Canada's Worst Driver
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| Canada's Worst Driver | |
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 Canada's Worst Driver Logo |
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| Genre | Reality television |
| Running time | 60min |
| Starring | Andrew Younghusband contestants panal of experts |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Language(s) | English |
| Original channel | Discovery |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
Canada's Worst Driver is a reality television series first aired on Discovery Channel Canada, based on the UK Channel 4 Television Corporation's Britain's Worst Driver, and is considered a sister show to Canada's Worst Handyman, itself based upon Britain's Worst DIYer. To date, two seasons of Canada's Worst Driver have been completed, with the second season titled Canada's Worst Driver 2 having aired in late 2006.
Canada's Worst Driver is produced by Proper Television, and is hosted by Andrew Younghusband.
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[edit] Format
The premise is to take the eight worst drivers (nominated by friends, family, or co-workers) off Canadian streets and put them through an eight-week driving school from the Driver Rehabilitation Centre, a decommissioned air force base/airport near Picton, Ontario in Worst Driver and CFB Borden in Worst Driver 2. Each of the drivers brought with them the person who nominated them for the show.
The first week of the series is an evaluation of the drivers, and for their first challenge, drive a car from a starting point to the Rehabilitation Centre an hour away, with the car keys being confiscated upon arrival at the centre.
From the second week on, the contestants, aided by their nominators, undertake several challenges specifically designed to test some of their aspects leading to their nomination, and the contestant who shows the most improvement in each episode, as determined by an expert panel of judges, has their keys returned, allowing them to go home; as it is an evaluation episode, no one graduates in the opening episode. In a twist different from other reality programming, the judges may reserve the right to not let anyone graduate in a given episode, this happened on two separate occasions. Furthermore, as seen in the second season, the panel can choose to expel a driver that shows no intention of improving his skills.
On the last week, the remaining contestants tackle a final set of challenges which will take place outside of the centre, and one contestant is named Canada's Worst Driver based on their performance in this challenge. The first season was set-up so that at least two contestants would be left for the final exam, but three were left due to one week where no one graduated; the second season is one week shorter, meaning at least three drivers will be left for the final exam.
Worst Driver was filmed in winter and focused on winter driving conditions, while Worst Driver 2 focuses more on summer driving hazards. A bonus episode of Worst Driver also compared Canada's drivers to drivers from its counterparts in different countries, and concluded that while other countries may have more dangerous drivers in certain aspects, the contestants on Worst Driver were worse in a wider range of aspects.
[edit] Participants
[edit] Experts
It was the job of the experts to evaluate the drivers, help give instruction and counselling, and ultimately judge how well the drivers did or did not improve. The experts consisted of the following individuals:
[edit] Canada's Worst Driver
- Kelly Williams was a Canadian CASCAR driver and the only female to win a race in that series. She has also been the spokesperson for "Be Car Care Aware", an auto safety organization.
- Jim Kenzie was an automotive journalist, reviewing vehicles for the Toronto Star. He also has a segment on TSN's Motoring 2005 program. He wrote the textbook used for advanced driver training used by the Toronto Police Department and other advanced training classes, and is widely recognized as a vehicle expert.
- Scott Marshall was the Director of Training for Young Drivers of Canada. His job was to train the instructors who train drivers.
- Dr. Uzma Rehman was a behavioural psychologist and a member of the faculty at Queen's University.
[edit] Canada's Worst Driver 2
- Marcus Agyeman is an insurance broker who has insured the worst of the worst at his insurance company, and provides a financial standpoint to the judging table.
- Juliana Chiovitti is a go-kart racing instructor, and has an illustrious career in auto racing, including a 4th-place finish in the Formula 2000 series.
- Scott Marshall returns from the first season, and is the chief instructor for the series.
- Sgt. Cam Woolley of the Ontario Provincial Police is a member of the OPP's Highway Safety Division specializing in traffic-related incidents, investigating traffic crimes and collisions while promoting public awareness of traffic safety. He has escorted world leaders, royalty, and the Pope through some of Ontario's major highways, and is considered to be the face of the OPP.
[edit] Contestants
Each of the eight drivers had his or her own reason for being there - not all were generically incompetent drivers. Here are the contestants from each season of the show:
[edit] Canada's Worst Driver
- Madalena Phillips, 21 and licensed for 5 years, had been in well over 30 accidents as well as innumerable incidents she called "bumps" when there were no witnesses, largely due to a complete lack of concern about anything except shopping, partying, and fashion. She was by and large an incompetent driver by choice, and considered it part of her lifestyle. Madalena was nominated by her friend Jennifer.
- Bob Coad, 36 and licensed for 20 years, was an otherwise excellent driver, except for a tendency towards road rage and a little freeway game he called bumper tag. This involved passing cars that he was annoyed at and suddenly slamming on his brakes in front of them, forcing them to panic brake to avoid a collision. Bob was nominated by his friend Rob.
- Chris Ferguson, 31 and licensed for 13 years, was totally inexperienced behind the wheel, having driven only five times since getting his licence 13 years ago. He was insecure, and very slow while driving, creating a hazard on the road. Chris was nominated by his wife Michelle.
- David Chau, 24 and licensed for 5 years, attributed his driving problems to being "unlucky" and refused to take responsibility for his incompetence on the road. His driving errors during the program often completely destroyed the cars used for the show. He would listen to, and then blame, his passengers for bad driving advice. David was nominated by his friend George.
- Faith Ann Stone, 30 and licensed for 14 years, had been in 37 reported accidents. She was reckless and drove far too fast, in spite of having been laid-up for 6 months by a collision 2 years previously. She was nominated by 4 different people to be on the show. Her issues largely arose from lack of proper driving instruction and her cavalier attitude towards driving. Faith Ann was nominated by her friend Joanne.
- Heather Reynolds, 59 and licensed 30 years, had written off 10 cars in 20 years. During the series it was discovered that most of her troubles were caused by not having a proper prescription for her glasses. Like Chris, she was not reckless, but dangerously slow due to lack of confidence in her driving. Heather was nominated by her husband, Ernie.
- Manuel Tejeda, 36 and licensed for 6 years, had difficulties with overthinking everything he did while driving until it was too late. He also had a problem with his temper causing him to lose control when he failed during driving lessons. Manuel was nominated by his co-worker Alex.
- Tatiana Rheaume, 42 and 22 years licensed, was involved in a serious car accident that turned a competent driver into a paranoid wreck behind the wheel. She drove hazardously slow on freeways and refused to make left turns, which were involved in her car accident, often dangerously bunching up traffic and driving in the wrong lane. Tatiana was nominated by her mother-in-law Beth.
[edit] Canada's Worst Driver 2
- Karen Carson, 49 and licensed for 28 years, from Port Perry, Ontario, was once confident as a driver but is now too terrified to drive. When she does, however, drive with her husband, it leads to fighting in the car. As a result, she has not driven for over a year, and has not driven on a highway for several. She is nominated by husband Allan, a police officer.
- Matt Elkind, 29 and licensed for 13 years, from Toronto, Ontario, is a real estate agent who, because of his busy lifestyle, likes to multitask, so much so that he could be eating, smoking, reading a map, sending email, and talking on a cell phone while driving with his knees. He steadfastly refuses to wear a seatbelt, as he believes it is the key reason why his life was saved in a car crash. He is nominated by friend Suzanne, a fashion executive.
- Henrietta Gallant, 61 and licensed for 35 years, from Rockland, Ontario, suffers from extreme stress while at the wheel, leading to many accidents. She is nominated by husband Andy, a civil servant.
- Sean McConnell, 43 and licensed for 27 years, from Stratford, Ontario, is a champion video game racecar driver, having won an online competition, but uses the same techniques he uses while playing the game when driving in real life. He believes that he is safer by driving above the speed limit as it keeps him away from other bad drivers, and treats every stop as the start of a race. He is nominated by his niece Melena.
- Colin Sheppard, 20 and licensed for 3 years, from Whitby, Ontario, is a habitual racer who partakes in street racing. He has been known to use the fact that he is training to be a police officer to get him out of ticket trouble, although because of his habits he has been blacklisted by at least one insurance company. He is nominated by his friend Jeremy, an independent distributor.
- Jodi Slobodesky, 31 and licensed for 15 years, from Steinbach, Manitoba, is easily frustrated behind the wheel, and easily becomes a driving hazard as a result - on occasions she begins to forget basic driving notions such as the meaning of a green light. She is nominated by her husband Sam, an auto body technician.
- Michael Telford, 40 and licensed for 24 years, from Burnaby, British Columbia, took nine attempts to get his driver's license, and cannot deal with surprises while driving. He also has a tendency to hold his breath when entering a tunnel and continue to hold it until he exits. He is nominated by his friend Eric.
- Shannon Willemsen, 22 and licensed for 5 years, from Calgary, Alberta, is a student and a mother to be who enjoys totaling cars - she has twelve demerits on her license, two away from having her license revoked, while having accumulated over $10000 in parking tickets, including a $489 ticket for driving at 60 km/h over the speed limit. Her cars last on average three to six months before being totaled, and at this rate she may not afford to drive for much longer due to accumulated debts from tickets and rising insurance costs. She is nominated by her best friend Sara.
[edit] Summaries
The results of the first two seasons of Canada's Worst Driver are as follows:
[edit] Canada's Worst Driver
- Episode 2: After performing admirably well in a parallel parking challenge, Bob shows that he can be patient, and graduates.
- Episode 3: Tatiana's confidence from driving at increased speeds in the "Eye of the Needle" challenge makes her the second graduate.
- Episode 4: Faith Ann's confidence in an uphill driving challenge convinced the judges that she should be the third graduate.
- Episode 5: In a surprising twist, the judges decide that no one graduates due to overall poor performance by all candidates.
- Episode 6: David's leadership ability in an ice-themed challenge makes him the fourth graduate of the Driver Rehabilitation Centre.
- Episode 7: Aided by a flawless effort in a challenge that was specifically tightened so as to try and make him lose his temper, Manuel becomes the next driver to graduate.
- Episode 8: The finale, taking place within Montreal's downtown, sees Heather graduate due to the less-than-stellar performance of Madalena or Chris. Chris is named Canada's Worst Driver as Madalena's performance in the final challenge was seen to be due to her partying out on the town the night before. A follow up episode revealed that Madalena's father purchased her a new BMW for not being named Canada's worst driver.
[edit] Canada's Worst Driver 2
- Episode 2: Parallel Parking, Eye of the Needle, Crazy Eights, Driving Distracted
- Episode 3: Road Signs, Driving in a Straight Line, Packing Up, Driving Distracted, Canada's Worst Gas Station
- Episode 4: Water Tank Challenge, Following Directions, Swerving, The Dirty Circle, Scavenger Hunt, Driving in Britain
- Episode 6: Extreme Off-road, Blindfold Driving, Stunt Driving, High-Speed Slalom
- Episode 7: Trailer Parking, Mega-Challenge, The Ultimate Road Test
