Canada's Worst Driver 2
This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2024) |
Canada's Worst Driver 2 | |
---|---|
Season 2 | |
No. of episodes | 8 |
Release | |
Original network | Discovery Channel |
Original release | October 16 December 4, 2006 | –
Season chronology |
Canada's Worst Driver 2 is the second season of the Canadian reality TV show Canada's Worst Driver, which aired on the Discovery Channel. As with the past season, eight people, nominated by their family or friends, enter the Driver Rehabilitation Centre to improve their driving skills. In season 2, Driver Rehabilitation Centre is located at CFB Borden. Unlike the previous season, when the focus was on Winter Driving, the focus of this season was on Summer Driving. The initial drive started in Wasaga Beach, Ontario and the final road test occurred in Toronto, Ontario. The Driver Rehabilitation Program was one week shorter, due to two candidates graduating in the penultimate episode of this season.
The candidates in season 2 included a 43-year-old video game race car champion who had trouble curbing his speed on the open road; a 22-year-old student with $10,000 in unpaid tickets for speeding and parking; and a police school student who had been pulled over 40 times in 3 years.[1]
Experts
[edit]Only one expert returns from Canada's Worst Driver:
- Markus Agyeman is an insurance broker who has insured the worst of the worst at his insurance company and provides a financial standpoint to the judging table.
- Juliana Chiovitti is a performance driving instructor and has an illustrious career in auto racing, including a first-place finish in the Formula 2000 series.
- Cam Woolley is a sergeant with the Ontario Provincial Police's Highway Safety Division, specializing in traffic-related incidents, investigating traffic crimes and collisions while promoting public awareness of traffic safety. He has escorted world leaders, royalty and the Pope through some of Ontario's major highways and is considered to be the face of the OPP.
- Scott Marshall is in his second season as the show's head driving instructor.
Contestants
[edit]- Karen Carson, 49 and licensed for 28 years, from Port Perry, Ontario, is a grandmother who was once confident as a driver but is now too terrified to drive. When she does drive with her husband and nominator, Allan Carson, a police officer, it leads to fighting in the car. As a result, she has not driven at all for over a year and has not driven on a highway for longer. She drives a black Subaru Forester.
- Matthew "Matt" Elkind, 29 and licensed for 13 years, from Toronto, Ontario, is a real estate agent who, because of his busy lifestyle, likes to multitask, so much so that he could be eating, smoking, reading a map, sending email and talking on a cell phone while driving with his knees. He steadfastly refuses to wear a seatbelt, as he believes it is the key reason why his life was saved in a car crash. He was nominated by his friend, Suzanne, a fashion executive. He drives a green Cadillac STS Seville.
- Henrietta Gallant, 61 and licensed for 35 years, from Rockland, Ontario (near Ottawa) (now lives in Summerside, Prince Edward Island), suffers from extreme stress while at the wheel, leading to many accidents. During the series, it is discovered that, due to having 20/100 vision like Heather Reynolds from the previous season, meaning she could only see 20% as well as other people, most of her troubles were caused by not having a proper prescription for her glasses. She was nominated by her husband, Andy Gallant, a civil servant. She drives a red Chevrolet Impala.
- Sean McConnell, 43 and licensed for 27 years, from Stratford, Ontario, is a champion video game racecar driver, having won an online competition, but uses the same techniques he uses while playing the game when driving in real life. He believes that he is safer by driving above the speed limit as it keeps him away from other bad drivers and treats every stop as if it's the start of a race. He was nominated by his niece, Melena. He drives a red Chevrolet Cavalier Z24.
- Colin Sheppard, 20 and licensed for three years, from Whitby, Ontario, is a Police Foundations graduate. Similar to Sean, he often drives above the speed limit and has gained over 30 tickets, but often uses his license as a Police Foundations graduate to get himself out of trouble. Despite this, he claims that cops "aren't the smartest people out there" and often gets involved in street racing. He was nominated by his friend, Jeremy McCaig, an independent distributor. He drives a black manual transmission Honda Civic.
- Jodi Slobodesky, 31 and licensed for 15 years, from Steinbach, Manitoba (near Winnipeg), is easily frustrated behind the wheel and becomes a driving hazard as a result. On occasions, she begins to forget basic driving notions such as the meaning of a green light. She was nominated by her husband, Sam Slobodesky, an auto body technician. She drives a red GMC Safari and drove a grey Pontiac G6 to the rehab centre.
- Michael Telford, 40 and licensed for 24 years, from West Vancouver, British Columbia (now resides on Vancouver Island), is a landlord who took nine attempts to get his driver's license in 1982 and cannot deal with surprises while driving. He also has a tendency to hold his breath when entering a tunnel and continues to hold it until he exits. He was nominated by his best friend, Eric Kozak. He drives a blue Mercedes C230 and drove a silver Ford Fusion to the rehab centre.
- Shannon Willemsen, 22 and licensed for five years, from Calgary, Alberta, is a student and a mother-to-be who enjoys totaling cars. She has 12 demerits on her license, two away from having her license revoked, while having accumulated over $10,000 in parking tickets, including a $489 ticket for driving 60 km/h over the speed limit. Her cars last on average 3–6 months before being totaled and, at this rate, she may not afford to drive for much longer due to accumulated debts from tickets and rising insurance costs, much less keep her license. She was nominated by her best friend, Sara Bailie. She drives a blue GMC Jimmy with a Chevrolet Blazer grill and drove a black Toyota Echo to the rehab centre.
Synopsis
[edit]Contestant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5[1] | 6[2] | 7 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Henrietta Gallant | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | CWD |
Michael Telford | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | RUNNER-UP |
Shannon Willemsen | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT |
Sean McConnell | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | |
Jodi Slobodesky | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | |
Colin Sheppard | IN | IN | IN | EXPL | |||
Karen Carson | IN | IN | OUT | ||||
Matt Elkind | IN | OUT |
- (CWD) The contestant became Canada's Worst Driver.
- (RUNNER-UP) The contestant was runner-up for Canada's Worst Driver.
- (OUT) The contestant graduated.
- (IN) The contestant was shortlisted for graduation.
- (EXPL) The contestant was expelled.
- ^1 The judges considered Sean to be the episode's graduation candidate, but decided not to graduate anyone because Sean refused to admit that driving slower was safer.
- ^2 Sean graduated immediately after Jodi on the condition that Melena readmit him to the Driver Rehabilitation Centre should he be caught speeding.
Episodes
[edit]No. | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | TBA | October 16, 2006 | |
| |||
2 | TBA | October 23, 2006 | |
In deliberation, the judges are split between Matt, Shannon and Jodi. In the end, Matt is the first graduate as it's clear that, without being distracted, he's a better driver. However, Andrew makes Matt promise to never drive distracted ever again and gives him a Bluetooth headset as a parting gift. | |||
3 | TBA | October 30, 2006 | |
In deliberation, Scott and Cam are up for graduating Karen since she's had the best performance in both the Camping Challenge and the Gas Station Challenge, as well as her in-car relationship with Allan has improved, with her becoming more assertive and more in control. Marcus and Juliana, however, believe Michael should graduate since he has better driving skills and Marcus brings up the fact Karen ran through the wall in the Wall Challenge (even though she stated she learned the lesson afterwards). With a 2-2 tie between the judges, Andrew is left with the deciding vote and decides that Karen is the newest graduate. | |||
4 | TBA | November 6, 2006 | |
Although he is convinced that he duped everyone with this stunt, Cam is not convinced and calls Colin's bluff by threatening to have his driving license put up for medical review over these "blackouts," causing Colin to change his story and claim that it was a one-off event. He then calls a friend and brags about his destroying the windshield in the previous challenge, completely unaware that all the other contestants and nominators, including Jeremy, overhear this and predict that he will either be named Canada's Worst Driver or be in the finale, while Colin arrogantly disagrees and claims that he will graduate this episode. The judges are stumped on whom to graduate due to the poor performances. After 30 minutes of deliberation, the experts come to a short list of Michael and Sean. Marcus and Scott think Sean should graduate, while Cam and Juliana think Michael should graduate. However, Andrew, who is left with the deciding vote for the second straight episode, has a completely different idea—in what would have been the graduation ceremony, Andrew announces that Colin would be getting his car key back, much to everyone's shock, but not before telling Colin that because of his immaturity and refusal to take the lessons seriously, he is expelled from rehab, stating that they're clearly not wasting their time on drivers who don't want to make a change and destroys the key with a grinder and handing what's left of the key to him. This marks the first time the series (including international versions) has had someone removed from rehab. As Colin, Jeremy and his car are towed all the way back to his hometown, Andrew makes a final comment: "Let's all hope Colin loses his license before his life." | |||
5 | TBA | November 13, 2006 | |
In the end, despite Sean's performance this episode, none of the experts were enthusiastic about graduating any of the contestants. Andrew pointed out that they still had the option to graduate no one and in the end, that was the decision they came to. | |||
6 | TBA | November 20, 2006 | |
In stark contrast to the last two episodes, the panel feel that everyone (barring only Henrietta) has shown enough improvement to be seriously considered for graduation. After a lengthy discussion, the panel unanimously agrees that Jodi is the most improved overall and becomes the next graduate, once again ensuring that there will not be three women in the finale. After Jodi leaves, Andrew then makes the surprise announcement that Sean is also graduating this episode, for finally seeing the error of his speeding habits, sending Shannon into the finale with Henrietta and Michael, with Sean promising that he will always stick to the speed limit from now on and that he will buy his own go-kart and take up track racing in order to get his thrills, though Andrew gives him and Melena a set of bumper stickers with the show's phone number on it in case he ever speeds in public again. | |||
7 | TBA | November 27, 2006 | |
In their final discussion, the experts immediately agree that while she still has some way to go, Shannon is definitely not Canada's Worst Driver, as, despite committing the most moving violations during her Road Test with nine, she improved the most out of the final three and learned to take responsibility for her actions. As for the remaining two, however, Scott and Markus judge Henrietta to be Canada's Worst Driver, feeling she made more mental errors than Michael, with Markus feeling that she's a walking time bomb who shouldn't drive at all, while Sgt. Cam and Juliana judge Michael as such, feeling that Henrietta would have had a better final drive had she actually been able to finish and that he was the worst in the Trailer Reversing Challenge, the Mega Challenge and was the closest of all three to an accident on the Road Test when he nearly cut off another driver. However, Andrew points out that even though Michael did hit his "mother" in the Mega Challenge and took over three hours to complete the Road Test despite committing the fewest moving violations with six, not to mention coming the closest to an accident, Henrietta didn't even get halfway through hers without quitting and that not only did she pass far fewer challenges in rehab than Michael, she often refused to take fault for her failures. The experts remain divided until the end, with Andrew once again left with the deciding vote, which swings in Michael's favour as, despite performing the worst in both the Trailer Reversing Challenge and the Mega Challenge, the fact that Henrietta quit the Road Test before making it halfway through, whereas Michael attacked the Road Test head-on despite taking over three hours to complete, means that Henrietta is Canada's Worst Driver and is the second person (first woman) to be awarded the trophy, while Michael therefore fails to graduate. | |||
8 | "147 Driving Don'ts" | December 4, 2006 | |
In this season's recap episode, Andrew explains the specific don'ts of driving as illustrated by the contestants excluding Henrietta and Matt—Michael (analytical expert), Jodi (motivational expert), Colin (ethical expert), Sean (logical expert), Shannon (emotional expert) and Karen (backseat bullying expert). |