Canada's Worst Handyman 3 was the third season of the Canadian reality TV show Canada's Worst Handyman, which aired on the Discovery Channel. As with previous years, five people, nominated by their family or friends, enter the Handyman Rehabilitation Centre to improve their handyman skills. This year, the Handyman Rehabilitation Centre is located at a 100-year-old mansion located on Bay Street South in Hamilton, Ontario, where the contestants will take charge of renovating one room, as well as a common kitchen and turn the Handyman Rehabilitation Centre into a functional bed and breakfast. Unlike the two previous seasons, however, when the focus was on apartment renovation and shed building, respectively, the focus of this season was on both design and commercial renovation. The filming site was purchased by the production company and sold at the conclusion of the series. As sheds are absent entirely (the first two seasons used a shed, with the first being used as a centerpiece of their group challenges), the entire opening sequence is permanently redone. Producers from the series have claimed that a record 300 applications were received for this season.
Experts In a change from previous seasons, the experts will also do each and every challenge themselves in a room on the second floor, under identical conditions to the contestants, often before the contestants do the challenge themselves (so that they may observe the contestants during the challenge or for the purposes of demonstrating the challenge to the contestants). Jo Alcorn is an interior designer and former contestant on the fourth season of Designer Superstar Challenge. She has international experience to her credit, having studied in New York City and travelled the world to study architecture and design. She replaces Jill Rydall, who served as the series' licensed carpenter in the previous season. Geoff Woodmansey is a general contractor with over 25 years of residential building experience, having worked in some of Toronto's most exclusive neighborhoods. He is also the host of the Discovery Channel show Junk Raiders. He replaces Greg House, who served as the series' resident contracting expert for the previous two seasons.
Contestants Joe "The Bullet" Barbaro, a bodybuilder from Barrie, Ontario, is nominated by his sister Rita, who feels that, though he is physically intimidating at the gym, he is psychologically intimidated by handywork. Charmaine Legros Flank, a florist from Thunder Bay, Ontario (and the only female nominee this season) whose favorite renovation tool is a glue gun, is nominated by her daughter Tiina, who has moved out of their family home for safety reasons. Desmond "Dez" Nanassy, a recently unemployed lab technician and professional hypnotherapist from Woodstock, Ontario, is an ambitious do-it-yourselfer. Unfortunately for wife and nominator Jennie Grevers, the fact that nothing is finished poses a threat to the safety of the children, Holland (arguably the best person in existence) and Malory, her other kid in their daycare business. Terry "Tex" Neves, 31, is a seasonal worker from Apple River, Nova Scotia who has a tendency to recycle almost everything; old projects are often dismantled for supplies toward new ones. Tex is nominated by his wife Tara Martin, who wants to ensure that their $16,000 savings for renovation is spent wisely. Casey Vinet, a police officer from Abbotsford, British Columbia (near Vancouver), is inexperienced with power tools, which has made him the butt of handyman-related jokes at the police station. He is nominated by his wife, Marnie, who is tired of half-completed renovations and shoddy repair work.
Synopsis Contestant(with hard hat colour) Nominator 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Joe "The Bullet" Rita IMP WORST IN WORST WORST IN IN CWH Casey Marnie WORST IN IN IMP IN WORST IN IN Charmaine Tiina IN IN IN IN IMP IN WORST IN Dez Jen IN IN IMP IN IN IN IMP IN Tex Tara IN IMP WORST IN IN IMP IN IN
CWH – The contestant is Canada's Worst Handyman. WORST – The contestant is the worst of the episode. IN – The contestant was considered for the worst for this episode. IMP – The contestant is the most improved of the episode.
Episode 1: Demolition Derby Original Airdate: May 5, 2008 Entering the Room: Arriving at the Handyman Rehabilitation Centre, the contestants are randomly assigned rooms. Tex in the green room, Joe in the yellow, Dez in the blue, Charmaine in the orange, and Casey in the pink. After entering the locked doors to their rooms, they have to build an eight-foot-tall stud wall, which is going to be used to frame a closet. Tex is the only one to pass thanks to "Tara's Putty," a mixture of sawdust and glue used to fill in gaps where he fell short. Charmaine, who was the last to enter their room, having been frustrated by the lock (using a Phillips-head screwdriver to unscrew three Robertson screws), fails due to confusing for and giving up after the realization. Joe (who used brute force to break the lock), Dez (who used his drill to remove the screws holding the lock) and Casey all mismeasured, having forgotten that their top and bottom plates count as part of the eight feet, thus building a stud wall too long, though Joe is the only one to have fixed this after failing the challenge. Home Challenge: Prior to entering rehab, the contestants had to build a three-dimensional object at least tall which could support their own weight. Though all but Casey chose boxes (Casey chose instead to have a platform on four "teepees"), Tex is the only one whose box holds up, largely because he had built six sides to everyone else's four. Casey had failed twice in his platform, although his second attempt lasted longer than his first. Wall Safes: The contestants are introduced to the judges, who teach them how to install a wall safe by locating two studs and cutting out part of the wall between them. Dez and Casey, having a common wall, choose the same spot and Casey was forced to relocate, but not without accidentally hitting Dez in the helmet with his hammer. The two and Tex (who did not use a stud finder at all) eventually fail due to cutting too big of a hole vertically (though they were more lenient on Casey). Joe also relocates, not knowing how to use a stud finder and having abandoned his first choice of location. However, he eventually manages to brute-force his safe in with a mallet (but the safe is not secured with screws). Charmaine gave up on her wall safe. Group Challenge: Demolition: After being given a quick lesson on electrical and plumbing, the group must demolish an old bathroom in order to change it into the space for their kitchen. Joe, overzealous with a sledgehammer, manages to raise the ire of Geoff when he takes down a ceiling full of metal studs, who gives him a quick lesson on safety. Meanwhile, Tex is put in charge of both disconnecting the electrical and plumbing, as well as capping it off. When Joe throws out the garbage, Casey takes over with the sledgehammer and manages to knock part of the common wall between the common area and Tex's room down. Though Tex performs his job admirably (though his plumbing needed to be addressed twice), the lack of communication between Tex and the others meant that he had to shuttle back and forth between the basement and the common area to get the job done.
At the end of the day, which included designing their rooms' future layouts—Joe and his "No Mercy Room," Charmaine and the "Serenity Room," Dez with the "Tropical Paradise Room," Tex with the "Pinup Room" and Casey with the "Chocolate and Vanilla Room"—the judges give their verdict: Tex, in the group challenge, had left his tools in a mess, though he was considered the most improved by Jo due to his challenge work (and having done the toughest part of the group challenge singlehandedly). Geoff's quick lesson made an impact on Joe, who he nominated for the most improved for improving on his own safety as the group challenge progressed, as well as going back and fixing his failed challenges. As for the worst, Casey and Charmaine made the short list. In the end, Joe won the "golden helmet" for being the most improved, while Casey was nominated as the worst due to having destroyed three walls (his own, Dez's and Tex's) in the episode. In his extra lesson, he had to remove the filth from the drain that had been part of the old toilet in the common area, a job which he detested.
Episode 2: Totally Plastered Original Airdate: May 12, 2008 Workbenches: Four of the five contestants do not have workbenches at home and Dez destroyed his during the box challenge. Thus, the contestants must build their own benches. Dez, Joe and Casey use chipboard rather than plywood for their tops and all fail due to the tabletop not being sturdy as a result. Charmaine does not finish, while Tex, using pine boards for a top, is the only one to pass. The Interview: Wanting to know the experiences of the contestants, Andrew personally asks the contestants whether they have done ten things that every handyman should know prior to rehab. Charmaine and Tex have the most (eight and seven, respectively), while Joe is at the bottom, having done only one (demolition). Plastic Wrap: The contestants must seal their windows in plastic wrap. For Tex, this is all too familiar, as he had done this to his own (wood-burning) home and cut his home heating costs in half (from five cords of wood per year down to two-and-a-half) and he easily passes. Dez (despite troubles with double-sided tape) and Joe also pass the challenge, while Charmaine (who also does this at her own home) fails due to having dust all over her plastic. Casey fails due to his plastic seal being not tight. Drywall: Each room has a hole in the wall and in this challenge, the contestants are to fix them (Tex had two due to part of his wall being torn down in the group demo, but was only required to patch one). Charmaine is the first to finish and passes, while the rest fail for different reasons: Tex and Dez had too much water in their plaster mix (Tex's plaster taking forever to dry and Dez making it so thin so that the plaster could not be applied at all), Casey had not trimmed his hole down to size, while Joe was caught hammering screws in again (and thus had failed to secure his patch to the wall). Group Challenge: The Wine Rack: After agreeing on the kitchen design (including questionable decisions such as using floor tiles for the counter) and while the nominators are painting their rooms (Joe's in red and Tex's in yellow, while Casey had his room wallpapered), the contestants must build a piece of furniture for the kitchen. Joe, as foreman, chooses a wine rack, but miscommunication between him and his two teams (Dez and Charmaine on the frame, while Casey and Tex deal with the square shelves). Joe's frustrations kick in and when Dez talks behind his back to Charmaine (on how Joe is hands-off instead of hands-on, similar to that of Keith Cole from the first season), Joe ejects him from the area, then channels his inner Merle Auger from the first season by claiming the group challenge will get finished faster if everyone else gets kicked out as well. Unfortunately for Joe, the project itself is a failure due to the cubbyholes being too large (and lacking any rear support), a failure that Joe readily takes one on the chin.