Canada's Worst Driver 3 is the third season of Canada's Worst Driver, a Discovery Channel Canada television series which seeks to improve the driving of eight nominated contestants, each of which trying to avoid being named Canada's Worst Driver. Like the two previous seasons, eight contestants and their nominators arrive at the Driver Rehabilitation Centre, which in this season is the ghost town of Edgar, Ontario, north of Barrie. Starting with the second episode, one driver "graduates" from the rehabilitation program and is eliminated from contention for the series' dubious title. This proceeds until three contestants remain, when a final challenge will take place, and one is given the title of Canada's Worst Driver.
Unlike the two previous seasons, however, the focus of this season is on Extreme Driving, in the hope that knowledge of these techniques (which is not normally taught to driving students) will help them become more confident and competent at the wheel. Also unlike the two previous seasons, the contestants' driver's licenses are confiscated instead of their keys.
To determine who (if anyone) graduates in any given episode, four judges and host Andrew Younghusband confer at the end of each episode. Returning from Canada's Worst Driver 2 for judging duty are:
Sgt. Cam Woolley of the Ontario Provincial Police, the province's best-known and arguably most famous traffic cop.
Scott Marshall Head instructor of Young Drivers of Canada, the driving school which has sponsored each Canada's Worst Driver series.
Joining them are:
Dr. Louisa Gembora, a psychologist who had worked at the Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario before moving on to private practice. She drives a race car in her spare time.
Philippe Létourneau, a high-performance driving instructor with the Jim Russell Racing School, having been also featured on Discovery's Star Racer series. He is also a lead driving instructor for BMW Driver Training and the "Ferrari Driving Experience" at the Mont Tremblant race track. Philippe has enjoyed a successful career with over 40 podium finishes in 120 race starts.
The eight contestants in this edition of Canada's Worst Driver are as follows:
Shelby D'Souza, 30, from Calgary, Alberta, is an overly cautious forklift operator, to the point in which he spends five seconds facing a green light before moving his car – and even then, he drives slowly. In sharp contrast to road rage, he is far too generous at the wheel, and nominator and younger brother Elerick D'Souza believes that he will be rear-ended in an accident soon before he can change his ways. He drives a Chevrolet Blazer.
Thomas Hobbs, 21, from Lloydminster, Alberta, is an aspiring street racer who has claimed to have gone at over 240 km/h on a highway. Thomas is constantly taking risks behind the wheel, enjoying life on the fast line. He is nominated by older sister Lenora Hobbs because she does not believe that he is in control of his car. He drives a GMC Sierra 2500.
Denice Koke, 33, from Cranbrook, British Columbia, is an emotional wreck at the wheel, and believes that this is the reason that she is too reliant on nominator and husband Henry Koke, a truck driver, for their family activities. She believes that this is interfering in her children's lives, especially her son, who had to be pulled out of a local hockey league because she was not confident driving him to games. She drives a Dodge Grand Caravan.
Jennifer Kritzer, 22, from Hamilton, Ontario, is extremely accident-prone, proudly admitting to being involved in a large number of hit-and-run accidents. She is nominated by boyfriend Jon Park, who relies on her to get to his labourer job. She drives a Ford Focus.
Billie-Jean Leslie, 22, from Victoria, British Columbia, is a student and hairdresser who is more concentrated on looking good than looking at the road. She only uses her car's mirrors for applying makeup, and has on numerous occasions changed clothes while at the wheel, all of which leading to twelve accidents in twelve months and four license suspensions in four years. (Her choice of footwear is also an issue.) She is nominated by cousin Nicola Coulter. She drives a Mazda 323.
Marnie Maddison, 41, from Calgary, Alberta, is extremely nervous at the wheel, and is not confident in going anywhere other than her workplace – preferring to starve over driving to the grocery store. Because of this, she is on her eighth learner's permit, and has never mustered the confidence to take a final road test. Worse yet, she has no one to turn to, as boyfriend and nominator Bruce Toye is frequently out of town in his job as an airline pilot. She drives a Honda Civic.
Edward "Ed" Porter, 43, from Ottawa, Ontario, is a biologist who has an extreme road rage problem, which has torn his relationship with nominator Elizabeth Cecchi. He enters rehabilitation in an effort to address his road rage, which causes their children to vomit whenever he is driving, but also as a step towards reconciliation of their broken common-law relationship. He drives a Saturn Ion.
Jason Zhang, 42, from Vancouver, British Columbia, is a travel agent who, when driving has a case of "extreme tunnel vision", making him unable to see what's around or directly in front of him. Because of this, he relishes gridlock (due to it being slow) and always parks in the most expensive parking stalls to avoid others. He is nominated by husband Adrian Fehr. He drives a Honda Civic.
(OUT) The driver has graduated, and is out of the running for Canada's Worst Driver.
(RUNNER-UP) The driver is the runner-up for Canada's Worst Driver.
(CWD) The driver was ultimately named Canada's Worst Driver.
^1 As is the case with the previous seasons, no one graduates in the first episode, as it serves merely as a skills evaluation.
Original Airdate: October 29, 2007
In the debut episode, the eight contestants, in their initial challenge, drive from a granite quarry (signifying "rock bottom") following a list of 20 turns to a convenience store, take a map, and follow the directions therein to the Driver Rehabilitation Centre, locally known as the Edgar Adult Occupation Centre, where the contestants will have their drivers' licenses confiscated. The challenge should take one hour to complete by an average driver with good knowledge of directions. Jason is the first contestant sent on his way, but he goes off to a slow start (stopping and going on the road out of the quarry), narrowly missing his first stop sign. Marnie, nervous because there may be left turns without "flashers" (i.e. having to turn left while traffic in the opposite direction is going), is next out. Shelby is next to leave, and he quickly gets himself lost. Jennifer and Denice are the next ones out. By the time Billie-Jean leaves, Jason has already reached the convenience store. Thomas is the next to leave, and tries to get there as quickly as possible, even though he contends that it is not a race. He does manage to pass Billie-Jean and Jason (who had since fallen behind) in the effort to get ahead. Ed is the last person to leave the quarry. Not surprisingly, Thomas, having made 67 speeding violations, is the first to arrive after 65 minutes. Jason is the next to arrive, at 2:26. Ed arrives next after 2:19 of driving. By the time Denise arrives at the convenience store, Marnie has arrived at the Driver Rehabilitation Centre (after having driven 64 km off course). Shelby takes over three hours and goes 69 km off course to arrive. Billie-Jean is next to arrive after two hours of driving, having looked in her rear-view mirror 14 times, none of which were to check for the road. Jennifer takes four hours to arrive, with a long list of moving violations (Jon having claimed that she had crossed the center line over 10 times on their trip). Denice is the last to arrive, but it was noted that she made 85 self-deprecating comments during the entire trip.
Reversing Race: In the first proper challenge, held at Barrie Speedway, Canada's Worst Drivers each take one lap around the track in stock cars while driving in reverse, in front of a racecar audience. Marnie races against Ed in the first heat, followed by Billie-Jean against Jason in the second heat, while Jennifer races against Thomas and Denice against Shelby. Though there were three disqualifications (Ed for fishtailing out of control on the first turn of the oval track, Marnie for completely letting go of the wheel in her run, and Jason after Adrian grabbed at the steering wheel), while Thomas finishes with the fastest time in 40 seconds. Surprisingly, Jennifer, who has a fear of driving in reverse, finishes second at 42 seconds. Shelby is third with 47 seconds, Billie-Jean finishes at 52 seconds, and Denise (having overcome her desire to vomit while actually racing) finishes in 59 seconds.
Skills Evaluation: In the second challenge, the drivers must reverse out of a garage (with little room for maneuvering), down a driveway, up and down a ramp, before heading forwards at 30 km/h in a giant slalom-like course, stopping so that their car straddles a red line painted at the ground. Following the slalom portion, the drivers must use precision driving to move slowly through an obstacle course before reversing and parking at a nearby parking space. Jennifer and Shelby fare arguably the worst in this challenge, as they completely destroy the precision driving portion of the course while attempting to stop after the slalom (being unable to brake) – furthermore, Jennifer had accelerated into the obstacles while Shelby had been clocked under the required speed in the slalom. Marnie required 141 attempts (and a crew-assisted reset) merely to leave the driveway, while a third contestant had parked while driving forwards instead of in reverse.
Original Airdate: November 5, 2007
Burning Out: After each contestant (except Thomas, who refused) was given a lesson on how to do burnouts and donuts by high-performance instructor Phillipe Létourneau, each contestant must maintain a ten-second burnout, and then perform a full-circle wide donut around a foam figure before driving out of the area. By refusing the lesson, Thomas, who did the challenge successfully after five attempts, automatically failed the challenge. Jason and Marnie fail due to hitting the foam figure, while the surprises in the challenge were Shelby (who did it on his first try) and Denice (who, despite having spent an hour on the challenge and nearly breaking down every time, first from lapping instead of making donuts and later from nearly hitting concrete obstacles, managed to gain the confidence she needs, though she fails the challenge). Billie-Jean was also notable in taking an entire night to do the challenge, having made donuts while circling around the figure, but not a wide donut all the way around.
Eye of the Needle: In this year's edition of the perennial traditional challenge, the drivers must go through a series of foam archways which are only half a lane wide (i.e. with only 20 cm clearance on either side of the car) while having to maintain a speed of over 40 km/h. Unlike previous years, they are forced to retry the course if they hit an archway or fail to maintain speed, up to a maximum of five attempts. A number of contestants managed to finish in only two attempts (having barely missed the speed requirement the first time around), while Thomas (who boasted that he could maintain 60 km/h) took three attempts (his jerky deceleration having cut his speed under 40 km/h in his first two attempts), Shelby took four attempts because his first three were well under the limit. Marnie quits the challenge after four attempts, while Jason used up all five of his attempts. Ed, despite having revealed that he has a case of tunnel vision even when wearing glasses, also manages to successfully finish despite his doubts that the challenge was even possible.
Broken Hearts: In this year's variation of the figure-eight challenge, the contestants pair off, both starting at one-end of a figure-eight course and having to reverse through it, where the midpoint and a spot at the other end of the figure-eight course are the only passing points. Unlike previous years, though, the loops are slightly elongated so as to create a heart shape. Thomas and Jennifer are the first pairing, while Jason and Shelby go second. Billie-Jean and Ed are third, while Denice and Marnie make up the final heat. Thomas is by far the best driver, being both the fastest and hitting the fewest obstacles (two), but his running mate gets her car stuck in between two car obstacles. Similarly, Shelby gets his car stuck, although he is courteous in allowing Jason to move right through the midway point when he pulls past the passing point (Shelby also finishes, but only through forcibly getting himself free). Although Ed focuses on finishing the challenge the best way possible, Elizabeth is frustrated at Ed's courteousness to Billie-Jean, and is even more frustrated when he allows Billie-Jean to overtake him at the halfway point and finish faster. Denice and Marnie nearly break down over their significant others, and Andrew steps in to force the nominators to switch cars slightly after the midway point. Because of this, though, the contestants end up hitting dramatically fewer obstacles, though Denice still hits 71 (57 with her husband at her side, and 14 with Bruce in the passenger seat) and Marnie 78.
At the end of the episode, the judges and Andrew were deadlocked as to who to graduate – Andrew and Scott preferred Billie-Jean, while Cam and Phillipe preferred Denice. In the end, the swing vote was in Denice's favor, and she becomes the first graduate of the third season.
Original Airdate: November 12, 2007
Cool Bus: In Canada, one cannot legally drive a school bus with a regular G Class license (in Ontario, a school bus requires a B Class License)... unless the bus was not labelled as such and most of the seats were removed. In this challenge, after everyone is given lessons on parallel parking, the contestants must reverse the "Cool Bus" down a street littered with cars and rims before parallel parking the bus on the left side of a hill. Jennifer nearly breaks down in the challenge, but ends up finishing the challenge with a perfect run. Parallel parking is also not a problem for Thomas, nor is it one for Billie-Jean (who had learned to use her mirrors, and more amazingly had never parallel-parked before, having "flirted" her way out of parallel parking in her driving test), though both do hit obstacles. At the other end of the spectrum, Jason and Shelby had to have their courses modified so that all the obstacles were removed – Jason from frustration and wanting to quit rehabilitation (which would have made him the first contestant in any Worst Driver to quit, and as a result leave without his license), and Shelby (despite his dreams of driving a bus one day) from having moved only 10 feet after 30 minutes of driving the bus.
Swerve and Avoid: The contestants are in a car that lacks anti-lock brakes for a simple accident avoidance course – they must accelerate to 50 km/h before crossing a yellow line, where they must engage the brakes. When they reach a fork in the road, both of which have obstacles, one will move aside. The drivers must then recover from the skid and drive through their opening to safety. The drivers have up to five attempts to finish this task. Billie-Jean gets this on her first try, while developing a habit (from the previous episode) of wearing flats (her "driving shoes") instead of the stilettos she normally wears. Thomas, no stranger to swerving, also finishes on his first try. Marnie and Shelby take multiple tries to finish, as does Jason (a far cry from wanting to quit in the previous challenge), while Ed (due to his tunnel vision problem preventing him from seeing which exit had opened up) and Jennifer (out of frustration) do not finish at all.
Road Signs: As with previous years, head instructor Scott Marshall gives a simple quiz on their knowledge of road signs. Thomas answers all 13 signs correctly, while Jason only manages four (while still believing he got 11).
Canada's Worst Parking Lot: In the annual parking lot challenge, the seven contestants are given seven cars, and must park in whatever parking stalls are available. However, any moving violation (including hitting other cars, parking so that the car is not between the lines, or parking in no-parking zones) will result in the contestant penalized by being forced to drive out of the parking lot and take a penalty lap. As the challenge goes on, blocker cars (which include the Cool Bus) will also attempt to either serve as moving obstacles or park momentarily in one of the available stalls. As the challenge starts, Jason is the first to be penalized by inadvertently backing into Marnie out of the gate. Billie-Jean is the first to park (and is the only one to do so before any blockers appear), followed by Ed when Jason is forced to take a penalty lap when he hits a car while backing into a stall. When Ed is asked to take the role of a blocker, it allows Thomas to back into the stall he vacates, making him the third to park. Shelby (assisted by Billie-Jean and Nicola from outside the car) parks next, and he does so without taking penalty laps, while Jason finally finds a spot to parallel park. In the battle for the last spot, Marnie (having taken 9 penalty laps already, two from simultaneously parking in a no parking stall while one tire was over the line) is in the best position to take it, but is forced to take a penalty lap when she hits a barrel. Jennifer takes the spot, leaving Marnie out of luck.
At the end of the episode, the judges were favoring Thomas for his skill level being far above the rest (but believing that Thomas has still learned nothing besides the consequences of his street racing from Sgt. Woolley – in which life imprisonment is a distinct possibility), Billie-Jean for developing the habit of driving with flats instead of stilettos (and having dramatically improved results therein) and making use of mirrors, and Marnie for improvements in confidence (despite few challenges being completed). At the end, Andrew, with a racing helmet and a pair of scissors, gives Thomas a choice: take the racing helmet and graduate, or choose the scissors and be expelled (similar to Colin from Canada's Worst Driver 2). Thomas makes the right choice, but instead of leaving in his car (as is the norm for all graduates), he is taken back to the Barrie Speedway, where he partakes (and wins) in his first race on a track. The experience from being at the track alone (let alone racing), according to him, is well worth the trip to Driver's Rehab, as he vows to never street race again.
Original Airdate: November 19, 2007
The Balance-Beam for Unbalanced Drivers: In one of the most heavily hyped challenges of the season, two cars, controlled by a contestant and their nominator, must try to balance the cars out on a teeter-totter rig. The cars are miked up to each other to facilitate communication, and a complex rail and chain system prevents the cars from hitting each other or go off the teeter-totter. Ed and Elizabeth, in a surprising show of patience, manage to balance out the fastest. Shelby and Billie-Jean also manage to balance out after a lot of work (humorously, Andrew was seated in Billie-Jean's car, and was forced out in order to get the cars to balance out), as does Jennifer after watching Jon adjust and laughing in the meantime for half her run. Neither Jason nor Marnie finish the challenge – both pairs had given up after an hour.
Parking Cross: In a simple challenge, a car is situated within a small cross, and the challenge is to park in the four arms of the cross, which can be done in at least 29 turns. Marnie is surprisingly the fastest at the run, and Billie-Jean puts up another strong performance. Ed once again lets his aggression gets the best of him, while Jennifer nearly breaks down. Jason's biggest challenge is not to let Adrian get the best of him, while Shelby's run is none too spectacular.
Driving on Ice: To simulate the icy conditions of winter within the summer driving season, a hydraulic skid car is employed. The hydraulic car is set to raise one end of the car via remote control. After being given skid car instructions by a veteran ice driving instructor, the contestants take on a simple challenge in the skid car: they must simply go downhill in the skid car in what is more or less a straightaway in park in front of a wall, being fully aware that the skid car may activate during the trip (the twist is, of course, that it will not activate at any point during the run). Marnie (who took the longest to learn in the lesson), confident in her belief that any skid on ice will result in a car crash, is completely surprised at the result – a perfect run, showing her that she needn't drive in fear of an ice skid. The single run shoots her confidence through the roof. As for Jason (the only other driver whose run is shown), he believes that he would skid into the wall, and thus accelerates into the wall to regain control. This destroys the skid car.
Riding a Bike: Head instructor Scott Marshall has always compared driving to riding a bike. The fact that Shelby has had no experience in riding a bike leads Andrew to teach him. Although he struggles to ride even with the training wheels on, after two hours, Shelby has achieved one of his lifelong dreams.
Stick-Shift Driving: In this simple driving challenge, after being given a lesson on stick-shift driving by Scott, the contestants must take a standard transmission car and drive it up a straightaway (peppered with stops), perform a three-point turn, and back down the same straightaway. Three of the remaining contestants have experience in driving stick-shift, and for Marnie, it shows as she scores a near perfect run (hitting obstacles only at the very last part of the return leg due to poor cornering). Ed and Billie-Jean are the other two, although Ed quickly gets into anger-trouble (elbowing Elizabeth at the turn) while Billie-Jean stalls her car as she makes the turn, starting off a dangerous chain reaction in her behaviour. Jason's husband Adrian also has experience in stick-shift, but it does not pass onto Jason as he hits obstacles and stalls the car repeatedly in his run, nearly breaking down on the return leg. Jennifer breaks down and needs a smoke break at the turn, while Shelby burns out his clutch in his car, forcing him to redo the challenge in a backup car (which was also used by four other contestants). He stalls the car 38 times in the new car, and nearly burns out the clutch there as well.
Again, the judges are split at the end of the episode. Cam and Andrew are both confident that Billie-Jean, passed over twice already, has shown repeatedly what it takes to graduate. However, Phillippe and Dr. Gembora prefer Marnie's dramatic improvement. Scott would rather graduate both, but is pressured into choosing one. Billie-Jean is passed over for the third straight episode as Marnie gets her license back.
Original Airdate: November 26, 2007
Handbrake J-Turn: After high-performance instructor Phillipe Létourneau gives everyone lessons on how to do a 180-degree handbrake skid turn from driving straight ahead at 40 km/h, the contestants must attempt to perform this maneuver within limited confines. Shelby does this on his second attempt, while for Ed, it takes six attempts – largely because he had used the footbrakes instead. For everyone else, this takes four attempts – Jason because of turning too soon or too late, Jennifer over using the footbrakes instead of the hand brake, and Billie-Jean because of not looking where she wanted to go.
S-Bend Race: In the Broken Hearts challenge, a frustrated Jennifer had asked for instructions on how to move the car laterally – but nevertheless got herself stuck. In this challenge, the method to do so, known as the S-bend, will be given to everyone. The contestants must use the S-bend to maneuver their car sideways towards a concrete barrier, and then back towards their starting point. Contestants will be racing against each other, and each car has paint rollers mounted so as to clearly see contact with the barriers on the three closed-off sides. Jason has the privilege of being the odd-man out, driving as Andrew demonstrates the challenge. He is also the fastest to finish at 12 minutes, and is grateful for the show staff not allowing him to give up driving during the Cool Bus challenge. Shelby, racing against Jennifer is the slowest at the challenge, having taken 30 minutes to drive off of the starting position (because he turned forward and reversed the way he came, a move that had been done many times by Shelby before – and had affectionately been given the name "sawing the bow"), and another 30 minutes to finish after doing this. He also had the most paint contacts with 12, a far cry from everyone else (Jason had none, while Jennifer had only one).
Driving Off-Road: In this challenge, purposely built by a local 4 × 4 club for this show, the drivers must take an off-road truck and drive through several off-road obstacles (such as a series of pits, a rock garden, and over branches), which includes a series of hairpin turns. At the end of the course, they must reverse through it back to the starting point. Ed is the first to go, and, unlike previous challenges, keeps his cool as Elizabeth is screaming, and makes an acceptable run. In another twist, the contestant will be in the passenger seat of the contestant following them (instead of their nominators, as with Elizabeth with Ed). Each contestant will also pass on a piece of safety advice when doing this challenge – driving the challenge with their thumbs up (as jerky movement will cause thumb injury). Ed (who was given the advice by Andrew) does this to Jason, whose run was acceptable, but Jason forgets the safety message as Shelby takes the wheel. Shelby has the worst (as in most reckless) run of the day (although Jason breaks the driver-side mirror in his run), and convinces Jennifer that her run is better than his (although her reverse run goes off-course on several occasions). Billie-Jean, going last, has the best run of the day, patient in both directions.
The Water-Tank Challenge: In the annual tradition, the contestants must go through an obstacle course with a roof-mounted water tank filled with 200 litres of water. If the contestants do not brake smoothly, the contents of the water tank will drain though a series of tubes leading to the occupants inside the car. This year's twist, however, is that at the end of the obstacle course, is a high-speed portion: the drivers must slowly accelerate up to 30 km/h and slowly brake. Only Jason is prepared for the challenge (himself and Adrian having worn a shower cap), largely because he has to repeat the acceleration portion five times – either because of not keeping up speed or hitting a side barrier while accelerating. Shelby loses the least amount of water (20 litres), but makes the serious mistake of leaving the car in drive while he exits the car to remove an obstacle that had lodged itself under the car. Billie-Jean's run causes her make-up to run, while Jennifer – wearing waterproof mascara – regretted her choice of clothes (a set of white pants that had gone translucent when wet). Ed's run had Elizabeth screaming repeatedly whenever he got wet, but again he maintained composure and lost only 25 litres of water.
At the end of the show, only Dr. Gembora had the dissenting opinion on who was the most improved driver, as the rest had thought Shelby had improved the most. However, everyone agrees that this was not enough for Shelby to graduate, due to his horrible off-road challenge and his critical mistake in the water-tank challenge. As a result, the choice to graduate was painfully obvious: Billie-Jean, shortlisted but passed over three times due to someone else having a breakout performance, gets her just reward, as she graduates, having accomplished all of her goals in rehabilitation.
Original Airdate: December 3, 2007
At the start of the episode, Andrew reiterates that the driver rehabilitation program has had a number of success stories – Manuel Tejeda (from Canada's Worst Driver) has not hit a thing since leaving rehab (amounting to over two years and 15,000 km of driving), while Jodi Slobodesky (from Canada's Worst Driver 2) is now in a job where driving well is paramount. Coincidentally, both had graduated in the second to last episode in their respective series. They were the only two drivers to graduate in the second last episode of the previous two seasons, excluding Sean McConnell (as the second last episode of Canada's Worst Driver 2 was the only episode of Canada's Worst Driver in which two drivers graduated).
Trailer Ride: In Ontario, drivers may carry a trailer with a maximum height of 13 feet 6 inches. In this challenge, after each contestant was given lessons in trailer driving, the contestants must drive such a trailer (in the form of a giant pylon) through a hairpin turn, up a hill, and then parallel park the vehicle (or reverse down the hill) when an oncoming emergency vehicle approaches. When the emergency vehicle passes, the contestants must continue up the hill and park in reverse in a parking space. Shelby is the best of the bunch, even though it still took him 15 minutes to parallel park, largely because he tells Elerick to get out of the car when he needs help. The rest of the contestants take over 30 minutes each to parallel park, and Jason destroys his own trailer as he makes his final park.
Stopping: Andrew notes that Adrian is one of the most controlling husbands who have appeared on the show (compared to Karen and Jodi from Canada's Worst Driver 2). To show how much of an influence this can get on Jason (who wants to graduate in this episode in order to return home in time for Adrian's sister's wedding), Scott monitors the pair as they try to brake from 40 km/h, with and without Adrian at the passenger seat. The conclusion: Jason is better off without Adrian at the wheel.
The Maze: In what's only the season's second navigation challenge, the contestants must navigate their car out of a maze. The contestants are given a map of the maze before the start of the challenge, and they are free to make copies of the maze on paper before they begin. Ed is the fastest out of the maze, and with the fewest hits – mainly as Elizabeth had copied the maze diagram and navigated their way out – though at the end, Ed was heading out of the maze in reverse. Jason and Jennifer hit many things on their runs for different reasons (Adrian's involvement and Jennifer's ignorance of hits). Shelby mistrusts his meticulously drawn map, and he gets stuck in the maze in the tightest of spaces – so much that when he finally makes it out, the car engine starts to overheat.
The Slalom: After Phillippe gives instructions to everyone on how to do a slalom while maintaining 40 km/h (and their hands on the nine-and-three and why the traditional ten-and-two may cause injuries when combined with modern airbag technology), the contestants attempt to do the same thing – except that at the end of the course there will be a flagbearer, and if the flag is raised, the contestants are directed to not swerve around the obstacles until the flags are lowered. If they lose control of their car (either in swerving, hitting an obstacle, or failing to maintain 40 km/h), or if they fail to obey the flag, they must reattempt the course again, up to a maximum of seven tries. Ed's peripheral vision issues prevent him from finishing this challenge, while Jason and Shelby fail in their seven attempts (Jason from failing to maintain speed, Shelby from impacts with the obstacles). Jennifer, believing that all hope was lost, manages to finish on her last attempt.
At the end, Jason and Shelby are quickly ruled out as graduates – Jason, because often he didn't know which way his wheels were positioned, and Shelby because of the belief that he, in fact, got worse. The judges are split again on who goes again (Dr. Gembora and Scott choosing Ed and Cam and Andrew choosing Jennifer) – with Phillippe holding the swing vote. Phillippe is quick to decide that Ed, whose relationship with Elizabeth has gradually improved over the course of the challenges, should be the next graduate. Ed also admits that he was not as good of a driver as he had thought, and that alone has helped the couple reconcile.
Original Airdate: December 10, 2007
Driving in a Straight Line: In the penultimate challenge, the drivers must drive in a straight line between two concrete barriers, and must reach 40 km/h at the end. All three contestants will be in the truck in each run. Shelby is the fastest to finish, relying on creeping slowly and then flooring to the finish. Jennifer struggles in her run, but takes advice from Shelby (to simply floor it) and completes the challenge. Jason, wanting to quit again, fails to finish after 70 minutes.
The Mega-Challenge: In the first part of the traditional final challenge, the drivers must combine all of the skills that they have garnered in previous challenges for this challenge. There are four parts to the mega-challenge: in the first part to this challenge, the drivers must start with a peel-out into an abbreviated Eye of the Needle course, before proceeding to an accident avoidance portion. After this portion, they approach the giant pylon, where they must do a half-donut, before parking the car and changing to a standard transmission car for the second part. The second part of the mega-challenge consists of an off-road drive, complete with a hill and slowing/stopping portion. After this portion, the contestants switch to the third car for a precision driving course, which consists of driving forwards into a garage and making a tight turn out of a garage, before proceeding to finish the third portion of the mega-challenge in reverse. Finally, back in the original car, they must accelerate their car in a straight line up to 60 km/h before stopping right in front of the giant pylon. Jennifer is fastest to finish, but Shelby and Jason show the judges that they perhaps do not deserve to graduate.
The Road Test: In the second part of traditional Worst Driver final challenge, the contestants must drive through the streets of Barrie, Ontario in a mock road test. Andrew also stresses that the road test will be done in his own truck. Shelby and Jennifer finish with four moving violations (though Andrew jokingly described Jennifer turning right through two traffic lanes into a Tim Hortons parking lot as just "being Canadian"), but Shelby travels far off course and takes 98 minutes to do a 60-minute test. Jason had by far the worst performance: his fear of fast traffic meant that when merging into Ontario Highway 400, he had ground to a complete halt (as Andrew pointed out, on one of Canada's most dangerous highways). Furthermore, he misses Andrew's direction to turn off the highway at Duckworth Street, and is forced to drive all the way to Midhurst to get back on track. Jason's habit of turning off the motor at every stop is also duly noted by Andrew, as he tries to stop Jason from damaging his car's starter.
At the end of the day, the choice for the final placement was unanimous: Jennifer is clearly not Canada's Worst Driver, while neither Shelby nor Jason deserved to graduate. Jason is visibly defeated and says that he's considering giving up driving, while Shelby admits being disappointed with his final performance, but adds that he intends to continue driving and try to improve on his own.
Though the experts briefly ponder the possibility of naming Shelby as the worst in the hope that both he and Jason will give up driving, Andrew reminds them that the show is about deciding who is Canada's Worst Driver, and the experts quickly agree that overall, Jason is clearly a worse driver than Shelby. Jason is therefore named the worst, and he accepts the decision, along with his driver's license in a clear case, and also confirms that he will give up driving in the wake of the announcement. Because Adrian had left the rehabilitation centre (to make it to his sister's wedding) last episode, Jason gets a ride home from Shelby in the Cool Bus. It is also noted that now that Jason is no longer a driver at all, that makes Shelby now technically "Canada's Worst Driver".
Original Airdate: December 17, 2007
In this season's recap finale, host Andrew Younghusband explains how and why accidents happen on the road, and how the eight contestants are affected by this information. Among the "top 101" problems being explored (only some 70 of which actually were aired) and demonstrated by the drivers themselves: street racing (Thomas), road rage (Ed), loss of bodily functions (Denice), using a car as a change room (Billie-Jean), inability to understand driving phrases (Jason didn't know what "acceleration" was), Driving Philosophy (Marnie), generosity (Shelby) and hit and run (Jennifer). Jason did, however, stick to his vow to "get out of the driver's seat."
