Canada's Worst Driver Ever Explained
Canada's Worst Driver Ever is the ninth 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, enter the Driver Rehabilitation Centre to improve their driving skills. This season brought back nine former contestants, who were either named Canada's Worst Driver or failed to graduate in the final episode of their respective seasons, giving them one more chance to improve their driving and avoid being named Canada's Worst Driver Ever.[1] This year, the Driver Rehabilitation Centre is located at the now-defunct Dunnville Airport in Dunnville, Ontario for the fourth straight season. The initial drive started in Thorold, Ontario and the final road test occurred in Hamilton, Ontario.
Experts
- 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 over the previous decade. He is the traffic expert on CP24 in Toronto and had a 25-year career as a traffic sergeant with the Ontario Provincial Police. As the longest-serving expert on the panel, Cam is already familiar with every returning driver except Chris.
- Philippe Letourneau 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. As the second-longest-serving expert on the panel behind Cam, Philippe is already familiar with every returning driver except Chris, Henrietta and Michael.
- Shyamala Kiru is the show's resident psychotherapist and relationship expert, a position which has become more demanding each year since joining the show in the seventh season, as the stresses in driving and everyday life seem to always be on the increase. As the second-shortest-serving expert on the panel behind Tim, the only returning drivers Shyamala is already familiar with are Kevin, Shirley and Sly. With Shyamala returning for her third season, that ties her with Dr. Louisa Gembora, the psychologist from seasons three-five of Canada's Worst Driver, as the longest-serving psychologist so far.
- Tim Danter is in his second season as the show's head driving instructor. In this position, he not only gives the drivers help and instructions for challenges, but gives them further lessons off-screen. As the shortest-serving expert on the panel, the only returning driver Tim is already familiar with is Kevin. With Tim returning for his second season, that officially makes Dan Bagyan, the head instructor from the fourth season, the shortest-serving head instructor in Canada's Worst Driver history.
Contestants
This season saw nine former contestants returning from previous seasons. However, it also has the fewest graduates so far with only four. Six of them returned with their original nominators and two (Dale and, initially, Michael) joined with new nominators, while Chris returned without a nominator with him. The only season to see no contestants returning is Canada's Worst Driver 4.
- Shelby D'Souza, 37 and licensed for 11 years, from Calgary, Alberta, was nominally the runner-up in the third season, though, in a way, was the "worst driver" from that season since the actual worst, Jason Zhang, immediately gave up driving for good following his terrible road test performance in Barrie that included stopping while merging onto Ontario Highway 400. Shelby and his brother, Elerick, feel that regardless of the outcome, he is now a much better driver. He drives a black Chevrolet Avalanche and drove a black Mitsubishi Outlander to the rehab centre.
- Christopher "Chris" Ferguson, 40 and licensed for 21 years, from Malton, Ontario, was the first-ever person to be judged the worst in the first season due to a terrible road test performance in Montreal despite a strong start. In the eight years since, however, he believes that he has hugely improved as a driver and will have much better luck this time around. His wife, Michelle, was his nominator, but she did not accompany him during his second appearance on the show (turns out, she didn't need to). He drives a black Mazda 5 and drove a white Pontiac G6 to the rehab centre.
- Henrietta Gallant, 68 and licensed for 42 years, from Summerside, Prince Edward Island, was judged the worst in the second season due to a terrible road test performance in Toronto—which she failed to complete, no less—and refusing to admit fault for her mistakes. While her husband, Andy, acknowledges that she has at least learned to take responsibility for her errors in the seven years since, both of them fear that it may be too late for her to learn what she needs to (at 68, Henrietta is also the show's oldest-ever contestant). She drives a gray Chevrolet Impala.
- Sly Grosjean, 42 and licensed for 19 years, from Red Deer, Alberta (moved to Nanaimo, British Columbia on Vancouver Island), was the runner-up in the seventh season thanks to a decent road test performance, despite a terrible overall track record in the competition. His brother-in-law, Fred Hillyer, disagrees with the experts—three of which, Shyamala, Phillipe and Cam, were on the panel during Sly's original appearance—and believes that Sly avoided being named the worst simply through luck as fellow contestant, Shirley Sampson, bombed her road test (an opinion Andrew himself shared during that season's finale) and points to Sly's continued use of handheld electronic gadgets while driving as proof that Andrew was right with his opinion that Sly got lucky that Shirley sucked on her road test, as he learned absolutely nothing from his original appearance. He drives a silver Jeep Patriot and drove a purple Pontiac Montana SV6 to the rehab centre.
- Angelina Marcantognini, 30, from Sudbury, Ontario, was judged the worst in the fifth season after a horrific overall performance, which saw her fail all but one challenge during that season (the Reverse Flick was the only challenge she passed, albeit with Andrew's help) and, like Henrietta Gallant in the second season, fail to complete the road test, in turn causing Andrew to informally judge her to be the show's worst-ever driver in the Canada's Worst Driver: U Asked! special prior to the start of the previous season. Angelina is determined to prove Andrew wrong, but her best friend, Christine Latondress Andrews, has seen little to no improvement whatsoever in the years since and is worried she'll just prove him right. She drives a black Chevrolet Malibu.
- Dale Pitton, 65, from St. Catharines, Ontario, was the runner-up in the sixth season, thanks to finishing the road test in Niagara Falls, unlike the actual worst, Lance Morin, who couldn't even go five minutes without suffering an anxiety attack. Her disregarding the experts' recommendation that she quit driving caused a rift between Dale and her original nominator and nephew, John, midway through that season, subsequently forcing her to call on another nephew, Danny, to accompany her to rehab this time around. She drives a blue Chevrolet Cavalier.
- Shirley Sampson, 62 and licensed for 47 years, from Donkin, Nova Scotia, performed reasonably well for most of the seventh season, only to be named the worst after a disastrous road test performance in Hamilton that included stopping while merging onto and merging off the Chedoke Expressway. In the two years since, she has continued to improve her driving and now, she and her daughter, Janis Wall, are both determined to prove that she had a bad day when she was named the worst. She drives a blue Toyota Matrix and drove an orange Chevrolet Cobalt to the rehab centre.
- Kevin Simmons, 26, from Burnaby, British Columbia (near Vancouver), fresh from being named the joint-worst (with Flora Wang) in the previous season, has been brought straight back to rehab by his boyfriend, Lenny Stone. Since the previous season, Kevin has already been involved in another serious accident and Lenny is starting to feel that Kevin should follow Jason Zhangs lead from the third season and give up driving for good (something Kevin said was stupid during his original appearance). He drives a white Ford Crown Victoria and drove a blue Chevrolet Malibu to the rehab centre.
- Michael Telford, 47 and licensed for 31 years, from Vancouver Island, was the runner-up in the second season, performing reasonably well for most of the season, but ultimately turning in a poor road test, in which, despite committing the fewest moving violations with six, he took just over three hours to complete. His longtime friend, Yolanda Kozak (the wife of his original nominator, Eric, who was originally unable to return for health reasons), believes that Michael's driving is now even worse than his first appearance—and even more so than that season's worst, Henrietta Gallant, if that's even possible—and that he will get involved in a fatal accident unless he returns to rehab. However, after learning that Yolanda was constantly giving negative feedback, the producers decided to send her home and bring back Eric, who had since recovered. Michael drives a green Lincoln Continental and drove a black Chevrolet HHR to the rehab centre.
Synopsis
| Contestant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|
| Kevin Simmons | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | CWDE |
| Dale Pitton | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | LEFT | RUNNER-UP |
| Sly Grosjean | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | 2ND RUNNER-UP |
| Michael Telford | IN | IN | IN | NOM | IN | IN | IN | OUT |
| Shelby D'Souza | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | |
| Angelina Marcantognini | IN | IN | IN | PSYCH | |
| Shirley Sampson | IN | OUT | |
| Chris Ferguson | OUT | |
| Henrietta Gallant | DISQ | | |
The contestant became Canada's Worst Driver Ever.
The contestant was runner-up for Canada's Worst Driver Ever.
The contestant was on the panel's shortlist.
The contestant left the show without permission, sustained an injury, and was therefore unable to continue in the competition.
The contestant graduated.
The contestant was sent from the Driver Rehabilitation Centre to a psychological clinic and is out of the running for Canada's Worst Driver Ever.
The contestant was deemed ineligible to take part in the show and sent home.
The contestant's nominator was changed during the show.
The contestant was not the worst driver or even the runner-up, but failed to graduate from rehab.
Non-Elimination Week, due to all contestants wanting to remain at the Driver Rehabilitation Centre.
Non-Elimination Week, due to all contestants failing The Longest Reversing Challenge Ever.
Although Dale was expelled from the Driver Rehabilitation Centre, she was brought back for the trophy presentation because the experts believed she could have been named Canada's Worst Driver Ever even though she didn't participate in the final challenges.
Notes and References
- http://www.channelcanada.com/canadian-channels/specialty-channels/discovery-channel/canadas-worst-driver-ever-season-9-premieres-october-2 CANADA’S WORST DRIVER EVER – Season 9 – Premieres October 2
