Canada's Worst Driver is a Canadian television series that aired on Discovery Channel from 2005 to 2018, based on Britain's Worst Driver. It and sister series Canada's Worst Handyman (2006-2011) are the two highest-rated programs on Discovery Channel. The series was produced by Proper Television whose president, Guy O'Sullivan, was the director for the original Britain's Worst Driver series; as such, Canada's Worst Driver is considered to be the production company's flagship show. Unlike other Worst Driver series around the world, the Canadian version emphasizes the learning process of the contestants and the science of driving; as such, it is often more serious than the other Worst Driver shows, which are mainly played for laughs. It is the second-longest running of any Worst Driver series to date with 14 seasons and 115 episodes (assuming specials are included; only Finland's Suomen surkein kuski has run longer). The series was hosted by Andrew Younghusband for all 14 seasons.
Premise In each season, eight drivers and their nominators are taken to the Driver Rehabilitation Centre, where they compete in challenges designed to improve their driving skills in an effort to not be named Canada's Worst Driver. In the first challenge, the contestants begin at a location about an hour's drive from the Driver Rehabilitation Centre; for the contestants' first challenge, they must head to the Driver Rehabilitation Centre, following the directions given to them. After arriving at the Driver Rehabilitation Centre, the driver's licenses of each contestant is confiscated. The first episode concludes with an obstacle course challenge-- meant to evaluate the skills of the individual drivers-- in which contestants must routinely maneuver their cars through tight spaces with less than an inch of clearance on either side. To show that the challenge can be done without hitting obstacles by an average driver, host Andrew Younghusband performs each challenge before any contestant attempts the challenge. Beginning with the second episode, each contestant meets with the host and a panel of four experts for an evaluation of their performance. After all contestants are interviewed, the judges and host deliberate on which contestant–nominator pair have improved enough to graduate from the Driver Rehabilitation Centre. The driver who has graduated is eliminated from the competition and is sent home with their licenses returned to them; the contestants typically drive off with their nominators in the car that they used to arrive at the Driver Rehabilitation Centre. The experts also reserve the right to not graduate anyone for any episode or to graduate multiple contestants at the same time. The experts may also choose to expel any contestant who does not show any incentive to learn or who the experts believe should not continue driving; the licenses are returned. In this case, the contestant is eliminated from the competition, their licenses are returned, and they are given a ride home. The elimination process continues until only three contestants remain. The three remaining contestants are then given the Mega Challenge, an obstacle course challenge with elements of every previous challenge, as well as a standard driver's examination through the streets of a major urban city near the Driver Rehabilitation Centre. Based on these final challenges, the experts determine which among the three is named Canada's Worst Driver. Unlike other versions of the Worst Driver series, where being eliminated early or being the Worst Driver is either rewarded with a new car or had their car destroyed, no prizes are given for being eliminated early or for being named Canada's Worst Driver, aside from a commemorative trophy.
Challenges With the exception of the first and last episodes, challenges are specifically tailored to each contestant and designed by Andrew and the driving school sponsoring the series (whose head instructor is one of the experts; for the first three seasons, it was Young Drivers of Canada director of training Scott Marshall; in season four, it was Dan Bagyan of the Signature Driving School; in seasons five-seven, it was Peter Mellor of the Advanced Motoring Bureau and from the eighth season onward, it was Tim Danter of DriveWise). Challenges typically range from traditional driving school lessons such as parallel parking, reversing and driving with a trailer, to those not normally found in a beginner's driving course, such as driving a standard-transmission vehicle and performing extreme driving manoeuvres, such as the Scandinavian flick. However, some challenges are reused from year-to-year, like The Eye of the Needle and The Water Tank Challenge, which were both first introduced in the first season and are the only challenges to be featured in every season. The Shoulder Check Challenge is a challenge where contestants must drive in a straight line until they pass a sign on each side. The signs determine which of the two exits the contestants must take when the road forks ahead; however, the signs are posted in the reverse direction, so the contestants must briefly look behind them to read the signs. If neither exit is permitted (both signs are red), they are simply instructed to stop in front of the fork in the road. The lesson of this challenge is to only turn the head when performing a shoulder check, not the entire human body, as that will turn the car's wheels. Distracted Driving is a challenge introduced in the second season that was so unusually effective on one contestant (Matt Elkind) that it has been used in every subsequent season. In this challenge, drivers must drive around in a circle while having to do a series of tasks such as eating a sandwich, inserting a CD, texting and so on. Often, these tasks are tailored to each contestant's vices. The lesson is meant to teach individuals to not do these things while at the wheel, as it can cause potential accidents. Swerve and Avoid is a challenge where contestants must drive towards a wall at high speeds, only to turn away-- that is, swerve-- at the last moment to avoid hitting the wall. Typically, there are two exits to each side of the wall, which will either initially be blocked before one or both open at the last moment or initially be open before one or neither are blocked in the last moment. The lesson is to avoid touching the brake pedal, as putting the foot down on the brake will severely limit the car's steering ability and lead to crashing. The Cornering Challenge (called Driving into a Wall in the first two seasons) is a challenge where contestants must drive towards a wall of foam blocks at high speed before braking hard, releasing the brake and then turning away from the wall. The lesson in this challenge is to release the brake so as to not lose steering input to the car when it is needed. In some seasons, a large wet tarp may also be laid out on the ground in front of the wall, to simulate icy or slippery conditions. The Three-Point Turn Challenge (called The Dirty Circle in the second season) is a challenge where contestants must enter a small space and make a three-point turn, returning in the direction that they entered. The entrance may either be off to one side of the area (earlier seasons) or to the centre of the area (later seasons). A key lesson in this challenge is to make use of the space available to the car in order to do the turn efficiently; in some seasons, obstacles may ring the outer perimeter of the area to give the contestants a better visual cue. The Eye of the Needle is a perennial challenge where contestants must navigate through a series of archways at a minimum speed. The intended lesson is to have the driver look where they want to go, in the middle of the archways rather than at the feet on one side of the archway. The Figure-Eight Challenge (called Broken Hearts in the third season) is a perennial challenge introduced where drivers must reverse their car around a course in the shape of an 8. There are two versions of this challenge, the first of which originally featured in the second season, with a pair of contestants performing the challenge simultaneously: both cars begin in one end of the course and contestants must reverse their cars to where the other contestant began, with the only passing spaces available at the centre and opposite end of the course, while the second version, introduced in the fourth season, had each contestant do one lap in reverse with the remaining contestants as passengers. Canada's Worst Parking Lot is a version of musical chairs where drivers must find spaces to park. The parking lot is filled with cars and may have blocker cars that attempt to frustrate the contestants and cars that may open up new parking spaces. Any driving violation—such as parking in a no parking zone or hitting a stationary object—will typically send the contestant out of the parking lot in a lap penalty. The challenge ends when one contestant fails to park. Canada's Worst Gas Station is a variation on the Canada's Worst Parking Lot Challenge featured in the second season and the eighth season with many of the same rules, but instead of just trying to find spaces to park, contestants also try to get fuel at a simulated self-service gasoline station, avoiding the diesel pump, which their car can't use. Hitting anything or performing a moving violation requires the contestant to leave the station and come back to try again. Most of the pumps start with blocker cars in front of them, which will leave as the challenge goes on. The challenge ends when one contestant fails to get fuel. The Water Tank Challenge is a perennial favorite in which the contestants must navigate around a tight obstacle course in a car with a roof-mounted water tank; should the contestants stop too abruptly, the contents of the tank will spill over into the cab of the vehicle, soaking its occupants. In earlier seasons, this was done with a pipe system, though in later seasons, open-top cars or cars with a sunroof are used. Portions of the obstacle course include a slow forward section, sudden stops due to last-minute reactions, such as a hidden stop sign or a pop-out car, a humpinfamous for repeatedly soaking Andrew in his demonstration runsand optionally an acceleration portion. The intended lesson is on smooth threshold braking: should the contestants brake poorly or navigate too quickly, the water in the tank will spill, soaking both the contestant and nominator inside. The Handbrake Turn Challenge is a challenge introduced in the third season that has contestants perform a handbrake turn around a foam figure while in a confined space. The intent of this challenge is for contestants to learn the distribution of weight in a car, as well as a lesson on how to properly control a car in a skid. The Reverse Flick is a challenge that has contestants perform the namesake technique in a confined space; it is in essence the handbrake turn in reverse, and without the use of the handbrake. The intent of this challenge is similar to the handbrake turn challenge, but also introduces elements of driving in reverse at speed. Drifting Doughnuts (called Burning Out in the third season) is a challenge where contestants must drive in a wide doughnut around a figure; the key to this challenge is counter-steering partway through in order to allow the car to continue drifting, eventually towards a designated exit point. The lesson behind this challenge is on extreme manoeuvres as well as avoiding target fixation.