Episode 202

The second episode of Season 2 of *Canada's Smartest Person*, **Blowback Night in Canada**, aired on CBC at 8:00 PM on Sunday, October 11, 2015.

## Contestants

 **Marielle Leigh** | 23
 **Maryanne Lewell** | 40
 **Ira Timothy** | 36

## Synopsis

The episode opened with a narration stating that four Canadians who beat out thousands in casting would battle it out for a 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 Tim Blais, Maryanne Lewell, Ira Timothy, and Marielle Leigh 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 visual intelligence was going to be the first intelligence that the contestants would be tested on with Double Take being the corresponding challenge. By the end of the challenge, Tim got 5 correct answers, Marielle got 3, Maryanne got 1, and Ira got 3. The tie between Marielle and Ira was settled by how quickly they answered. Since Marielle answered faster on average than Ira did in the challenge, the former finished in 2nd place and the latter finished in 3rd place. Therefore, Tim was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Marielle was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Ira was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Maryanne 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 Scott Russell, stating that he would serve as a guest commentator for the challenge. Jessi asked Scott what he expected to see out of the contestants in the challenge, to which he responded that the ones who would perform well would be the ones with great balance, flexibility, and anticipation ability. In order, Ira, Marielle, and Maryanne were eliminated from the challenge, giving Tim the victory. As a result, Tim was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Maryanne was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Marielle was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Ira was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first two challenges, Tim had received a total of 10 overall points, Marielle had received a total of 5, Maryanne had received a total of 4, and Ira had received a total of 3. Jessi then stated that the show was going into another commercial break and commented to the contestants that they would have a chance to towel off before the show makes them sweat again.

Jessi announced that musical intelligence was going to be the third intelligence that the contestants would be tested on with Mix Master being the corresponding challenge. By the end of the challenge, Tim earned 3 points, Marielle earned 2, Maryanne earned 1, and Ira earned 0. Therefore, Tim was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Marielle was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Maryanne was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Ira was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first three challenges, Tim had received a total of 15 overall points, Marielle had received a total of 8, Maryanne had received a total of 6, and Ira had received a total of 4. Directly after, Jessi announced that logical intelligence was going to be the fourth intelligence that the contestants would be tested on with Pipe Fitter being the corresponding challenge. Maryanne filled her glass first in 1 minute and 25 seconds, Ira filled his glass second in 1 minute and 36 seconds, and Tim filled his glass third in 2 minutes and 18 seconds, forcing Marielle to stop her progress. Therefore, Maryanne was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Ira was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Tim was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Marielle was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first four challenges, Tim had received a total of 17 overall points, Maryanne had received a total of 11, Marielle had received a total of 9, and Ira had received a total of 7. Jessi commented that, though Tim was sitting comfortably in the lead, any one of the rest could snag 2nd place 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, linguistic intelligence and social intelligence, simultaneously with Spin-a-Speech being the corresponding challenge. Jessi then introduced Mary Walsh, stating that she would serve as a guest judge in the challenge. Mary joked that she had just given up being judgmental until she was called on by the show. By the end of the challenge, Mary ranked Ira in 1st place, Maryanne in 2nd place, Tim in 3rd place, and Marielle in last place. Therefore, Ira was awarded 10 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Maryanne was awarded 6 for finishing in 2nd place, Tim was awarded 4 for finishing in 3rd place, and Marielle was awarded 2 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, as a final total score for the first five challenges, Tim had received a total of 21 overall points and finished in 1st place, Maryanne and Ira had both received a total of 17 and tied for 2nd place, and Marielle had received a total of 11 and finished in last place. The tie between Maryanne and Ira was settled by the number of times either contestant placed 2nd in challenges since both contestants shared an equal number of 1st place finishes in challenges. Since Maryanne placed 2nd in two challenges and Ira placed 2nd in one, the former finished in 2nd place and the latter finished in 3rd place. Since only the top two finishers could advance to the Gauntlet, Jessi congratulated Tim and Maryanne on making it to the Gauntlet and prompted applause for Ira and Marielle 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, Miguel Adam Magcalas Demonteverde of Scarborough, Ontario, with a score of 581, Catherine Vogelaar of Edmonton, Alberta, with a score of 563, Mith Das of Toronto, Ontario, with a score of 563, Samuel Magcalas of Scarborough, Ontario, with a score of 560, Tracy Reath of Moncton, New Brunswick, with a score of 555, Marianne Williams of Holmesville, Ontario, with a score of 549, Victoria Brake of Trenton, Ontario, with a score of 548, Keith Neapew of Norway House, Manitoba, with a score of 548, Cher Allen of Winnipeg, Manitoba, with a score of 542, and Cam Deamel of Winnipeg, Manitoba, with a score of 542. 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. Tim gained the early lead on Maryanne as the former completed the first two sections at a decent speed and was working on the musical section as the latter finished unscrambling her final word at the linguistic section. After Tim completed the first task at the physical section, Maryanne started gaining momentum by completing the visual section and matching pairs quickly at the musical section. However, Tim completed the last two tasks at the physical section quickly and breezed through the logical section. Ultimately, Maryanne stopped at the musical section as Tim 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 17 and an equal number of 1st place finishes in challenges, Maryanne placed 2nd in two challenges and Ira placed 2nd in one. Therefore, Maryanne and Ira placed 2nd and 3rd, respectively, for the pre-Gauntlet phase of this preliminary episode and Maryanne advanced to the Gauntlet along with Tim.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Despite sharing a total score of 3, Marielle answered faster on average than Ira did in the challenge. Therefore, Marielle and Ira placed 2nd and 3rd, respectively, for this challenge.

## State of the Nation

In relation to a pie chart, the public performed best in challenges of physical intelligence (consisting 23% of the pie chart). Musical intelligence, visual intelligence, social intelligence, logical intelligence, and linguistic intelligence, based on the related challenges, consist 17%, 17%, 13%, 19%, and 11% of the pie chart, respectively.

The top overall performing Canadian cities, by percentage score, were Bolton, Ontario, with 77%, Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, with 76%, and Waterloo, Ontario, with 75%.

As for the public, the top performers, on a score out of 600, were Miguel Adam Magcalas Demonteverde of Scarborough, Ontario, with a score of 581, Keval Tripathi of Waterloo, Ontario, with a score of 573, bruinsandblues of Waterloo, Ontario, with a score of 572, Catherine Vogelaar of Edmonton, Alberta, with a score of 563, and Mith Das of Toronto, Ontario, with a score of 563.

## Current Placements

### Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Despite sharing a total score of 11, Richard placed 1st in one challenge and Marielle did not place 1st in any. Therefore, Richard placed higher than Marielle.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/blog/episode-2-recap-a-youtube-star-turns-tv-champ
2. ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2676891515
3. ↑ https://www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/blog/state-of-the-nation-season-2-episode-2