Episode 207

The seventh episode of Season 2 of *Canada's Smartest Person*, **A Karaoke Nightmare**, aired on CBC at 8:00 PM on Sunday, November 15, 2015.

## Contestants

 **Julie Francis** | 27
 **Alex Pascuzzi** | 28
 **Jason Vander-Hoek** | 31

## Synopsis

The episode opened with a narration stating that four Canadians would battle it out for the last remaining spot in the season finale of *Canada's Smartest Person*. In order to present the four contestants that would be competing in this episode, a clip of Jason Vander-Hoek, Julie Francis, Anish Ahuja, and Alex Pascuzzi introducing themselves in that order was shown. Jessi Cruickshank greeted the contestants and reminded them that they would be tested on the six intelligences, Musical, Physical, Social, Visual, Linguistic, and Logical, throughout the night. She then introduced the Canada's Smartest Person app and announced that linguistic intelligence was going to be the first intelligence that the contestants would be tested on with Letter Chaos being the corresponding challenge. By the end of the challenge, Anish got 4 points, Julie got 2, Alex got 3, and Jason got 1. Therefore, Anish was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Alex was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Julie was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Jason was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi stated that the show was going into a commercial break.

Jessi announced that physical intelligence was going to be the second intelligence that the contestants would be tested on with Blow Back being the corresponding challenge. Jessi then introduced Dan O'Toole, stating that he would serve as a guest commentator for the challenge. Jessi asked Dan what the key to succeeding in this challenge would be, to which he responded that the contestants should know how to fire a one-timer. In order, Julie, Anish, and Alex were eliminated from the challenge, giving Jason the victory. As a result, Jason was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Alex was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Anish was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Julie was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first two challenges, Anish had received a total of 7 overall points, Alex and Jason had each received a total of 6, and Julie had received a total of 3. Jessi commented that this was a close race so far before stating that the show was going into another commercial break.

Jessi announced that logical intelligence was going to be the third intelligence that the contestants would be tested on with Portfolio Pro being the corresponding challenge. By the end of the challenge, Anish got 3 correct answers, Julie got 1, Alex got 4, and Jason got 4. The tie between Alex and Jason was settled by how quickly they answered. Since Jason answered faster on average than Alex did in the challenge, the former finished in 1st place and the latter finished in 2nd place. Therefore, Jason was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Alex was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Anish was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Julie was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first three challenges, Jason had received a total of 11 overall points, Anish and Alex had each received a total of 9, and Julie had received a total of 4. Directly after, Jessi announced that visual intelligence was going to be the fourth intelligence that the contestants would be tested on with Stack of Shapes being the corresponding challenge. By the end of the challenge, Anish got 4 correct answers, Julie got 1, Alex got 2, and Jason got 3. Therefore, Anish was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Jason was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Alex was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Julie was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first four challenges, Anish and Jason had each received a total of 14 overall points, Alex had received a total of 11, and Julie had received a total of 5. Jessi commented that she was impressed to see two red balls on the score banners before stating that the show was going into another commercial break.

Jessi announced that the next challenge would be worth double the points because it would test the last two remaining intelligences, musical intelligence and social intelligence, simultaneously with Karaoke Nightmare being the corresponding challenge. Jessi then introduced Jully Black, stating that she would serve as a guest judge in the challenge. Jessi asked Jully if she had ever done karaoke before, to which she responded that she had done so once when vacationing in Jamaica and had won the prize even though she pretended that she couldn't sing. By the end of the challenge, Jully ranked Jason in 1st place, Alex in 2nd place, Julie in 3rd place, and Anish in last place. Therefore, Jason was awarded 10 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Alex was awarded 6 for finishing in 2nd place, Julie was awarded 4 for finishing in 3rd place, and Anish was awarded 2 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, as a final total score for the first five challenges, Jason had received a total of 24 overall points, Alex had received a total of 17, Anish had received a total of 16, and Julie had received a total of 9. Since only the top two finishers could advance to the Gauntlet, Jessi congratulated Jason and Alex on making it to the Gauntlet and prompted applause for Anish and Julie in spite of their shared elimination. It was then revealed that, on a score out of 600, the best performers of the night were, in order, Louisfelix Langevin of Quebec City, Quebec, with a score of 570, Mark Rogers of Ottawa, Ontario, with a score of 567, Elisha Ricci of Georgetown, Ontario, with a score of 561, Neil Barbour of Crow Head, Newfoundland and Labrador, with a score of 560, Amanda Williams of Boundary Creek, New Brunswick, with a score of 555, Cockey Kaza of Chatham-Kent, Ontario, with a score of 553, emistry4 of Toronto, Ontario, with a score of 553, Maggie Hou of Mississauga, Ontario, with a score of 553, Catherine Vogelaar of Edmonton, Alberta, with a score of 551, and Melanie Guillemette of North Bay, Ontario, with a score of 551. Then, Jessi stated that the show was going into one last commercial break.

The final challenge, the Gauntlet, consisted of five sections that would test, in order, the contestants' linguistic intelligence, visual intelligence, musical intelligence, physical intelligence, and logical intelligence. Jessi told the contestants to take to their starting positions and wished them both luck before the challenge began. Jason initially gained a slight lead over Alex as the former completed the linguistic section. However, after unscrambling her final word right after Jason did, Alex was able to catch up to and surpass Jason at the visual section. By the time they reached the physical section, Alex and Jason were neck and neck. Jason's superior speed and flawless performance at the physical section allowed him to maintain a solid lead over Alex when proceeding to the logical section, which he completed with ease. Ultimately, Alex stopped at the physical section as Jason hit the buzzer, which signalled his victory and his spot in the season finale. Jessi reminded the viewers that they should keep trying out challenges on the Canada's Smartest Person app and that they could share their results on Facebook and Twitter. The show closed with the four contestants and Jessi celebrating onstage.

## Episode Progress

  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. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Despite sharing a total score of 4, Jason answered faster on average than Alex did in the challenge. Therefore, Jason and Alex placed 1st and 2nd, respectively, for this challenge.

## Current Placements

### Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Despite sharing a total score of 9 and an equal number of 1st place finishes in challenges, Denise placed 2nd in one challenge and Julie did not place 2nd in any. Therefore, Denise placed higher than Julie.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Despite sharing a total score of 11, Jennifer and Richard placed 1st in one challenge and Marielle did not place 1st in any. Therefore, Jennifer and Richard placed higher than Marielle. Between Jennifer and Richard, despite also sharing an equal number of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes in challenges, Jennifer had an average placement of 3.1 throughout her preliminary episode while Richard had an average placement of 3.3 throughout his. Therefore, Jennifer placed higher than Richard.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Despite sharing a total score of 16, Anish placed 1st in two challenges and Chris and Jessica placed 1st in one. Therefore, Anish placed higher than Chris and Jessica. Between Chris and Jessica, despite also sharing an equal number of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes in challenges, Chris had an average placement of 3 throughout his preliminary episode while Jessica had an average placement of 3.4 throughout hers. Therefore, Chris placed higher than Jessica.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Despite sharing a total score of 19, Andrew placed 1st in two challenges and Margaret placed 1st in one. Therefore, Andrew placed higher than Margaret.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Despite sharing a total score of 17, Maryanne placed 1st in one challenge and Alex did not place 1st in any. Therefore, Maryanne placed higher than Alex.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Despite sharing a total score of 19 and an equal number of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes in challenges, Maya had an average placement of 1.2 throughout her preliminary episode while Amanda had an average placement of 1.3 throughout hers. Therefore, Maya placed higher than Amanda.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Despite sharing a total score of 20, Petros placed 1st in two challenges and Jakob placed 1st in one. Therefore, Petros placed higher than Jakob.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/blog/episode-7-recap-dan-otoole-jully-black
2. ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2678863750