Canada's Smartest Person

- Season 1

(2014)

Hosts Jessi and Jeff go through the concept of intelligence used for the show, that developed by Harvard University professor Howard Gardner. His theory is that intelligence is made up of six largely independent categories: linguistic, logical, musical, physical, social and visual. They discuss each of the six with experts, and provide real life examples of people who possess this needed intelligence for their careers. They speak of the thousands of applications received and narrowing those down to thirty-two contestants. They discuss how the challenges for the competitive aspect ...

The four contestants are a novelist/psychology student, a cheese salesman, a stay-at-home mom and a firefighter/semi-professional poker player. Challenge 1, testing music, entails matching the two identical chords or melodies played in each set of five. Challenge 2, testing social, requires the contestants to tell if guest Raine Maida is telling the truth or a lie in four stories he relays about his band, Our Lady Peace. Challenge 3, testing visual, has the contestants putting together two two-dimensional geometric puzzles. Challenge 4, testing logic, has the contestants acting as cashier at ...

The four contestants are a Ph.D. in Physics/physics professor, an ad copywriter/martial artist/figure skater, a radio talk show host, and a director of a First Nations tribal council. Challenge 1, testing music, entails identifying which instruments are dropped and in which order when an eight piece combo tune is played a second time. Challenge 2, testing social, requires the contestants to give a thirty second pep talk to the Mustangs, a youth girls soccer team on a losing streak, with John Herdman, coach of the Canadian women's national soccer team, acting as guest judge. ...

The four contestants are an author/entrepreneur, a boxer/yogi, a journalist/editor-in-chief, and a retired teacher/student of life. Challenge 1, testing logic, entails doing a series of mathematical calculations in quick succession. Challenge 2, testing linguistic, requires the contestants to create a haiku on a theme using only a list of ninety-nine given words. Challenge 3, testing visual, has the contestants racing to put together a set of puzzle pieces inside two geometric shapes. Challenge 4, testing social, has the contestants determining a person's emotional ...

The four contestants are a fighter pilot, a singer/songwriter, a physician who does humanitarian work, and a doctoral candidate in medieval literature/archer/performing artist. Challenge 1, testing visual, entails matching the two identical images in sets of six. Challenge 2, testing social, requires the contestants to give a motivational 30 second speech to his/her sales team that has just had their worst quarter ever. Challenge 3, testing logic, has the contestants putting a water piping system together with set pieces that must go through various point along a wall...

The four contestants are an orthopedic surgeon/power lifter, a teacher/football player/musician, a cryptographer/former navy man, and an actor/singer/dancer in the form of a drag queen. Challenge 1, testing linguistic, has the contestants making as many three or more letter words out of two scrambles of six letters apiece. Challenge 2, testing social, requires the contestants to tell if guest Shannon Tweed-Simmons is telling the truth or a lie in four stories she relays about her life. Challenge 3, testing visual, has the contestants choosing which three out of nine complex shapes...

The four contestants are a master electrician, a high school student who is his class president, a stay-at-home mom and consultant, and a poet. Challenge 1, testing logic, entails doing a series of mathematical calculations in quick succession. Challenge 2, testing linguistic, requires the contestants to create a haiku on a theme using only a list of ninety-nine given words. Challenge 3, testing music, entails identifying which instruments are dropped and in which order when an eight piece combo tune is played a second time. Challenge 4, testing social, requires the ...

The four contestants are an Olympic medalling swimmer/photographer, a psychiatric nursing student/DIY handyperson, a media and visual artist, and a law student/tarot card reader. Challenge 1, testing linguistic, has the contestants making as many three or more letter words out of two scrambles of six letters apiece. Challenge 2, testing social, requires the contestants to tell if guest Jason Priestley is telling the truth or a lie in four stories he relays about his life. Challenge 3, testing visual, has the contestants choosing which three out of nine complex shapes are overlaid on...

The eight finalists are put through two more preliminary rounds to narrow the field down to four. The first preliminary round, which includes all eight contestants, is a speed round, which entails competing in mini challenges back to back, those challenges which encompass all six areas of intelligence. The two contestants with the highest score move onto the final four, the two contestants with the lowest score being automatically eliminated. The middle four contestants move to the second preliminary round, where in pairs of two, the contestants will compete in more ...