Robert Cardenas, 26, from Toronto, Ontario, is an immigrant from Cuba who owns a car but has no real desire to drive it; he prefers public transit because he is an overly cautious and slow driver who cannot handle highway speeds or large numbers of other vehicles and pedestrians. He is considering selling his car if he cannot improve his driving skills. He was nominated by his friend Socrates. He drives a Hyundai Sonata.
Margherita Donato, 31, from Edmonton, Alberta, is more focused on her appearance than her driving, and has caused $250,000 in damage by running into an RV. Margherita has also admitted to bribing her driving examiner to pass her test. She was nominated by her friend and business partner Cheryl Schultz, who now does all the driving for their business. She drives a Suzuki Aerio.
Azim Kanji, 28, from Edmonton, Alberta, failed his learners' test 6 times before finally getting his license 3 years ago, but is unable to reverse or park his car and has had a $2300 speeding ticket. He drives a Volkswagen Corrado and was nominated by his buddy Ray.
Klyne Postnikoff, 18, from Kelowna, British Columbia, has written off two cars, had his license suspended and caused 10 accidents – and continues to text while driving, continues to speed and believes he is invincible. He was nominated by his mother Maureen – who laughs at his crashes on the show and continues to pick up the tab for his accidents and insurance. He drives a Dodge Durango 4x4.
Dallas Sam, 26, from Vancouver, British Columbia, has a tough-girl appearance, but is a nervous wreck behind the wheel of a car – and her nominator, her sister Gene, thinks she may have gotten her license based on her looks rather than her driving skills. She drives a GMC Jimmy.
Kevin Simmons, 25, from McBride, British Columbia, was born with no vision in his right eye and needs a new corrective lens for his left eye annually. Kevin has had 5 accidents so far (two of them serious). He was nominated by his boyfriend, Lenny Stone, who wants Kevin to stop driving altogether. He drives a Ford LTD Crown Victoria.
Flora Wang, 39, from Edmonton, Alberta, had only 10 hours of training before getting her license and is very nervous behind the wheel, often freezing in the middle of traffic when she gets scared. She relies on her husband and nominator Frank for driving advice, although Frank is frequently wrong. Flora almost rolled the show's 2013 Mustang GT at 140 km/hr because she didn't understand the need to take her foot off of the accelerator. She drives a Dodge Caravan.
Diane Zbierski, 38, from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, is so hesitant to drive she cannot take her son to school half a kilometer away. She got her license after persistent nagging from her family, and once she got it, told her husband and nominator Stephane not to talk to her about driving again. She drives a Nissan Pathfinder.
The experts this season are:
Cam Woolley returning for his seventh year, is the traffic expert on CP24 in Toronto, and has 25 years as a traffic sergeant with the Ontario Provincial Police.
Philippe Letourneau returning for his sixth year on the show, is a professional race car coach who holds the philosophy that the car is ultimately nothing without the driver.
Shyamala Kiru returns for her second season as the relationship therapist.
Tim Danter is the new head driving instructor this season, replacing Peter Mellor.
The contestant became Canada's Worst Driver.
The contestant was runner-up for Canada's Worst Driver.
The contestant was on the panel's shortlist.
The contestant graduated.
Original airdate: October 29, 2012
Drive to Rehab: The drivers and their nominators begin by attempting to safely drive to the Rehabilitation Centre. For once, none of the drivers are stopped by the police or the show's crew, though there were still several faults noted; in particular, Robert never signalled once and ran a red light, Azim missed an early turn and went completely off-course for a while, Dallas and Flora both stopped several times for stress-related reasons (Flora, despite being the first to leave the parking lot, also ended up being the last person to arrive), Kevin nearly collided with another car while merging onto a highway, and Margherita made 17 moving violations and then couldn't even get parked up correctly. Diane's drive was easily the best, as despite her extreme stress she stayed on-course throughout and didn't make a single moving violation. Conversely, Klyne's drive was by far the worst, as he repeatedly snapped and yelled at Maureen and refused to let her view the directions, drove while texting, and most dangerously, drove at 135 km/h in the oncoming traffic lane of an 80 km/h zone, an incident which would almost certainly have seen his drive stopped by the crew if not for the fact that he was only a short distance away from the Centre anyway. This results in Andrew chewing him out after he arrives, and telling him that while he may have some driving skills, he certainly doesn't have the brains to use them.
Mustang Challenge: Basic Assessment: For their first challenge, drivers are put through a short evaluation test to determine their levels of driving skill; a U-turn in an enclosed space made of concrete blocks, followed by a short reverse course made up of wheel rims, and then a slalom between foam people at 50 km/h. Margherita is first-up, and even before she starts Andrew objects to her wearing high-heeled shoes while driving. She scratches the Mustang's paint job in the initial section, then her inability to comprehend where her wheels are means she can't go more than a few feet of the reverse section without hitting something, and her growing frustrations causes her to cause more and more damage to the course (and car) as she progresses. Finally, she goes too slow on the slalom and doesn't even check her speedometer, hitting two of the five foam people. Azim's run goes much the same, as he gets stressed out after he scratches the car in the initial section, which leads to a poor performance in the reverse section (further increasing his stress), and ultimately results in him driving with just one hand on the wheel and going over-speed in the slalom, causing him to spin out. Kevin becomes the first driver to cause a serious dent in the Mustang's body during the opening U-turn, then knocks over more rims than either of the two previous drivers, and then ends up going less than half the required speed in the slalom, yet still hits every one of the foam people. Dallas relies almost exclusively on Gene's advice when getting through the initial U-turn, but ultimately completes it without a single scratch or hit. She copes a little better in the reversing section than the previous drivers, though still knocks down several wheel rims; it's a similar story in the slalom, where she has the best run yet, but still knocks down a foam person. Andrew identifies her problem as being a lack of confidence in her own abilities, which Dallas and Gene both agree with. From the start of Flora's run, Frank tries to control her driving and gives her bad advice, leading to her repeatedly colliding with the concrete blocks in the opening section. This leads to Andrew ordering Frank out of the car, after which Flora is able to complete the rest of the section without incident. He returns for the next two sections however and immediately starts ordering her around and even grabbing the steering wheel, resulting in her delivering the worst performance of the day in the reverse section, and like Kevin, going far too slow in the slalom and yet still hitting the foam people. Despite this, the experts feel that she may be able to do much better without Frank's presence. Klyne doesn't even make a serious effort in the challenge, intentionally scraping the Mustang in the opening section, which results in the challenge being halted after the initial U-turn. Diane does better than most of the previous drivers, and gets through the opening section with little difficulty, but still hits several wheel rims and foam people in the remaining two sections. Finally, Robert has what turns out to be the best run of the day, getting through the U-turn perfectly and then not knocking over a single wheel rim in the reverse section. However, his main problem of being too afraid to speed is highlighted by the slalom, where he only drives at 35 km/h and still hits most of the foam people.
After the challenge, the drivers had their initial meeting with the experts. Robert is reminded that driving too slowly is an offence (he admits actually being fined for doing so at least once), and the experts quickly identify the need to address his high-speed nervousness. Stress is also felt to be the biggest issue for Margherita, Dallas, Diane and Azim. Flora admits that Frank isn't her only problem, and that she still needs to drastically improve her skills. The experts all condemn Klyne for his reckless attitude, both in the episode and toward the ten accidents he caused prior to the show. Kevin admits from the very start that he may be Canada's Worst Driver. As usual, no drivers were graduated at the end of the first episode.
Original airdate: November 5, 2012
Head-to-Head Reversing: In a new challenge for this show, pairs of drivers are required to reverse down a short course, turn around in reverse and then reverse back to the start. As an added difficulty, this challenge is performed in right-hand drive Toyota Celsiors. Kevin and Margherita are the first pair to take the challenge, and their run rapidly descends into chaos, with both drivers crossing into each other's lanes and demolishing large sections of the course. Margherita at least manages to finish the course, but has clearly failed the challenge, not least because she never once looked out of the back window; Kevin doesn't even get that far, and gives up after getting his car wedged on a piece of styrofoam. Klyne and Robert are the second pair; Klyne completes the course with no major issues, but Robert only uses his wing mirrors to guide him, and gets stuck on a set of rims, after which he gives up. Flora and Azim are next, and Flora has an initially good run, but, like Robert, she gets her car wedged on a rim at the halfway point and becomes stuck. Azim also does well for the first half of the course, but becomes flustered and gives up after being unable to effectively make a reverse turn at the bottom of the track. Diane and Dallas are the final pair, and Diane's run is good for the most part, but she goes too fast near the end and takes out a significant number of styrofoam obstacles. Dallas is another driver who insists on only using her wing mirrors, and while she does eventually complete the course, she demolishes a significant portion of it.
The Trough: In one of the show's classic challenges, the drivers are asked to drive a Suzuki Sidekick through a concrete trough, in a test of their ability to tell where their wheels are. If the drivers fall off the trough at any point, they are required to start over. In a new addition to the challenge, a "wooden bridge" was incorporated into the course (technically a section of corduroy road made with railway ties), giving drivers a chance to realign their wheels between sections. Azim is the first to attempt the challenge and nearly passes it at the first time of asking, only to fall off on the final turn; this leads to his stress problems kicking in, and he never gets past the bridge on his subsequent runs. Diane fares better, and despite difficulties on the final turn, completes the course on one go. Robert shows signs of improvement after some horrible initial runs, but runs out of time before he can finish the challenge. Flora initially seems to do well, but after Andrew spots that Frank is micromanaging her steering, he reprimands Frank and makes Flora start over. She does relatively well on her subsequent runs, but falls just short of finishing each time. Klyne keeps falling off due to making turns that are too tight, which results in Maureen giving him lengthy coaching during the run; he eventually completes it, but is deemed to have failed due to Maureen making all the decisions. Margherita performs dismally, never even making it past the first turn. Dallas gets overwhelmed after falling off halfway through her initial run and gives up. Kevin is the last to take the challenge and, like Margherita, never even gets past the first turn.
Mustang Challenge: Shoulder Check Challenge: This challenge, in which drivers must accelerate to 70 km/h and then correctly perform a shoulder check to determine on which side of an obstacle it is safe to turn in order to avoid it, has a new twist in that the drivers have two runs and will always be told to stop before the obstacle on the first run, thus also making this a test of their braking and speed control. Dallas drives too fast in her first run and her hair gets in the way of her eyes, resulting in her taking the right turn rather than stopping. After resetting (and putting in a hair clip) for her second run, she passes without difficulty. Diane has a similarly poor initial run, speeding and turning the wheel as she turns her head; on her second run, she correctly identifies the lane she needs to go into, but turns too early and takes out some of the lane markers, though is felt to have understood the lesson, despite failing it. Klyne correctly identifies that he's meant to stop on his first run, but drives far too fast and hits the central obstacle before he can stop. Keeping his speed under control, he passes with no trouble on the second run. Azim drives too fast and with only one hand on the wheel in his first run, meaning he can't stop or fully avoid the central obstacle; on his second run he repeats the same mistake and even turns into the wrong lane, clearly failing the challenge. Due to a misunderstanding of the rules, Flora takes the right-hand exit on her first run instead of stopping, but passes the challenge without any trouble on the second run. Margherita drives at over 90 km/h in her initial run and doesn't even have time to check both shoulders before plowing into the lane markers, only narrowly avoiding the obstacle. On her second run, she speeds again, turns into the wrong lane and smashes the passenger side wing mirror when she clips the central obstacle. Since Kevin has an inherent disadvantage with only one eye, Andrew tells him ahead of time that he will be required to stop on his first run, only for Kevin to brake too late and hit the obstacle. On his second run, Kevin attempts to cheat by only checking over his left shoulder and reasoning that due to the red signal on that side he must be required to turn to his right; while he does this successfully, he fails for not understanding the challenge. Robert is the last to take the challenge, after Andrew gives him a lesson in driving at high speeds, and ironically ends up driving too fast and completely demolishing the central obstacle on his first run. His second run goes more successfully, and he completes the challenge.
While there are three obvious candidates to be the season's first graduate (Klyne, who passed all the challenges, and Flora and Robert, who generally did well despite only passing one challenge each), Robert is the only driver who actually wants to graduate. Cam and Shyamala both vote that Robert should graduate, as they feel that his major issue of being too slow and lacking in confidence has been addressed, and are unconvinced that Klyne's attitude has sufficiently improved. Andrew and Philippe want Klyne to graduate, for doing better in the challenges. Tim's first vote as a judge ends up being the casting one, and he votes in favour of Robert, who becomes the season's first graduate.
Original airdate: November 12, 2012
Distracted Driving: This year's take on the annual challenge has two parts. In the first part, an employee of show sponsor Kal Tire is brought in to test the drivers' knowledge of road signs. In the second part, each of the drivers is given a task to do (such as putting on make-up, drinking a soda or speaking into a phone) while driving a Ford Crown Victoria (modified to look like a taxi) around a figure-eight course. There are no passes or fails in this challenge, as its sole purpose is to demonstrate that a driver should never, ever do anything to distract them at the wheel. This is demonstrated when Margherita causes so much damage to the car's radiator that it temporarily stops running, forcing the show's mechanics to conduct makeshift repairs using water and a raw egg. Kevin, who uses a CB radio despite being a novice driver (and therefore, not being allowed to have one), causes a similar amount of damage; he constantly pays more attention to his two-way radio link with Andrew than he pays to his driving, which causes frequent crashing into the Styrofoam blocks marking the course. In fact, even without distractions, Kevin demolishes the entire course, leading Andrew to question his ability while driving normally.
Mustang Challenge: Eye of the Needle: Another returning challenge, in which drivers must thread their vehicle through 5 archways at 70 km/h. Klyne is the first to take the challenge, and despite being warned by both Andrew and Maureen not to speed, quickly accelerates to 100 km/h, hits the first arch and goes off-course, leading Andrew to admonish him on his reckless attitude. Azim is second, and hits the first three arches on the passenger side, though manages to drive through the final two arches safely. Margherita takes the first two arches safely, but like Klyne she speeds up to 100 km/h and goes off the course before the third arch. After a brief stress counselling session from Shyamala, Dallas performs near flawlessly, going slightly slower than requested at 65 km/h, but this is still good enough to be considered a pass. Due to her anxiety over driving at high speeds, Diane is allowed to take the course at 50 km/h, though she still hits the first two arches on the passenger side. Flora is next, and her run leads to what Andrew describes as possibly the scariest incident ever witnessed on the show, as she accelerates to 140 km/h and spins off the course, destroying the car's rear bumper in the process. The experts react with horror and Andrew explains that this could have been a lethal accident. Kevin is the final driver to take this challenge, and while his run at least turns out to be better than he or Andrew expected, he still lightly clips four of the five arches and smashes into the fifth.
The Figure-Eight Challenge: For the final challenge of this episode, drivers must reverse a school bus (technically a "skoolie") through a figure-eight course without hitting anything, with usage of the side mirrors being paramount. Klyne, who is first, proceeds recklessly through the challenge, causing substantial damage to the course and not even seeming to attempt to take the challenge seriously. While Andrew is furious with Klyne, he's far more angry with Maureen, who continued to cheer him on and claimed him to be a good driver even in the face of the damage he was causing. Prior to attempting the challenge, Kevin reveals to Andrew that he usually doesn't bother checking his wing mirrors, something which quickly becomes obvious as he relies on the conflicting directions of the other candidates and causes a similarly large amount of damage to the course. Margherita at least takes the challenge seriously and tries to use her mirrors, but fares little better than the two previous drivers. Things start looking up with Azim, who takes some time to get around the course, but causes nearly no damage. Diane suffers more anxiety problems and has to be coached by Andrew in the early sections, but she eventually completes the course without much trouble. Flora has trouble comprehending how to use her mirrors, and duly fails the challenge. Finally, Dallas completes the challenge with few difficulties, and shows none of the stress related problems she has been suffering with until now.
Dallas is the only driver who shows any desire to graduate. Despite this, the experts near-unanimously decide that Diane should be the person who graduates, feeling that she has a better overall attitude than Dallas and would be safer to send back out onto the road. Andrew disagrees with this, pointing out that Dallas had been the best performing driver until this point and that she actually wanted to leave, while Diane expressly said that she wanted to stay. Furthermore, Dallas overcame her stress-related problems, while Andrew argues that the panel should not overlook Diane's failure in the Eye of the Needle challenge at reduced speed. The experts ultimately come around to Andrew's opinion, and Dallas becomes the second graduate.
Original airdate: November 19, 2012
Trailer Driving: In this year's take on the challenge, the candidates reverse a Dodge Ram Campervan with an attached hot dog cart through a short course. Klyne takes the challenge first, and succeeds in completing it almost as quickly as Andrew did in his demonstration. Azim's stress problems prove to be his undoing once again, and he gives up after repeatedly jackknifing at the halfway point. Margherita nearly gives up as well, but eventually succeeds in completing the course, though she takes 37 minutes, more than twelve times longer than it took Andrew or Klyne. Flora initially does well on the challenge, but Frank begins micromanaging her again, and she eventually gives up after several unsuccessful attempts. While Diane wants Stephane to coach her around the course, he insists that she do it herself, which leads to her walking the course by foot several times to get a grasp on it. She succeeds, but takes the longest time yet at 55 minutes. Kevin takes so long on the challenge that the sun begins setting, forcing the crew to use the headlights of other vehicles to mark out the course; despite all this he still can't complete the course, and has to give up when the sun completely sets, making it too dark to continue.
The Water Tank Challenge: The candidates must drive a modified PT Cruiser with a roof-mounted water tank smoothly through a course to avoid getting wet. Despite resolving to not get wet at all, Andrew is splashed for the fifth year in a row after taking a slalom turn too wide. Margherita is the first candidate to take the challenge, and ends up spilling much of her water on at the end of the initial straight by braking too late. Cheryl gets splashed the most during their run, causing her to accuse Margherita of doing it on purpose; she loses 80 litres during the challenge, most of which was lost at the start and at the end when she backed into a concrete barrier. Diane makes a similar mistake at the start of her run, braking too late and losing a lot of water; after that she doesn't take the challenge very seriously and ends up losing a total of 70 litres. Kevin is the third driver in a row to brake too late at the start, with predictable results. Though the exact amount of water that he lost was not revealed, Andrew specified that his run was easily the worst in rehab, losing more water than anyone else and causing the most damage to the course. Klyne lapses into his speeding habits again, leading to Maureen getting heavily soaked, though the rest of his run is relatively smooth and he loses just 40 litres. Azim has a less than smooth run, braking too sharply at the beginning and repeatedly going off-course in the reversing section, resulting in him losing 70 litres. Flora's erratic acceleration results in her losing a lot of water on the opening straight, and to add insult to injury she has to re-take it because she didn't drive at the required 50 km/h. She ultimately lost 80 litres, though the experts noted that she was starting to fight back against Frank's attempts to micro-manage her.
Mustang Challenge: Swerve and Avoid: For this year's take on a challenge that has previously been credited with saving viewers' lives, the drivers must drive toward a cityscape at 70 km/h, and avoid a styrofoam dog walker by swerving promptly and not hitting the brakes. Each driver has two runs to complete the challenge. Klyne gets an extra lesson and is told to take a practice run at 90 km/h, which proves to be too fast to complete the course. Despite this, he goes at 90 km/h in his first run, and hits the cityscape. After yet another reprimand from Andrew, on his second run Klyne goes at the required speed and passes without any trouble. Margherita is next, and despite extensive coaching from Cheryl during her first run, she clips the cityscape on the passenger side. Her second run is more successful, and for the first time this season Margherita passes a challenge. Before her run, Flora warns Frank to keep his mouth shut; he obliges, and she performs flawlessly, passing at the first time of asking. Diane brakes on her first run, leading to her hitting the cityscape; her second run proves to be the worst one yet, as she drives far too fast and ends up crashing into the cityscape head-on. Taking things calmly for once, Azim succeeds at the first go, surprising even himself. Kevin demonstrates a case of target fixation in his first run, steering directly at the obstacle he was supposed to avoid and hitting it head-on, and does little better in his second run, hitting the cityscape on his passenger side.
Prior to the judges' deliberations, Maureen joins Klyne and the two reflect on their respective attitudes, and the role they played in Klyne's destructive habits. It quickly becomes obvious to the judges that Klyne is the only possible graduate, and while Shyamala argues that no-one should graduate this episode and that Klyne should be made to stay at least one more episode to make sure his attitude change sticks, the others conclude that there is nothing more they can teach him, and that his future as a driver is entirely in his own hands now.
Original airdate: November 26, 2012
Ice-Cream Truck Parallel Park: In a new and deceptive challenge, the candidates are placed at the wheel of an ice-cream truck and told to drive it along a short course in an apparent test of their ability to handle a heavy vehicle. Only at the halfway point do they discover the true purpose of the challenge; a Ford Econoline van ambulance will drive directly toward the ice-cream truck, which is then required to parallel park in order to let the ambulance past. If the ice-cream truck hits the curb or one of the adjacent vehicles, the driver is required to start over. Azim is the first to take the challenge, and while he initially gets flustered after making numerous mistakes, this time, he manages to get his stress problems under control and eventually passes the challenge. Diane is next and executes the challenge in a virtually flawless manner, parking the truck on her first go without hitting anything. Kevin keeps forgetting to use his driver's side mirror, meaning that he can't see the car behind him and repeatedly hits the car and the curb. Even after Andrew reminds him of the lesson, Kevin only uses the passenger side mirror and also drives too fast; he ultimately fails the challenge after running out of time. Flora's run begins with her being badgered yet again by Frank, whose inconsistent directions cause her to repeatedly hit things. After she tells him to be quiet, Flora does better and seems to park okay, but fails because she's almost a metre away from the curb. Margherita has the final run, and keeps backing in at odd angles and fails to sufficiently use her mirrors, ultimately failing the challenge after repeatedly running into the curb and the car behind her.
Canada's Worst Gas Station: The candidates are each put at the wheel of a different type of car and asked to pull in at a pump (only one of which will be available at any one time, and only four available overall) at a makeshift filling station. All five cars will be driving around the gas station, leaving the course only when they have successfully filled up with gas. Any mistake is punished by being forced to leave the gas station and drive a full loop around the course. As a trap, two diesel pumps are present, which will destroy the engine of the cars if they are used. Flora nearly gets to be the first one to fill up, but during her parallel parking attempt, she pulls so far forward that Diane is able to drive into the spot. Diane herself ends up hitting the car directly in front of her however, and is forced to take the first penalty lap. In the meantime, Flora manages to successfully park in front of the pump, but this time a careless mistake costs her dearly, as she forgets to turn off her engine before trying to fill the tank (a mistake which Andrew notes carries a $135 fine in Ontario), and is forced to take a penalty lap. Diane re-enters from her own penalty lap and almost immediately gets to a pump and fills up, becoming the first to pass the challenge. In a bizarre move, Flora reverses into the next available pump in a perpendicular fashion at Frank's urging, only for Frank to then berate her for blocking the other drivers; this earns her another penalty lap. Kevin nearly becomes the second driver to fill up, but in a repeat of the previous challenge, fails to use his mirrors and backs into a post. As Kevin leaves for his penalty lap, Margherita backs into the space, finding parallel parking much easier in the smaller car, and becomes the second driver to fill up. Azim quickly becomes the third driver to fill up, leaving just Flora and Kevin. After the two dodge a trap when one of the diesel pumps becomes available, they both back into the last available unleaded pump at awkward angles and then fight over the nozzle. Kevin technically becomes the final driver to fill up, but is judged to have failed the challenge due to his behaviour in doing so (which causes Andrew to brand him "Canada's Worst Gas-Getter"), while Flora is left without a pump at all.
Mustang Challenge: Reverse Flick: In what Andrew describes as the most difficult lesson of the season, the drivers are taught how to rapidly spin their cars 180 degrees. They will then be required to reverse at 40 km/h in a large space bordered by a barrier and cityscape, and upon entering the space spin their cars without hitting anything; each driver will be allowed five attempts at this challenge. Azim takes the challenge first, and after hitting the outer barrier on his first run, he goes far too slow in the three subsequent runs (at around only 10 km/h), only succeeding in turning his car 90 degrees and hitting the barrier or cityscape each time. On his final run, he goes too fast and oversteers, plowing through the cityscape and into the adjoining field. Margherita does poorly at first, crashing into the outer barrier twice and oversteering the other two times. After taking some time to relax before her fifth and final run, and focusing more during the run itself, she manages to successfully pull off the manoeuvre and passes the challenge. In her first run, Diane waits too long before steering, crashing into the far barrier and causing the Mustang's badly damaged front bumper to finally give out. Subsequently, she hits the outer barrier on her second run, then nearly succeeds on her third but fails for clipping the wall, and failing her last two runs for similar reasons. Afterwards, she ascribes her failure to the fact that she only looked at her steering wheel and not her mirrors. Flora's run is the worst yet; she never once makes it into the turning space, crashing through the outer wall and cityscape on every single attempt. Despite Flora's horrid performance in this challenge, Andrew considers Frank more directly at fault for his repeated badgering. Kevin takes an unusual approach during his first four runs, only looking out the back window and relying on Lenny to tell him what speed he was driving at. This results in him crashing into the outer barrier on each of the four goes, and after Andrew reminds Kevin what he was taught to do in the lesson, he succeeds on his final attempt, passing his first challenge.
When speaking to the experts after the final challenge, none of the drivers express any interest in graduating. Still, the experts shortlist Diane (who is considered the best overall out of the remaining drivers) and Margherita (for significantly improving during the last two episodes), but despite a general agreement among the experts that Diane is the better driver of the two, none of them have any real enthusiasm over letting either of them graduate. With none of the drivers wanting to graduate, and none of the experts feeling that anyone particularly deserves to graduate, the conclusion is obvious; no-one graduates this episode.
Original airdate: December 3, 2012
Changing a Tire: The rehab centre invited local mechanic Kim Lee to show the drivers how to change a tire. They then were asked to change a tire while it was "raining" with a sprinkler. Azim finished in 18 minutes, but Diane finished 1 minute faster. Margherita couldn't get the spare tire on and quit, but Kevin completed in 16 minutes, the fastest of the group. Flora however didn't take the challenge, preferring to call CAA if she ever got a flat.
The Teeter-Totter: In this returning challenge (which Andrew notes is being run later in the season than previously due to the drivers' habit of destroying the clutches on the test cars), the drivers are put at the wheel of a manual transmission car, which they are asked to balance on a teeter-totter. Flora takes the challenge first and, in what is rapidly becoming a familiar pattern, fails after running out of time due to Frank's constant criticism and attempts to micro-manage her driving; she also caused one of her car's tires to burst during the challenge, though this was not counted toward the half-hour she was given. Prior to Margherita's run, Andrew presents her with a new pair of flat-soled sports shoes which he has purchased for her to drive with instead of her wedged heels. Despite this, she has what proves to be the worst run out of five, using far too much gas and never getting close to balancing the teeter-totter. Cheryl badgers her into swapping back to her wedge shoes, but this just makes matters worse, and Margherita eventually ends up destroying the car's clutch. Diane is third and manages a near-flawless performance, balancing the teeter-totter even faster than Andrew did in his demonstration. Azim takes somewhat longer, but eventually passes the challenge. Kevin has the final run, and makes numerous mistakes in doing so; not only does he repeatedly hit the gas too hard, he tries to change gears without using the clutch, and stalls numerous times. He ultimately fails after running out of time, the only saving grace being that he didn't burn out the clutch.
Mustang Challenge: Mini Golf: This new challenge gives the drivers nine runs at driving an oversized golf ball through a similarly oversized windmill tunnel. Diane is first up, and Stephane's well-intentioned but ultimately bad advice causes her to miss her first five shots, before hitting two (and then missing the final two). She blames Stephane for her underwhelming performance, which Andrew concurs with. Azim is next, and takes a scientific approach by balancing the ball on the left-hand side of the front bumper in order to compensate for the strong wind; he scores four times. Kevin tries to use short bursts of acceleration and strong hits to guide the ball to its target; this proves a less than successful approach however, and he only scores once. Margherita (this time in her sports shoes throughout the challenge) fails her first five attempts due to a lack of understanding over where the bumper is, but she improves as the challenge progresses and scores on her final four goes, posting the joint-best score. Finally, Flora takes her first attempt at an incredibly slow pace, and barely even gets a third of the way down the course before the footage ends; Andrew then informs the viewer that her run eventually had to be abandoned due to her running out of time, and that she didn't score on any of the attempts that she did make.
Forward Handbrake J-Turn: In another of the show's traditional challenges, the drivers are each required to make a handbrake turn in a Mini Cooper and swerve around a foam person featuring the driver's own face inside a confined space; each driver has five attempts. Kevin is first up, and in a change of form nearly gets it on his first attempt, failing mostly because he took the run at 70 km/h instead of the requested 40 km/h; he reduces his speed for his second run, and for only the second time this season passes a challenge. Flora's woeful run of challenges continues, as she goes too slow in her first run, clips the entry obstacles in the second, drives directly into the foam Flora on the third, uses the footbrake instead of the handbrake on the fourth, before plowing through the foam Flora again and this time ending up in the adjoining field in her final run; this leads Andrew to describe Flora's performance as the worst he's ever seen for this particular challenge. Azim, who is now finally showing confidence and self-belief, predicts he will pass this challenge on the first go, and actually succeeds in doing so. Before Margherita's run, Andrew shows Margherita a series of articles listing accidents and fatalities that have been caused by drivers wearing high heels and wedges, but Cheryl loudly insists that his concerns are untrue and that it's perfectly safe to wear heels. This leads to her badmouthing Andrew and the experts after she and Margherita get in the car, unaware that the experts are listening to every word she says. Margherita ultimately fails the challenge after repeatedly using the footbrake instead of the handbrake, and while Cheryl attempts to blame Andrew for upsetting her prior to the challenge, Margherita herself accepts full responsibility and admits to not focusing well enough. Despite being predicted for success by Andrew, Diane fares surprisingly poorly, attempting the manoeuvre too late on her first run, going too slowly on her next three runs, and then hitting the foam Diane on her final run.
Prior to the experts' deliberations, Cam informs Margherita that wearing wedges or any other form of cumbersome footwear is considered a criminal offence if it is judged to have been responsible for an automotive accident. While Andrew encourages Diane to put herself forward for graduation, she admits that she does not deserve to be based on her performance in this episode, and Flora also does not want to graduate. Azim, on the other hand, feels that he finally has the confidence and skills to graduate. Kevin, meanwhile, is informed that certain drivers (such as Canada's Worst Driver 3 "winner" Jason Zhang and Canada's Worst Driver 5 runner-up Mike Butt) have given up driving in the wake of their appearances on the show; Kevin's response is to call the drivers in question "stupid" and vow never to give up driving even if he's named Canada's Worst Driver, a response which enrages the panel.
With Azim the best performer in the episode and the only driver showing any desire to leave, his graduation is a foregone conclusion. However, the experts also discuss the possibility of getting Margherita to pick a new nominator and throwing Cheryl out of rehab for her disrespectful behaviour, in what would have been a first for the show. Cheryl is ultimately allowed to stay (as Andrew states: "Kicking Cheryl out wouldn't do Margherita any good"), though is given a warning over her attitude, and Azim becomes the next driver to graduate.
Original airdate: December 10, 2012
Three-Point Turning: A small turning space is set up using a variety of cars, and the drivers are each given thirty minutes in which to pull off a three-point turn using a Jeep Wrangler (previously used as Flora's car in the Gas Station challenge in Episode 5). Kevin takes the challenge first and soon finds it tough going due to his lack of understanding of the technique, repeatedly crashing into things and taking far more steps than allowed. He ultimately runs out of time, never managing better than a five-point turn. Flora is next, and in a change of form actually solicits Frank's advice to complete the challenge. Even with his help however, she fails to complete the challenge; like Kevin, the shortest she manages is a five-point turn. Diane takes her first run without any real thought as to how she's going to accomplish the challenge, and duly gets stuck. During the second run, Stephane works out a way of completing the challenge that even the producers had not thought possible, and with his help Diane is able to pass the challenge, getting much credit from Andrew for pulling off a very tricky series of turns. Margherita is in an extremely foul mood during the challenge (why she's in a bad mood isn't stated, though Margherita mentions that she's having personal problems), and thus never really makes an effort in the challenge, repeatedly running into cars and snapping at Cheryl, who for once is the more subdued of the two. She duly fails the challenge, with Andrew advising her to talk to Shyamala, a notion which she has refused until now.
The Longest Reversing Challenge Ever: As the name suggests, this is the longest reversing challenge that has ever been featured on the show, with the drivers having to back up a BMW 540i (previously used as Margherita's car in the Gas Station challenge in Episode 5) for a full kilometre through a straight-line course made up of three sections; one lined with stacked wheel rims, one with cars, and one with plywood boxes and foam blocks. Diane takes the challenge first, and despite knocking over 9 wheel rims during a shaky start, she quickly picks up the challenge and doesn't hit anything during the remainder of the course. Kevin follows and fares much worse, spending nearly the whole challenge looking out the front windshield despite Lenny repeatedly reminding him that he should be looking out the back, and hits 23 objects. Once again, Margherita fails to make a serious effort due to her bad mood, and plows through the course with little regard as to where she's going or what she's hitting. She ultimately hits 37 objects before Andrew calls a halt to the challenge, and tells her that she will not be allowed to take any further challenges until she speaks to Shyamala. Flora takes the last run, and immediately applies full gas without even touching the steering wheel, promptly hitting every single rim in the opening stretch before eventually getting wedged, forcing Andrew and Frank to clear out the rims from underneath the car. Flora restarts her run, only to get stuck again almost immediately, leading to the crew having to get her unstuck. While she ultimately hits fewer objects (29) than Margherita, Andrew judges Flora's run to be the worst based on her extreme carelessness.
Mustang Challenge: Icy Corner: In one of the show's traditional challenges, the drivers are each tasked with approaching an icy corner at 40 km/h, and applying and releasing their brakes in time to take the corner without skidding. Each driver will have five attempts. Kevin drives at nearly double the requested speed on his first run, and crashes through the wall. On his second run, he spends so much time checking his speed that he doesn't look where he's going, and doesn't even brake before hitting the wall. In his remaining three runs, Kevin goes too slowly each time and continues to demonstrate his problems with target fixation, never once looking where he wants to go. Diane nearly gets the challenge right on the first go, but Stephane unwittingly distracts her on her first run by constantly reading her speedometer out loud, causing her to execute the manoeuvre too late and clip the wall. He keeps quiet on her second run, and she passes with ease. Margherita, fresh from a session with Shyamala in which she learned valuable techniques for dealing with stress, does even better and passes at the first time of asking. Flora goes too fast in her first run and stares at the wall, which she duly crashes through. She actually gets the manoeuvre right on her second go, but speeds again and clips the wall. She continues to speed on her next two runs and this time doesn't even look where she wants to go, once again crashing through the wall. On her last run, she finally gets the speed right, but stares straight at the wall and never releases the brake, which leads to her destroying most of the course.
When meeting with the experts, Kevin asks to be considered for graduation out of a desire to avoid being in the final, but is immediately shot down and told that there's no way he will graduate. Flora is more realistic about her chances, and admits she may be Canada's Worst Driver. Margherita feels that she's ready to graduate, while Diane is unsure. With Kevin and Flora obviously unfit to graduate, the decision comes down to Diane and Margherita, and Diane's lack of enthusiasm over graduating combined with a feeling that Margherita is more technically skilled leads to Tim, Philippe and Shyamala voting for her to graduate. Andrew and Cam are adamant that Diane is a much better driver overall and that Margherita is not ready to graduate, but the other three do not change their minds, leading to Margherita being the penultimate graduate for this season. While Andrew tells Margherita to her face that he totally disagrees with the decision and that Diane should be leaving instead of her, he nonetheless congratulates her on having improved so much, as she had been one of the worst drivers in rehab during the first few episodes.
Original airdate: December 17, 2012
The Forward and Reverse Slalom: For this challenge, the drivers are placed at the wheel of the Ford Crown Victoria "taxicab" previously used in the Distracted Driving challenge in Episode 3 (with the other two candidates as their passengers), and given the task of driving forwards and then in reverse through a slalom course containing six foam people. Each driver will have ten attempts to complete the course in less than fifty seconds. Kevin is first, and on his first run, he drives too fast and holds the steering wheel awkwardly, resulting in him hitting a foam person. After being advised by Andrew to go slower and correct his grip, Kevin quickly masters the forward section, but soon runs into massive difficulties on the reverse section, constantly hitting the obstacles and destroying the car's front bumper. While Andrew concedes that Kevin's glass eye is a major impediment, he also notes that Kevin could try turning his head more, using his mirrors or asking Flora or Diane for help, none of which he does. Before his last run, Lenny gives Kevin some encouragement, but Kevin approaches the run with a defeatist attitude, and this time, can't even complete the forward part. Diane immediately aces the forward section, but ends up clipping a foam person on her first shot at the reverse section, in no small part due to Kevin (who is sat next to her) constantly fidgeting. After getting him to swap with Flora (which also gives the car a better weight distribution) she passes with ease on her second attempt. Flora is the last driver to take the course, and her performance proves to be the worst; like Kevin, she takes two goes to get the forward section right, before a series of ultimately disastrous attempts on the reverse section which see her repeatedly go off the tarmac altogether. She comes close to passing on her second-last run, but ends up crashing into the blocks which make up the starting section. After she goes off the track yet again on her final attempt, Andrew comments that were the title of Canada's Worst Driver decided solely on this challenge, Flora would be the worst.
Mustang Challenge: The Mega-Challenge: This year's Mega-Challenge is a full kilometre in length, and as in most previous years consists of elements from many of this year's challenges. It begins with the drivers having to go through five Eye of the Needle arches, then having to swerve and avoid a foam pedestrian, before having to drive forwards and then backwards through a lengthy course of wheel rims. The drivers then have to do a reverse flick, and then end the run with a handbrake J-turn. Flora gets the first run, and hits every single arch in the Eye of the Needle section before mowing down the foam pedestrian. She then has a bad run through the wheel rim track in both directions, takes her reverse flick much too early and crashes through the outer wall of that part of the course, and then fails to turn at all in the final J-turn, crashing through both the foam Flora that serves as an obstacle, and the outer wall. Diane goes next, and drives far too quickly to begin with, hitting most of the arches on the opening run, though she at least avoids the foam pedestrian. After a comparatively decent run through the wheel rim segment, she then takes her reverse spin-out, but execute it a little too late and clips the far wall. On the final J-turn segment, Diane clips the foam Diane, skids and then goes even further off the course than Flora did. Diane is tearful after this run and proclaims herself Canada's Worst Driver; Andrew admits that he thought she'd do better, but still considers her far from the worst. Kevin also drives far too fast on the first straight; he somehow avoids hitting the first three arches, but completely smashes the last two. This is followed by an abysmal run through the wheel rim section, in which he manages to wedge himself on the rims during the reverse part, requiring Andrew to step in and free the car. On the reverse spin-out, Kevin takes too long to start turning the wheel and doesn't turn it far enough when he does, crashing off-course. When doing the final J-turn, Kevin completely forgets how to do the manoeuvre and hits the footbrake instead of applying the handbrake, losing control and going off the course yet again. Kevin's run is judged to be the worst by Andrew, as he hit more obstacles than Diane and Flora combined.
The Road Test: This year's road test once again takes place on the streets of Hamilton, Ontario, in a convertible version of the Mustang that has been featured throughout the season. Diane is first up and turns in a flawless performance, not making a single mistake (aside from going slightly too slow on the highway) in what Andrew describes as the best Road Test performance in the show's history. During the run, Diane discusses the confidence she has gained from being on the show, and even admits that it has improved her relationship with Stephane. At the run's conclusion, Andrew tells Diane that even without Flora or Kevin having done their runs, she will be this year's final graduate for certain. Flora very quickly starts making basic mistakes, including stopping at every intersection even when the lights are on green, failing to signal, making prohibited turns, making turns from the wrong lane, driving into oncoming traffic, and even driving head-on into a bus depot. She then takes two attempts to get on the highway, missing her first turn after being too nervous to make it. Her actual run on the highway proves relatively uneventful, though she drives well below the speed limit. To cap things off, she even parks several feet away from the pavement at the end of the run. Kevin has the last run, and for the most part, the mistakes he makes are the same as Flora's, making turns from the wrong lane and cutting off other drivers in particular. Andrew also notices that Kevin tends to drift between lanes and very rarely looks in any direction other than straight ahead when driving, which only exacerbates the problem caused by the lack of vision in his right eye. His highway run also goes without major incident, but Andrew again tells him that he needs to be far more observant of the other traffic. As they return to the starting parking lot, Andrew asks Kevin if he really thinks he should be driving, and while Kevin admits that he probably shouldn't be driving, he says that he doesn't intend to give up.
In an obvious decision, Diane becomes the final graduate, with Andrew and the panel describing her as a "model student." It's a different story for Kevin and Flora, though; both are deemed completely unfit to drive by the experts, yet both are adamant that they will never give up their licences. In the final discussion, Tim and Philippe deem Kevin to be the worst, feeling that while Kevin and Flora are equally bad overall, Flora has a slim chance of improving someday, while Kevin's missing eye has proved to be an insurmountable problem on top of his existing issues. Cam and Shyamala, on the other hand, deem Flora to be the worse of the two, feeling that she showed a dismissive attitude toward the entire process, and that while Kevin had at least put some effort into the city drive, Flora made no real attempt to improve her driving. Andrew has the casting vote, but notes on the difficulty of actually deciding who is worse; both passed just two challenges over the course of the whole season, both have nominators who tend to exacerbate their problems (Lenny by not pushing Kevin harder, and Frank by constantly interfering with Flora's driving and giving her bad advice), Flora did worse on the Slalom challenge and Kevin worse on the Mega-Challenge, and both were equally bad (in slightly different ways) on the final Road Test.
This lack of a clear difference between the two leads to an unprecedented decision; both Kevin and Flora are named Canada's Worst Driver, with Andrew giving each a separate part of the trophy and implying that had either one of them volunteered to give up their licence, they would have avoided the title. As the two are driven away by Lenny and Frank respectively, Andrew ends the season on a somber note by voicing his concern that two drivers could be so equally and so terrifyingly bad.
