Episode 301

The premiere episode of Season 3 of *Canada's Smartest Person* aired on CBC at 8:00 PM on Sunday, November 13, 2016.

## Synopsis

The episode opened with a narration about how thirty standout Canadians will be pushed to the limit in what is the show's most unique season yet. In order to present the six contestants that would be competing in this episode, a clip of Susan Forgues, Jonathan Gagnon, Vincent Law, Stephanie Harvey, Steve Norn, and Rup Magon introducing themselves in that order was shown as they entered the stage. Jessi Cruickshank greeted the contestants and informed them that, for the first time ever, the show would make a $20,000 donation to the charity of the winner's choice. Jessi also warned the contestants that eliminations would be taking place all throughout an episode this season. Jessi announced that contestants would be competing in a universal challenge, the Speed Round, as their first challenge and that the bottom two finishers would be eliminated. The Speed Round tested, in order, the contestants' musical intelligence, visual intelligence, physical intelligence, social intelligence, linguistic intelligence, and logical intelligence. After the challenge was over, but before she revealed the results, Jessi introduced CSP SmartPlay as found on the show's Facebook page before stating that the show was going into a commercial break.

Jessi revealed that, in the Speed Round, Susan finished in 1st place with an overall percentage score of 70%, Jonathan finished in 2nd place with an overall percentage score of 67%, Steve finished in 3rd place with an overall percentage score of 61%, and Stephanie finished in 4th place with an overall percentage score of 59%, leaving Vincent and Rup as the bottom two finishers with each having received an overall percentage score of 49%. Therefore, Susan was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Jonathan was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Steve was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, Stephanie was awarded 1 for finishing in 4th place, and Vincent and Rup were eliminated from the competition for being the bottom two finishers. Jessi prompted applause for Vincent and Rup in spite of their shared elimination. Following this, a more elaborate clip presenting Susan, Jonathan, Steve, and Stephanie in that order was shown. Jessi then introduced the Randomizer, which would randomly select the intelligence categories for the next three challenges, to the contestants. The Randomizer selected musical intelligence for the second challenge with Mix Master being the corresponding challenge. Jessi then introduced Dextrous One, stating that he would serve as a guest DJ for the challenge. Jessi asked Dextrous One if he was simply born smart, to which he responded that he was born with a musical gift but that he works hard every day to perfect his skills. By the end of the challenge, Susan earned 1 point, Jonathan earned 3, Stephanie earned 4, and Steve earned 2. Therefore, Stephanie was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Jonathan was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Steve was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Susan was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first two challenges, Susan, Jonathan, and Stephanie had each received a total of 6 overall points and Steve had received a total of 4. Jessi then asked Dextrous One to play everybody into another commercial break and joked that he would have to go to bed afterwards.

The Randomizer selected linguistic intelligence for the third challenge with Spin-a-Speech being the corresponding challenge. Jessi then introduced Scott Thompson, stating that he would serve as a guest judge in the challenge. Jessi asked Scott if he depends more on his good looks or his linguistic intelligence to succeed in his career as a comedian, to which he responded that he may have depended on his looks when he was younger but he has to depend on his linguistic intelligence more than ever now. By the end of the challenge, Scott ranked Jonathan in 1st place, Susan in 2nd place, Stephanie in 3rd place, and Steve in last place. Therefore, Jonathan was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Susan was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Stephanie was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Steve was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first three challenges, Jonathan had received a total of 11 overall points, Susan had received a total of 9, Stephanie had received a total of 8, and Steve had received a total of 5. Since the contestant who was currently in 4th place would not be advancing to the fourth challenge, Steve was eliminated from the competition. Jessi prompted applause for Steve in spite of his elimination and congratulated the remaining three contestants for their progress before stating that the show was going into another commercial break.

The Randomizer selected logical intelligence and visual intelligence for the fourth challenge with Gear Head being the corresponding challenge. Given that this would be a hybrid challenge, Jessi announced that it would be worth double the points. Stephanie triggered her whistle 1 minute and 37 seconds into the challenge and Jonathan triggered his whistle 2 minutes and 7 seconds into the challenge, forcing Susan to stop her progress. Therefore, Stephanie was awarded 10 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Jonathan was awarded 6 for finishing in 2nd place, and Susan was awarded 2 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, as a final total score for the first four challenges, Stephanie had received a total of 18 overall points and finished in 1st place, Jonathan had received a total of 17 and finished in 2nd place, and Susan had received a total of 11 and finished in 3rd place. Since only the top two finishers could advance to the Gauntlet, Jessi congratulated Stephanie and Jonathan on making it to the Gauntlet and prompted applause for Susan in spite of her elimination. 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' physical intelligence, logical intelligence, visual intelligence, musical intelligence, and linguistic intelligence. Jessi told the contestants to take to their starting positions and wished them both luck before the challenge began. Jonathan maintained a healthy lead over Stephanie over the first three sections. However, Jonathan had a lot of trouble getting past the second gate at the musical section, which allowed for Stephanie to catch up to and overtake him. Though Jonathan did eventually get past said second gate, Stephanie was already about to complete the linguistic section. Ultimately, Jonathan stopped at the musical section as Stephanie hit the buzzer, which signalled her victory and her spot in the season finale. Jessi reminded the viewers that they should keep trying out challenges using CSP SmartPlay as found on the show's Facebook page. The show closed with Jonathan, Stephanie, 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 remained in the competition 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.

## Current Placements

### Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Despite sharing an overall percentage score of 49% in the Speed Round, it is presumed that Vincent answered faster on average than Rup did based on their eventual call out order. Therefore, Vincent placed higher than Rup.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/blog/tk