When its sixth season hits the 2026 TV schedule in full, Fox’s hit game show The Floor is once again leaning into the theme of “Champions” with its contestant pool. Everyone competing for the grand prize has, in one way or another, already won big elsewhere in life, from writing contest winners to decorated athletes to pageant winners and beyond. To me, that’s a more interesting twist than sorting people by state or other more arbitrary details, and Rob Lowe has me thinking it’ll fix my biggest gripe.
Lowe, who transitioned into hosting The Floor when 9-1-1: Lone Star was canceled, talked to TV Insider about how having a floor full of victors affected the general dynamics that fans are used to. And he shared that having a higher caliber of competitors means there won’t be nearly as many one-sided duels that quickly fizzle out. As he put it:
Where you really see the change this season in the players is because they’re champions. They understand the pressure, so we had very, very few flameouts, which I have to say are, whenever there’s a flameout, it’s super exciting television, but you feel really bad for people. So they came to play, they came to strategize, and they left it all out on the floor, literally.
Yes! This! It's exactly what I wanted to hear, as contestant flameouts, exciting though they may be, are the worst. Obviously those situations are the most terrible for the players themselves, and I empathize with them. But it's also quite non-ideal for viewers.
Here's my least favorite The Floor scenario. Week 1 reveals a contestant on a category I absolutely adore, such as Best Horror Movies Ever or Cartoon Characters. (Mature Topics and Hobbies Rich People Have are sadly not in my wheelhouse.) Then, after weeks and weeks go by, those contestants are finally chosen, but whoever they're going up against has seemingly done zero studying on the topic, and immediately soils the sheets without correctly identifying anything.
So the thing I was genuinely most excited to see from the entire season is over in less than a minute, with only two or three examples being utilized. That's the worst. Especially if the images/videos aren't even that difficult to identify to begin with.
As such, I couldn't be happier to hear that Season 6 of The Floor will authentically feature fewer flameouts than past seasons. I hope that also means there will be fewer cases where contestants say "Pass" and then forget that it's still their turn to guess. That's my second biggest gripe about the show.
Another one of The Floor's contestant-related issues that we've discussed in the past involves players who intentionally want to stay on the floor and compete as few times as possible before the finale. Rob Lowe says the newest advantage for three-duel winners, the Power Shot, was specifically implemented to target the most skittish players. As he put it:
For sure, the Power Shot, because an element of strategy in the past has been to try to hide on the floor, like literally just hope the randomizer doesn’t come to you. And you know you get into week five and six, and you can see people just out there going 'No no no no don’t look at me,' and then you can just throw them down with the Power Shot.
I gotta say, the fact that The Floor keeps adding new elements and twists, and without getting rid of what already works, is a great way to keep the competition feeling fresh even beyond the category changes. (And it'll probably keep happening, since The Floor will likely be on for years to come.) I think some other game shows should take note. Not that Jeopardy! needs to add a bunch of tweaks to its format, and I guess Wheel of Fortune did add its new opening round to change things up. But there are plenty of others out there doing the same ol', same ol'.
The first episode of Season 6 is technically already available to stream via Hulu subscription, as Fox aired a sneak peek prior to the official premiere week. So anyone who didn’t catch it should get on that immediately!
