Canada's Worst Driver - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Canada's Worst Driver is a reality television series first aired on Discovery Channel Canada
Discovery Channel Canada
Discovery Channel is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel devoted to nature, adventure, science and technology programming. Discovery Channel is currently owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc...

, based on the UK Channel 4 Television Corporation's

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

Britain's Worst Driver
Britain's Worst Driver
Britain's Worst Driver was a British television series created and hosted by ex-Top Gear host Quentin Willson made by Mentorn and shown on Five in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2003. In 30-minute episodes, the worst drivers chosen by viewers "earned back" their driving licences by performing...

. Canada's Worst Driver is produced by Proper Television, and is hosted by Andrew Younghusband

Andrew Younghusband

Andrew Younghusband is a Canadian television personality, writer and journalist, best known for his most recent appearances as host of the reality shows Canada's Worst Driver and Canada's Worst Handyman, as well as the documentary series Tall Ship Chronicles.-Career:Younghusband began his career...

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
CASCAR
The Canadian Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was the governing body for amateur and professional stock car racing in Canada.-History:It was established in 1981 by President Anthony Novotny...

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
The Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...

's "Motoring" program. It is now in its 20th season. He wrote the textbook used for advanced driver training used by the Toronto Police Service
Toronto Police Service
The Toronto Police Service , formerly the Metropolitan Toronto Police, is the police service for the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest municipal police service in Canada and second largest police force in Canada after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police...

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
Queen's University
Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...

.

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, had been in well over 30 accidents as well as innumerable incidents she called "bumps" when there were no witnesses. 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.
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 license 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 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 friend Joanne represented herself and the three other people who nominated Faith-Ann.
Heather Reynolds, 59 and licensed 30 years, from Medicine Hat, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, 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, from Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...

, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, 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.
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.

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
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
Manuel Tejeda	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	OUT
David Chau	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	OUT
Faith Ann Stone	IN	IN	IN	OUT
Tatiana Rheaume	IN	IN	OUT
Bob Coad	IN	OUT

(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: In the season premier, the candidates are introduced. As the challenges in this episode are preliminary evaluations, no one graduates at the end of this episode.
Episode 2: After performing admirably well in a parallel parking
Parallel parking
thumb|250px|right|Parallel-parked cars in [[Washington, D.C.]]thumb|250px|right|A motorist gets assistance parallel-parkingParallel parking is a method of parking a vehicle in line with other parked cars. Cars parked in parallel are in one line, parallel to the curb, with the front bumper of each...

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 to make him lose his temper, Manuel becomes the next driver to graduate.
Episode 8: The finale, taking place within Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

'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.
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.

Experts

Contestants

Summaries

See also