premiere of The Floor delivered 14 million total viewers.
• The Floor is the first game show to ever rank as a season's No. 1 entertainment series telecast among adults 18–49.
• Season 1 was recorded August 2–6, 2023 at Ardmore Studios in Bray, Ireland.

Format

Each season kicks off with contestants standing in their own squares on a giant grid built into the studio floor. While each player picks a category they think they know best, the show's producers have the final say on what that category actually is. In the first season, 81 people competed on a 9-by-9 grid; starting with season two, that number grew to 100 players on a 10-by-10 grid. The floor itself is 20 meters by 12 meters, or about 66 feet by 39 feet. Over the course of a season, the player who ends up controlling every square wins the grand prize. After each episode, the contestant holding the most territory gets a secondary prize, with the number of duels per episode usually set at eight, though sometimes nine. For seasons two, three, and five, every third episode (not counting the finale's tiebreaker) features nine duels. In season four, every third and fourth episode (except the last two) also has nine duels. A device called "The Randomizer" picks one player at random to become the challenger. That challenger gets to see the categories of all opponents whose squares touch theirs on at least one side, then picks one of those players for a face-to-face duel. The exact rules of the duel stay secret until the challenger makes a choice, but unless the host says otherwise, it's a visual format. In the duel, the two players take turns naming images or words related to the challenged player's category. Each player has their own 45-second clock, and only one clock runs at a time, starting with the challenger's. The player whose clock is running must give a correct answer to stop it and hand control to the other player. There's no penalty for wrong guesses, and a player can pass at any time, but after a pass they have to wait three seconds for a new image or text. Some categories are text-based, like filling in missing words from a book title or song lyric, or naming a movie from a famous quote. Season two added audio duels, where players decipher answers from sound cues. Season three brought in association duels, which show three clues and ask for the common link. Season four introduced video duels, using clips instead of still images. Season five added close-up duels, where the clue is shown zoomed in.

Results by contestant

In the show, original categories are listed first and appear in boldface, while inherited categories follow without boldface. A hyphen introduces a more specific topic within a category, with that topic italicized. Parentheses clarify what a category refers to if it uses a colloquial phrase, and also indicate the style of play when it is non-visual or text-based, such as audio, association, or video. A strikethrough marks a category stolen from its original owner by another contestant, with the thief named. A golden square has its square number colored gold. Brackets show the remaining words of a shortened topic title. A cyan square means the contestant has earned the Territory Freeze. In September 2025, Fox announced that the season would follow an "America Duels" theme, with two contestants from each U.S. state. On March 26, 2026, James Wallington, winner of The Amazing Race season 32, said he would compete on season 5, along with voice actor Kyle Phillips. On September 1, 2026, online personality Dan Ryckert confirmed he would appear on season 6. All contestants for that season were announced later.

Duels

Week 1 (January 2, 2024): Top 81 – 7 Duels. Week 2 (January 9, 2024): Top 74 – 8 Duels. Week 3 (January 16, 2024): Top 66 – 8 Duels. Week 4 (January 23, 2024): Top 58 – 8 Duels. Week 5 (January 30, 2024): Top 50 – 8 Duels. Week 6 (February 6, 2024): Top 42 – 8 Duels. Week 7 (February 13, 2024): Top 34 – 9 Duels. Week 8 (February 20, 2024): Top 25 – 8 Duels. Week 9 Part 1 (February 27, 2024): Top 17 – 8 Duels. Week 9 Part 2 (February 27, 2024): Top 9 – 8 Duels. Week 1 (September 25, 2024): Top 100 – 8 Duels. Week 2 (October 2, 2024): Top 92 – 8 Duels. Week 3 (October 9, 2024): Top 84 – 9 Duels. Week 4 (October 16, 2024): Top 75 – 8 Duels. Week 5 (October 23, 2024): Top 67 – 8 Duels. Week 6 (November 6, 2024): Top 59 – 9 Duels. Week 7 (November 13, 2024): Top 50 – 8 Duels. Week 8 (November 20, 2024): Top 42 – 8 Duels. Week 9 (November 28, 2024): Top 34 – 9 Duels. Week 10 (December 4, 2024): Top 25 – 8 Duels. Week 11 (December 11, 2024): Top 17 – 8 Duels. Week 12 (December 18, 2024): Top 9 – 9 Duels. Week 1 (February 9, 2025): Top 100 – 8 Duels. Week 2 (February 12, 2025): Top 92 – 8 Duels. Week 3 (February 19, 2025): Top 84 – 9 Duels. Week 4 (February 26, 2025): Top 75 – 8 Duels. Week 5 (March 5, 2025): Top 67 – 8 Duels. Week 6 (March 12, 2025): Top 59 – 9 Duels. Week 7 (March 19, 2025): Top 50 – 8 Duels. Week 8 (March 26, 2025): Top 42 – 8 Duels. Week 9 (April 2, 2025): Top 34 – 9 Duels. Week 10 (April 9, 2025): Top 25 – 8 Duels. Week 11 (April 16, 2025): Top 17 – 8 Duels. Week 12 (April 23, 2025): Top 9 – 10 Duels. Week 1 (September 24, 2025): Top 100 – 8 Duels. Week 2 (October 1, 2025): Top 92 – 8 Duels. At the beginning of this episode, one square was designated as the Golden Square of the season, which will reward $10,000 to the winner once the category from that square is challenged. The Golden Square twist is over once the golden square is found. Week 3 (October 8, 2025): Top 84 – 9 Duels. Week 4 (October 15, 2025): Top 75 – 9 Duels. Week 5 (October 22, 2025): Top 66 – 8 Duels. Week 6 (November 5, 2025): Top 58 – 8 Duels. Week 7 (November 12, 2025): Top 50 – 9 Duels. Week 8 (November 19, 2025): Top 41 – 9 Duels. Week 9 (December 3, 2025): Top 32 – 8 Duels. Week 10 (December 10, 2025): Top 24 – 8 Duels. Week 11 Part 1 (December 17, 2025): Top 16 – 8 Duels. Note: No $20,000 prize was awarded this episode, and the finale was instead two combined parts.

Episodes

In each duel, the winner is listed in bold. The challenger is either randomly chosen or opts to continue, while the defender is selected by the challenger. Earned time boosts appear in italics, and used boosts are underlined. Earned advantages are also italicized with the specific advantage in parentheses, while used advantages are underlined.