Marco Iannuzzi

**Marco Ianuzzi** was a contestant on Season 2.

## Background

*Retrieved from CBC.ca*

Our four competitors might be competing for the title of Canada's Smartest Person, but this challenger already has another impressive title under his belt: Marco happens to be a Grey Cup-winning wide receiver with the BC Lions football team! Not only was Marco a first-round draft pick in the CFL, but he's also received a community award from the Lions and an honour from the chief of police for his outstanding sportsmanship and contributions to the team. Like all of our clever competitors, Marco's list of achievements doesn't stop there — outside of football season, he's an investment advisor with his own business. Educated at Harvard and MIT, Marco studied economics, architecture, and environmental science during his academic career. Talk about an intelligent athlete! In addition to his dual pursuits, Marco also gives back to the community by sitting on boards and serving as an ambassador for various important charitable causes, including some dedicated to kids — something that's important to Marco and his wife, who have three young children. They'll be able to cheer on their dad as he makes a play for a win on tonight's show!

Marco Iannuzzi is a Grey Cup-winning wide receiver with the BC Lions. He was a first round draft pick in the CFL and was awarded the "Jamie Taras Community Award" from the BC Lions as well as the "Honorary Challenge Coin" from the Chief of Police for his outstanding sportsmanship and significant contributions to his team.

When he’s not on the football field, Marco is an investment advisor who operates his own wealth management practice. Formally educated at Harvard and MIT, Marco initially studied economics while pursuing pre-med, before later completing his degree in Architecture and Environmental Science.

In 2013, Marco was named to Surrey’s Top 25 under 25 list. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the MS Society of Canada as well as Sources BC. Beyond these two Directorships, he is an ambassador for over a dozen charities including BC Children's Hospital, Els for Autism Canada, BC Cancer Foundation, Kidsport and Kids Up Front.

He and his wife have three child‎ren aged 7, 4 and 2.

## Episode 206

Before Marco was summoned to the stage, a clip of him and the other three contestants, Margaret Fay, Amanda Khan, and Permadi Witjaksono, introducing themselves was shown. In this clip, apart from introducing himself, Marco stated that "I quit" is not part of his dictionary and that he is proving it. In the first challenge, Double Take, Marco got 6 correct answers. As a result, Marco finished in 2nd place and was awarded 3 overall points.

In the second challenge, Twitterverse, Marco was the second contestant to present his tweet based upon the theme of **blind date** and he had composed, "WHOOPEE! DOING THE BOOTY DANCE. #WIN." Guest judge Dan Levy commented that it was short, concise, and to the point. Dan ranked Marco in last place for his tweet and Marco was awarded 1 overall point as a result.

In the third challenge, Faces, Margaret, Marco, and Amanda all got 5 correct answers, but Marco answered faster on average than the other two did and Margaret answered faster on average than Amanda did. As a result, Marco finished in 1st place and was awarded 5 overall points. In the fourth challenge, Mix Master, Marco and Permadi both earned 1 point, but the latter answered faster on average than the former did. As a result, Marco finished in last place and was awarded 1 overall point.

In the fifth challenge, Balls of Fury, Marco finished catching his red balls 41 seconds into the challenge and correctly completed his equation grid and finished 1 minute and 3 seconds into the challenge. As a result, Marco finished in 1st place and was awarded 10 overall points. After the first five challenges, Marco had received a total of 20 overall points. As a result, he finished in 1st place and was congratulated by Jessi, along with Amanda, for qualifying for the Gauntlet.

In the sixth and final challenge, the Gauntlet, Amanda initially gained a slight lead over Marco as the former completed the linguistic section. However, after unscrambling his final word right after Amanda did, Marco was able to catch up to and surpass Amanda at the visual section and he widened his lead over her over the next couple of sections. At the physical section, Amanda, who was already behind Marco going into it, failed three times at transporting three bricks across her teeter-totter. Meanwhile, Marco had a flawless performance at the physical section and proceeded to the logical section, which he completed with some difficulty. Ultimately, Amanda stopped at the physical section as Marco hit the buzzer, which signalled his victory and his spot in the season finale. After the challenge ended and Marco was declared the sixth finalist of the season, Marco and the other three contestants celebrated onstage with Jessi.

### Summary of Results

 3

  WON  This contestant won the final challenge and advanced to the finale.
  LOST  This contestant lost the final challenge and was eliminated from the competition.
  ELIMINATED  This contestant was already eliminated from the competition.
     This contestant qualified for the final challenge due to a sufficient total score.
     This contestant was eliminated from the competition due to an insufficient total score.
     Denotes a challenge that is based on linguistic intelligence.
     Denotes a challenge that is based on physical intelligence.
     Denotes a challenge that is based on musical intelligence.
     Denotes a challenge that is based on visual intelligence.
     Denotes a challenge that is based on social intelligence.
     Denotes a challenge that is based on logical intelligence.
### Notes

1. ↑ Despite sharing a total score of 5, Marco answered faster on average than both Margaret and Amanda did and Margaret answered faster on average than Amanda did in the challenge. Therefore, Marco, Margaret, and Amanda placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, respectively, for this challenge.
2. ↑ Despite sharing a total score of 1, Permadi answered faster on average than Marco did in the challenge. Therefore, Permadi and Marco placed 3rd and 4th, respectively, for this challenge.

## Episode 208

Before Marco was summoned to the stage, a clip of him and the other six finalists, Tim Blais, Anthony Craparotta, Alex Manea, Dan Tweyman, Jason Vander-Hoek, and Katy Warren, introducing themselves was shown. In this clip, Marco stated that he would be facing the best of the best, so that would bring out the best in him in turn. A narration also recapped in this clip that Marco proved in his preliminary episode that he possesses a wide range of smarts and a competitive edge few can match. Jessi greeted the contestants and made them take notice of an empty eighth podium to the left of Jason's. She then announced that it is a wildcard spot that would be taken by the contestant who had earned the highest total overall score without winning their preliminary episode's Gauntlet. This additional finalist was revealed to be Heather Whittaker, who joined the other finalists on stage. In the first challenge, the Speed Round, Marco received an overall percentage score of 54%. As a result, he finished in last place and was eliminated along with Alex. Jessi prompted applause for Alex and Marco in spite of their shared elimination.

For unknown reasons, Marco was not present when the other finalists, Katy's mother, and Jessi celebrated onstage after Katy was crowned Canada's Smartest Person.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 http://web.archive.org/web/20151224013644/http://www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/participants/marco
2. ↑ https://www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/blog/meet-episode-6-competitors