Dustin Herbison

**Dustin Herbison** was a contestant on Season 3.

## Background

*Retrieved from CBC.ca*

A teacher and all around handy guy, Dustin spends his days teaching, tinkering, and fixing things. He loves to share his passion for all things hands-on with the high school students he teaches, in woodworking, metalworking, drafting and design. Because he teaches such a wide variety of subjects, he's become something of a renaissance man. A gifted athlete, when he gets the chance he loves to play hockey, tennis, golf, volleyball and run.

Dustin is a car aficionado and is currently restoring a rare Japanese truck, so he can hit the road in style with his buddies. One other very unique talent he has up his sleeve is his ability to speak backwards on the spot!

Dustin is out to prove that those who are good with their hands are also sharp with their minds.

## Episode 305

As Dustin entered the stage with his competitors, a clip of him and the other five contestants, Tristan Campus, Melissa DeCiantis, Michelle Salt, Wali Shah, and Eric Yue, introducing themselves was shown. In this clip, Dustin stated that he wants to inspire his students and remind them that anything is possible if they put their minds to it. In the first challenge, the Speed Round, Dustin received an overall percentage score of 73%. As a result, Dustin finished in 2nd place and was awarded 3 overall points.

With the first challenge and the resulting double elimination out of the way, a more elaborate clip presenting Michelle, Dustin, Eric, and Melissa in that order was shown. In this clip, Dustin stated that he found his job as a shop teacher thanks to combining his passion for handiwork with his dream of working with youth. In the second challenge, Canvas Calamity, Dustin was the third contestant to present his artwork based upon the theme of **passion** and it consisted of a sun emitting lightwaves with blue and red colours. Guest judge Sean O'Neill commented that Dustin's artwork had great use of colour and that these colours complimented his motif of friendliness well. Sean ranked Dustin in 3rd place for his artwork and Dustin was awarded 2 overall points as a result.

In the third challenge, Extreme Layover, Dustin got 4 correct answers. As a result, Dustin finished in 2nd place and was awarded 3 overall points.

In the fourth challenge, Wobble Words, Dustin dropped his blocks once 24 seconds into the challenge and successfully stacked his word, 'trashy', 1 minute and 40 seconds into the challenge. As a result, Dustin finished in 1st place and was awarded 10 overall points. After the first four challenges, Dustin had received a total of 18 overall points. As a result, he finished in 1st place and was congratulated by Jessi, along with Eric, for qualifying for the Gauntlet.

In the fifth and final challenge, the Gauntlet, Dustin and Eric were neck and neck over the first two sections. However, Dustin struggled greatly at the visual section, allowing for Eric to develop an extensive lead over the next two sections. When Dustin finally realized his mistakes at the visual section and proceeded to correct them, it was too late as Eric completed the linguistic section soon after. Ultimately, Dustin stopped at the visual section as Eric hit the buzzer, which signalled his victory and his spot in the season finale. After the challenge ended and Eric was declared the final finalist of the season, Dustin and Eric celebrated onstage with Jessi.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 https://www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/participants/dustin-herb