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50 free Hard Criminal Minds trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This hard Criminal Minds trivia quiz assumes you have watched all fifteen CBS seasons and kept going into Evolution. It asks how fast Reid reads, where he went to high school, who kills Erin Strauss and how, where Prentiss surfaces after faking her death, why Thomas Gibson left, what Garcia was doing before the FBI hired her, who led the spin-off teams, which Korean network remade the show, and who Elias Voit is. Hotch, Haley and Foyet, JJ's Pentagon secret, Rossi's daughter, Morgan, Elle, Blake, Callahan, Seaver, Tara, Alvez, Walker and Simmons all get their turn, along with the actors' careers before Quantico. It is written for superfans and quiz hosts who need a properly tough round. Nearly everything sits at hard or expert level; if you want the gentler version, our main Criminal Minds trivia page covers the essentials. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on the series, its characters and its cast, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
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Q 01On what date did Criminal Minds premiere on CBS?
September 22, 2005
Jeff Davis created it, and it ran fifteen seasons before its Paramount+ revival.
Q 02On what date did the original CBS run end, after fifteen seasons?
February 19, 2020
It came back as Criminal Minds: Evolution on Paramount+ in November 2022.
Q 03Reid can read how many words per minute?
20,000
He also has an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory, so the reading actually sticks.
Q 04Reid graduated at age twelve from a public secondary school in which city?
Las Vegas
He went on to PhDs in mathematics, chemistry and engineering plus BAs in psychology and sociology.
Q 05Reid's mother Diana was a university professor of what before her illness ended her career?
Literature
Jane Lynch plays her, and Spencer committed her to Bennington Sanitarium in Las Vegas when he was eighteen.
Q 06In season six Reid suffers from cluster headaches and fears he is developing which illness?
Schizophrenia
His mother has it, and doctors could not explain the headaches.
Q 07Reid spends the second half of which year of the show in prison?
The twelfth
Prentiss was later suspended by Linda Barnes over how she ran the unit during Reid's imprisonment in Mexico.
Q 08Who turns out to be Cat Adams's accomplice and girlfriend, posing as Diana Reid's nurse?
Lindsey Vaughan
Reid recognises her from the Mexico hotel where Mr. Scratch's plot unfolded.
Q 09Why did Reid's father William leave the family when Spencer was a child?
He knew Diana had witnessed a murder
A family friend had avenged his own son's killing, and William wanted out.
Q 10How did Garcia end up working for the BAU?
Offered a job instead of jail after hacking them
She had drawn attention as an underground hacker by illegally accessing Bureau equipment.
Q 11Garcia is godmother to which two children?
JJ's son Henry and Morgan's son Hank
Morgan named his son after his own father.
Q 12Kevin Lynch, Garcia's boyfriend played by Nicholas Brendon, first appears in the season 3 episode named for whom?
Penelope
He is brought in to search her computer after she is shot; Brendon is best known as Xander from Buffy.
Q 13Elle Greenaway is shot by an unsub in which season one finale?
The Fisher King (Part 1)
She later murders a suspected serial rapist on a stakeout and resigns, saying it is not an admission of guilt.
Q 21Prentiss's mother is an ambassador played by which actress?
Kate Jackson
Elizabeth Prentiss's diplomatic postings explain Emily's fluency in several languages.
Q 22JJ is forced to accept a promotion to where in the season six episode named after her?
The Pentagon
A secret mission from that stint gets her kidnapped in the 200th episode.
Q 23JJ's husband Will LaMontagne is a detective with which police department?
New Orleans
Josh Stewart plays him, and their sons are Henry and Michael.
Rossi took early retirement from the BAU in which year to write books and lecture?
Q 14What does Elle say as she hands Hotch her badge and gun?
It is "not an admission of guilt"
She had shot an unarmed suspect and planted her gun on him.
Q 15Why was Thomas Gibson removed from the cast after season 12, episode 2?
An on-set altercation
Hotch was written out on a temporary assignment, then chose to stay away to focus on his son Jack.
Q 16Hotch's wife Haley is killed by George Foyet in which milestone episode?
100
Jack survives by hiding, and Hotch reaches Haley by phone just before Foyet shoots her.
Q 17Where were Haley and Jack revealed to be living in witness protection?
New Jersey
Foyet found them by dialling the speed-dial numbers on US Marshal Sam Kassmeyer's phone.
Q 18Hotch's son Jack was born in which year?
2005
Meredith Monroe played Haley, and Haley's sister Jessica Brooks helps raise Jack afterwards.
Q 19Prentiss appears to die at the hands of Ian Doyle in which episode?
Lauren
The final scene shows her alive in Paris with JJ handing over passports and bank accounts.
Q 20Prentiss leaves the BAU in the season seven finale to run which posting?
Interpol's London desk
She returned as a regular in season twelve after Gibson's exit and became unit chief.
1997
He volunteered to return in 2007, shortly after Gideon walked away.
Q 25Rossi's daughter Joy Struthers is the product of his short marriage to whom?
Diplomat Hayden Montgomery
Amber Stevens played Joy across seasons 10, 11 and 14.
Q 26How does the Replicator, John Curtis, kill Section Chief Erin Strauss?
Poison in spiked wine
He was a former agent left to take the blame for the Amerithrax case; Rossi later escapes his trap using her sobriety chip.
Q 27Alex Blake was a linguistics professor at which university alongside her FBI work?
Georgetown
Jeanne Tripplehorn played her for seasons 8 and 9; Strauss had left her to take the fall on Amerithrax too.
Q 28Which actress played Kate Callahan, the former undercover agent, in season 10?
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Rachel Nichols was cadet Ashley Seaver in season 6 and Aisha Tyler is forensic psychologist Tara Lewis.
Q 29Luke Alvez first works with the BAU as a member of what?
The FBI fugitive task force
He arrives to hunt the serial killers who escaped in the season eleven finale.
Q 30Stephen Walker, played by Damon Gupton in season 12, transferred from which FBI unit?
The Behavioral Analysis Program
He was a counterintelligence expert with about twenty years' experience.