Canada's Worst Driver 3

Canada's Worst Driver 3
Country of origin Canada
No. of episodes 8
Release
Original network Discovery Channel Canada
Original release October 29, 2007 – December 17, 2007

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.

Judges

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:

Joining them are:

Contestants

The eight contestants in this edition of Canada's Worst Driver are as follows:

Synopsis

Contestant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Notes
Jason Zhang IN IN IN IN IN IN CWD
Shelby D'Souza IN IN IN IN IN IN RUNNER-UP
Jennifer Kritzer IN IN IN IN IN IN OUT
Ed Porter IN IN IN IN IN OUT
Billie-Jean Leslie IN IN IN IN OUT
Marnie Maddison IN IN IN OUT
Thomas Hobbs IN IN OUT
Denice Koke IN OUT
     (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.

Episode 1: Rock Bottom

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.

Episode 2: Car Confidential

Original Airdate: November 5, 2007

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.

Episode 3: Cool Bus

Original Airdate: November 12, 2007

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.

Episode 4: Skid Marks

Original Airdate: November 19, 2007

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.

Episode 5: Bumpy Road Ahead

Original Airdate: November 26, 2007

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.

Episode 6: Unhappy Trails

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).

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.

Episode 7: Road Tests

Original Airdate: December 10, 2007

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".

Special Episode: 101 Problems on Canadian Roads

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."

See also

External links

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