Canada's Worst Driver 6 Explained
Canada's Worst Driver 6 is the sixth season of the Canadian reality TV show Canada's Worst Driver, which aired on the Discovery Channel. As with previous years, eight people, nominated by their family or friends, entered the Driver Rehabilitation Centre to improve their driving skills. This year, the Driver Rehabilitation Centre is located at the Dunnville Airport, a registered aerodrome in Dunnville, Ontario that has since ceased airport operations.[1] [2] For this season, a new series logo was commissioned, coinciding with an increase in the teaching of the fundamentals of High Performance Driving in the lessons this year (although the logo from Seasons 1-5 was used in the opening and all commercial outros). The initial drive started in Hamilton, Ontario and the final road test occurred in Niagara Falls, Ontario.[3]
Experts
Three experts return from Canada's Worst Driver 5, though Dr. Louisa Gembora, psychologist for the past three seasons, is not among them.
- Cam Woolley is the show's longest-serving expert, having been present in every season except the first and has seen the habits of Canadian drivers change drastically since 2000, with the most common offense having changed from DUI to distracted driving. He is the traffic expert on CP24 in Toronto and had a 25-year career as a traffic sergeant with the Ontario Provincial Police.
- Philippe Létourneau is a veteran high-speed driving instructor who counts BMW and Ferrari among his clients. Since joining the show in the third season, the average car has gained considerably in speed and acceleration, with the high-speed emphasis of this season making his job a particularly important one.
- Dr. Lauren Kennedy-Smith is a professional psychotherapist who has also moonlighted as a race car driver and entertainer.
- Peter Mellor is in his second season as the show's head driving instructor. With Peter returning for his second season, that makes his predecessor, Canada's Worst Driver 4 head instructor Dan Bagyan, the shortest-serving head instructor so far.
Contestants
- Diane Akers, 49 and licensed for 32 years, from Edmonton, Alberta, is a suburbanite who is uncomfortable driving anywhere past 5km (03miles) from her home—a comfort radius that quickly degenerates to nothing under inclement conditions. It's gotten so bad, one of her six children, Raeanne (known for her "Canada, this is the woman who made you late for work" comment in the audition video), is staging an intervention on her behalf. She drives a blue Pontiac Montana and drove a blue Dodge Caravan to the rehab centre.
- Jamie Giberson, 25 and licensed for six years, from Hampton, New Brunswick (near Saint John), has been traumatized by fear after hitting an elderly couple early in her driving career. Her fear has caused her to fail a driving exam four times and she often blames her bad driving on her newlywed husband, Eric. She drives a silver Oldsmobile Intrigue and drove a grey Ford Five Hundred to the rehab centre.
- Bradley "Brad" Hengerer, 34, from Springbank, Alberta (near Calgary), is a grocery store clerk who has been banned from driving by his wife and nominator, Donna, as well as his father-in-law, Gil Masson, due to an escalating pile of accidents and tickets. He enters rehab out of necessity, as Gil's health is failing following a recent heart attack and Donna has lost the use of her right arm following a farming accident in 2003, forcing Brad to take up driving once again. He drives a red Pontiac Sunfire GT and drove a white Chevrolet Impala to the rehab centre.
- Lance Morin, 27 and licensed for four months, from Ottawa, Ontario, is a fashionista whose driving history goes further back, as he had been caught driving unlicensed with an uninsured car when he was 16. In the 11 years since, though, he had been a nervous wreck behind the wheel despite diligently awaiting the day that he would be fully licensed. He is nominated by his best friend, Gilles Proulx, a parking enforcement officer. He drives a silver Chevrolet Cobalt and drove a black Ford Focus to the rehab centre.
- Dale Pitton, 62 and licensed for over 30 years, from St. Catharines, Ontario, is a social worker, hostess, mother of two and grandmother of four who desires to learn, but no one around her has a desire to drive with her... and for good reason, as she has amassed an escalating accident record, including an occasion where she hit a police car as she was being ticketed. One of her nephews, John, was one of six people who nominated her. She drives a blue Chevrolet Cavalier.
- Scott Schurink, 25, from Chestermere, Alberta (near Calgary), is a speed addict who loves to weave in and out of traffic on busy highways going at 150 km/h. He is also a drunk and has spent time in prison numerous times for possession with intent to traffic. As such, he has had his license suspended seven times and has owned over 60 cars. His roommate, Danny Bridgman, wants him to adopt the proper rules of the road, especially since he is driving on Danny's insurance due to the prohibitive cost of $15,000 that it would entail to insure himself. He drives a black Nissan Maxima and drove a beige Nissan Altima to the rehab centre.
- Dean Sibanda, 33, from Saint-Laurent, Quebec (on Montreal Island) (originally from Zimbabwe), is yet to be accustomed to driving in Canada since immigrating in 2001—even basic knowledge such as the meaning of stop signs elude him. His friend and nominator, Brian Glenzitoe, has known him for the nine years he has been in Canada. He drives a gray Nissan Altima and drove a green Nissan Sentra to the rehab centre.
- Paul Thurston, 54, from Collingwood, Ontario (near Barrie), has never been comfortable with anything on four wheels, an oddity for a former stunt motorcyclist who once jumped 15 cars on his bike. He has a hatred of cars after losing five friends in bike/car collisions, but he is motivated to drive a car after finally realizing that riding a bike in the middle of winter is unsafe. His biker buddy, Tommy Bettles, will be accompanying him to rehab. He drives a white GMC Conversion Van and rode his motorcycle, along with Tommy, to the rehab centre.
Synopsis
| Contestant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|
| Lance Morin | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | CWD |
| Dale Pitton | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | RUNNER-UP |
| Brad Hengerer | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT |
| Jamie Giberson | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | |
| Dean Sibanda | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | |
| Diane Akers | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | |
| Paul Thurston | IN | IN | IN | OUT | |
| Scott Schurink | IN | EXPL | | |
(CWD) The contestant became Canada's Worst Driver.
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was runner-up for Canada's Worst Driver.
(OUT) The contestant graduated.
(IN) The contestant was shortlisted for graduation.
(EXPL) The contestant was expelled.
Non-Elimination Week, due to all contestants wanting to remain at the Driver Rehabilitation Centre.
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Dunnville's Worst Driver. November 2, 2010.
- Web site: Canada's Worst Driver wraps up in Dunville. https://archive.today/20120906035021/http://www.dunnvillechronicle.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2677620. dead. September 6, 2012. November 2, 2010.
- Web site: Canada's Worst Driver Niagara-bound. November 2, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20120310183338/http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2630334. March 10, 2012. dead.
