Canada's Worst Driver (season 1)
| Canada's Worst Driver | |
|---|---|
 Canada's Worst Driver Logo | |
| Developed by | Proper Television |
| Presented by | Andrew Younghusband |
| Narrated by | Andrew Younghusband |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes (including commercials) |
| Release | |
| Original network | Discovery Channel Canada |
| Original release | October 2 – November 14, 2005 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Canada's Worst Driver 2 |
| Related shows |
Canada's Worst Handyman Britain's Worst Driver |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Canada's Worst Driver (CWD), is a reality television series first aired on Discovery Channel Canada, based on the UK Channel 4 Television Corporation's Britain's Worst Driver. Canada's Worst Driver is produced by Proper Television, and is hosted by Andrew Younghusband.
Participants
Experts
It was the job of the experts to evaluate the drivers, help give instruction and counseling, and ultimately judge how well the drivers did or did not improve. The experts consisted of the following individuals:
- 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 is an automotive journalist and president of the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada. He also reviews vehicles for the Toronto Star newspaper. Since 1988, he also has an editorial-like segment on TSN's "Motoring" program. It is now in its 20th season. He wrote the textbook for advanced driver training used by the Toronto Police Service 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.
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 the first season:
- Madalena Phillips, 21 and licensed for 5 years, from Toronto, Ontario, had been in well over 30 accidents as well as innumerable incidents she called "bumps" when there were no witnesses. Her parents still had paid for her car insurance, over $9,000 per year. Her irresponsible driving was 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. She drives a black Pontiac Sunfire GT.
- Robert "Bob" Coad, 36 and licensed for 20 years, from Guelph, Ontario, 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 buddy, Rob. He drives a red Chevrolet Lumina.
- Christopher "Chris" Ferguson, 31 and licensed for 13 years, from Malton, Ontario), was totally inexperienced behind the wheel, having driven only five times since getting his license. He was insecure, and very slow while driving, creating a hazard on the road. Chris was nominated by his wife, Michelle Ferguson. He drives a black Mitsubishi Lancer and drove a Chevrolet Cobalt to the rehab centre.
- David Chau, 24 and licensed for 5 years, from Toronto, Ontario, 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 buddy, George. He drives a red Chrysler Intrepid and drove a Mitsubishi Lancer to the rehab centre.
- Faith-Ann Stone, 30 and licensed for 14 years, from Niagara Falls, Ontario, 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 independently 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's co-worker, Joanne, represented herself and the three other people who nominated Faith-Ann. She drives a silver 2005 Jeep Liberty.
- Heather Reynolds, 59 and licensed 30 years, from Medicine Hat, Alberta, 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. She drives a beige Chevrolet Venture and drove a blue Chevrolet Epica to the rehab centre.
- Manuel Tejeda, 36 and licensed for 6 years, from Calgary, Alberta, had difficulties with over-thinking 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. He drives a silver Nissan Altima and drove a red Chevrolet Impala to the rehab centre.
- Tatiana Rheaume, 42 and 22 years licensed, from Ajax, Ontario, 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. She drives a black Mazda Protege and drove a red Chevrolet Cavalier to the rehab centre.
Summaries
The result of the first season of Canada's Worst Driver is as follows:
- Canada's Worst Driver
| Contestant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Ferguson | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | CWD | Chris was named Canada's Worst Driver due to having performed badly in Downtown Montreal. |
| Madalena Phillips | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | RUNNER-UP | Though she was not Canada's Worst Driver, she did not graduate, either. |
| Heather Reynolds | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | Heather graduates due to having performed the best in Downtown Montreal. |
| Manuel Tejeda | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | Manuel graduates due to having performed flawlessly in a challenge that was tightened to make it so that he wouldn't lose his temper. | |
| David Chau | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | David graduates due to his leadership in an ice-themed challenge. | ||
| Faith Ann Stone | IN | IN | IN | OUT | Faith Ann graduates due to having overcome self-doubt in a manual transmission challenge. | ||||
| Tatiana Rheaume | IN | IN | OUT | Tatiana graduates due to having performed The Eye of the Needle at high speeds confidently. | |||||
| Bob Coad | IN | OUT | Bob graduates due to having realized that the driver that bothered him was himself. | ||||||
- (OUT) The driver has graduated, and is out of the running for Canada's Worst Driver.
- (RUNNER-UP) The driver was not Canada's Worst Driver but was not considered to be a graduate.
- (CWD) The driver was ultimately named Canada's Worst Driver.
Episode 1
- Arriving to Rehab: In the season premiere, the eight candidates are introduced. As in the other seasons of the show, each bad driver must drive to the rehabilitation centre.
- First to Arrive: David was the first to leave, and the first to arrive.
- Last to Arrive: Madalena became the last.
- Slowest to Arrive: Madalena is also the slowest to arrive. During her drive, she tried to do a U-turn, but goes off-course into a ditch, asking others to put her car back on the road. Eventually, she also crashes into a rock, causing damage to the front bumper of her car. She had arrived at three hours.
- Fastest to Arrive: Bob was the last to leave, but the second to arrive.
- Skills Evaluation: The drivers must stop in front of a wall without hitting it, driving a green Mercury Grand Marquis. The drivers had two attempts at this; in the first attempt Scott Marshall put up a traffic control light to warn the drivers when to brake. The second attempt tested whether the drivers would stop before hitting the wall with the light not tuned on. Most of the drivers ran into the wall in their second attempt.
- Best Performer: Chris and Heather were the only two people who had passed this challenge, but Chris doing slightly better.
- Worst Performer: David has done the worst out of everyone, going though the wall and did not stop from the wall in a very long distance, and had killed the vehicle.
Episode 2
- Water Tank Challenge: The drivers are taught gentle braking in this challenge, where water is placed in a tank over a car. The objective of the challenge is to maneuver the car around an obstacle course (complete with several surprises), with jerky braking causing the water to overflow from the tank, soaking the occupants in the car.
- Fastest Performer: Bob performed the fastest at 5 minutes and one second.
- Slowest Performer: Madalena went through 12 minutes and 20 seconds.
After performing admirably well in a parallel parking challenge, despite doing lousy in the water tank challenge, and in a challenge during night-time, Bob shows that he can be patient, and graduates. He also received the highest score in street sign identification with a perfect 5/5, while Heather scores the worst with only one sign correct.
Episode 3
Tatiana's confidence from driving at increased speeds in the "Eye of the Needle" challenge makes her the second graduate. All the other contestants, including speed addict Faith-Ann did not do as well in the challenge (Madalena's performance was not shown). Andrew also points out that the passenger side is where the car usually gets hit during the challenge, claiming that the drivers are selfish and only care about their own safety rather than their passengers' safety.
Episode 4
Faith Ann's confidence in an uphill driving challenge had 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 to make him lose his temper, Manuel becomes the next driver to graduate. The other contestants, though (especially Chris Ferguson) are ticked off that Manuel graduated and not them. They thought that Manuel's driving was not any better than theirs.
Episode 8
The finale, taking place within Montreal's downtown, first start the final exam. All the three contestants have done nearly equally as bad. In the drive to Montreal, though, it shows that Heather was the one who did the best. Chris and Madalena did worse, though. 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.
Episode 9
After competition review episode. Taking clips from the other episodes, a series of "lessons" is provided to illustrate the "Don'ts" of driving.
Episode 10
Special – Canada's Worst Drivers vs. The World, compiled clips from the show and clips from other shows of the "Worst Driver" franchise, to show which driver is the worst of the worlds' worst from the competitions.