Canada's Worst Handyman is a Canadian television series that aired on Discovery Channel Canada from March 13, 2006 to June 13, 2011. Based on a one-off 2004 episode of Britain's Worst DIYer, the show was produced by Proper Television, whose president, Guy O'Sullivan, was the director of the original Britain's Worst Driver series until its 2003 cancellation and shared its production with Canada's Worst Driver, including executive producer and host Andrew Younghusband. Like sister series Canada's Worst Driver, there have been similar adaptations in other English-speaking countries, in the United States in 2011, with America's 10 Worst DIYers and in Britain with a Britain's Worst 2005 spin-off series, Britain's Worst DIYer. Six seasons of the show have been completed. Throughout the show's five years on air, Younghusband remained in his role of being the only host of Canada's Worst Handyman and, like with Canada's Worst Driver, has appeared in every season. On January 10, 2013, the series' Facebook page posted a statement that the show is "on hiatus with an unknown date for relaunch." In June 2014, Discovery Channel Canada started canvassing for couples at www.badhandyman.ca. The new version of the show aired in 2015 under the title Blood, Sweat & Tools, featuring couples instead of individual handymen.Bell Media, "Not-So-Handy Duos Give it Their All in New Competition Series BLOOD, SWEAT & TOOLS, Beginning April 13 on Discovery", March 25, 2015
Format In each season, typically five contestants and their nominators arrive at the Handyman Rehabilitation Centre, where they partake in a two-to-three-week (16 filming days over 18 days) renovation project there, consisting of challenges that are designed to improve the contestants' handyman skills in an effort to not be named Canada's Worst Handyman. Each contestant and nominator pair are assigned colour-coded workplaces and otherwise work separately on their respective projects. Prior to entering the Handyman Rehabilitation Centre, each contestant performs a challenge in their own home, to be aired in the first episode; this is colloquially referred to as the "home challenge."
Since season one, each challenge is judged on a pass/fail system, based on whether challenges are completed within the allotted time limit (typically two to three times the time needed for a professional to perform the challenge). Nominators are expected to assist their nominees (though, as of season five, they are unable to directly offer suggestions as to the proper course of actions, so as to not take charge of the challenge themselves) and contestants may freely help each other upon the completion of their challenges. Contestants may also revisit a previous challenge on their own time if they had failed the challenge or was otherwise incomplete. Each episode also contains a group challenge where the five contestants, typically without their nominators, must perform a challenge together. Starting with the second group challenge, one contestant is deemed the foreman and is given the task of leading the other four. The foreman concept was instituted starting with the second group challenge in the first season in response to how badly the contestants worked together for the first Group Challenge (in which they had to shingle the toolshed) and it has stayed with the series since.
At the end of each episode, two experts (there were three in season one) inspect the contestants' worksites and, after each contestant is interviewed, deliberate with Andrew on which contestant improved the most and which contestant was the worst. The contestant named the most improved is given the "golden hard hat" (a tool belt was given in the first two seasons) and rewarded with the privilege of being foreman of the next episode's Group Challenge, while the contestant named the worst (who may also be the most improved contestant, as was the case with Terry Cress in season two, Johnnie Bachusky in season four and Dan Lafleur in season six; both Terry and Johnnie were ultimately named the worst in their respective seasons) is asked to "hang their head in shame," nail their portrait to a "wall of shame" and be subjected to a private "homework challenge" with Andrew.
The experts reserve the right to not name the most improved handyman or to name more than one contestant as the worst, though the former has never occurred and the latter only once (season four; Angie Budgell and Brian Pugh were named joint-worst in that season's third episode; Brian P. would become the first (and, as of 2011, only) nominee in any Worst Handyman series to ever be expelled from rehab for making a threatening statement to Brian Macdonald (known as Brian M. until the sixth episode, in which he was credited as simply "Brian") following the fourth episode's Group Challenge). On rare occasions, nominators may also be awarded the most improved or the worst for helping or hindering their nominees, respectively, though the former has occurred twice (seasons one and two; both David Hawe and Harvey Houle were named as such in the fourth episode of their respective seasons, although Harvey had to leave the latter series due to persistent back pain, but recovered enough to return for the final episode to deliver the second of Terry's two packages to the Lange family in Caledon, Ontario) and the latter only once (season five; Matt Hanley was named the worst in that season's fifth episode). On one occasion, the contestant and their nominator were collectively the most improved and worst (season two; Jaime García and Sheilla Stengler were named joint-most improved in that season's sixth episode, while Candace Landmark and her husband, Justin, were named joint-worst).
Throughout the entire process, the experts teach the contestants the various skills they may need in order to perform the challenge in classroom sessions. Starting in the third season, the experts also perform each and every challenge themselves before the contestants are given the challenges, partly as a demonstration to the contestants and partly to show that the tasks can be done correctly and within the time limit, similar to that of Canada's Worst Driver. During the challenge, the experts observe each contestant from the show's production facilities or, in later seasons, the "expert room." The experts may also intervene in the event of a gross safety violation or other serious incident or if a contestant is otherwise unprepared for the challenge (such as prerequisite challenges not being close to completion).
The final episode of each season differs in many details, but is centered on a list of tasks that all contestants must finish. For the first season, this was the "handyman final exam," where contestants must work together to fully renovate an apartment in an extended group challenge. For the second season, the list was used in a group challenge where the contestants and nominators as a whole must finish every shed, with the final challenge being moving their sheds out of their workshop, while in subsequent seasons, each contestant is given their own lists for the tasks that they must finish in their workspaces so as to make their rooms presentable; furthermore, the list must be completed in the order stated therein, typically corresponding to the order in which the challenges were originally presented. At the end of the series, the contestant with the worst finished product, as determined by Andrew and the experts, is named Canada's Worst Handyman and awarded a trophy.
Experts Experts Season1 2 3 4 5 6Geoff Woodmansey Gail Prosser-Craig Jo Alcorn Jill Rydall Dr. Julie V. Hill Robin Lockhart Greg House
Tools In the first three seasons, the contestants were given the tools and materials needed for each challenge, with most being of the DeWalt brand. Canadian Tire became the series' primary sponsor for seasons four-five and the first challenge in both seasons was to visit a Canadian Tire store near the rehab centre where all the required tools and materials needed in rehab were purchased; as such, Mastercraft products are prominently featured. Canadian Tire withdrew their sponsorship in season six and as a result, the shopping challenge was eliminated and contestants' tools were returned to being from multiple different brands. The show has not given any indication as to whether the contestants are given the tools as a keepsake or the tools are returned to the show's production staff following each season. Furnishings for the rooms in the first three seasons included decor from IKEA.
Nominations Like its sister series, the contestants are chosen by nominations submitted to Proper Television. Canada's Worst Driver and Canada's Worst Handyman are filmed alternately, with each season of Driver followed by a season of Handyman (except for the first season, in which Handyman was filmed during the summer and Driver was filmed during the winter, Driver has been filmed during the summer and Handyman was filmed during the winter). Nominations for the next season of one are accepted shortly before the airing of a season of the other on Discovery Channel. Candidates may be nominated by multiple nominators, though like its sister series, only one nominator accompanies the contestant to the Handyman Rehabilitation Centre.
Home Video/Internet Availability Like its sister series, all six seasons are available for download in Canada from the iTunes Store in anamorphic widescreen standard definition (480i/480p), with seasons 5-6 also being available for streaming on DiscoveryChannel.ca. As of 2023 the series is no longer available on iTunes, although if you already purchased the seasons, you can still view them. Seasons 2-6 are available for streaming on CraveTV. Seasons 3-4 are available in some countries such as the UK and Sweden through streaming service Netflix. There has been no news on whether the series will be released on DVD/Blu-ray.
Seasons Season Originally aired Worst Handyman Runner(s)-up First aired Last aired 1 March 13, 2006 April 24, 2006 Keith Cole Darryl Andrews 2 April 16, 2007 June 11, 2007 Terry Cress Ruth Summersides 3 May 5, 2008 June 23, 2008 Joe "The Bullet" Barbaro Terry "Tex" Neves 4 May 4, 2009 June 15, 2009 Johnnie Bachusky Brian Macdonald 5 May 3, 2010 June 14, 2010 Deen Flett Simon Larade 6 May 2, 2011 June 13, 2011 Charlene Hunt Ajay Pal Singh
Season 1 (2006)
Season 1's theme was apartment renovation.
Keith Cole was the first person named Canada's Worst Handyman due to his lack of focus. This is the only season filmed in the summer; all subsequent seasons have been filmed during the winter. This is also the first instance of a nominator being named the most improved, as David Hawe was named as such for doing The Kitchen Sink, Wallpapering and Hanging a Door Challenges correctly.
Season 2 (2007)
Season 2's theme was shed building.