The Super Gauntlet

**The Super Gauntlet**, also known as *Multiple Intelligence Obstacle Course* in the 2012 Special and simplified to *Super Gauntlet* in *Canada's Smartest Person Junior*, is a universal challenge on *Canada's Smartest Person*.

## Description

This ultimate multiple intelligence obstacle course tests each category of smarts and begins with **Balancing Act**. Using the wand, pick up and navigate each cup through the maze. Any contact with the sides means the cup will fall and you'll need to start over again at the bottom. Once three cups are stacked on the perch, then it's on to a linguistic challenge, **Slide and Spell**. Move the letter blocks up or down until you have spelled a six-letter word in each row. Then, it's on to the musical challenge called **Tone Zone**. You'll hear a five-note melody and then you need to match each note by sliding your finger on the screen until you hear the correct pitch. When you've correctly identified the five notes, you can move on to **The Weighting Game**, a logical challenge where you need to place five weights on the crane so that it is perfectly balanced. Finally, it's on to **Pick Up the Pieces**, a visual challenge where you must assemble a cube. Then, head to the disc and celebrate that you are Canada's Smartest Person.

## 2012 Special

The Multiple Intelligence Obstacle Course was the sole universal challenge and the tenth and final challenge overall. Gerry Dee explained the instructions to the final two contestants, Peter Dyakowski and Laura Suen, and that the winner of the challenge would be crowned Canada's Smartest Person. First, as a test of physical intelligence, the contestants would have to walk across a balance beam while getting through a gap midway without falling off. Then, as a test of visual intelligence, the contestants would have to appropriately place twenty small blocks of varying shapes into ten differently-shaped slots of a giant cube. Then, as a test of logical intelligence, the contestants would have to correctly solve two equations on a chalkboard and then correctly add the two solutions together to produce a final answer. They could only proceed further after receiving approval of their answers by Gerry. Then, as a test of musical intelligence, the contestants would have to listen to a sequence of notes through headphones and then play the notes back in the same order by pressing buttons. Then, as a test of linguistic intelligence, the contestants would have to form ten words from sixteen letters. Finally, the winning contestant would have to squeeze the horn at the centre of the stage in order to signal the end of the challenge and be crowned Canada's Smartest Person. The viewers were unable to play along with the contestants on the Canada's Smartest Person app.

On his first attempt at the physical section, Peter failed because he touched and knocked off the top bar of the gap and had to reset the bar and restart from the beginning as a result. Laura, however, succeeded on her first attempt and thus obtained a head start at the visual section.

On his second attempt at the physical section, Peter failed again, having knocked off both the top and bottom bars of the gap. As he was resetting the bars, Laura correctly filled a slot at the visual section. Though Peter got through the gap on his third attempt at the physical section, he still failed because his left foot slid off of the balance beam and touched the floor before he reached the end of it. Peter failed at the physical section for the fourth time as Laura correctly filled another slot at the visual section. Peter barely succeeded on his fifth attempt at the physical section and proceeded to the visual section. Laura succeeded in filling another two slots at the visual section before Peter could fill his first. Peter filled his first slot as Laura filled her fifth. As Peter filled his fourth slot, Laura filled her last and proceeded to the logical section.

The two equations at the logical section were (√144X12-124+(25X12))/20+426=A and 9X3^4/9+2755-1974+538=B. On her first and second attempts at the logical section, Laura incorrectly produced 1861 and 1841 as her final answer, respectively. Peter filled his last slot at the visual section and proceeded to the logical section. Laura incorrectly produced 1741 as her final answer on her third attempt at the logical section. Even though Laura wrote '1841' outside of the final answer box after erasing '1741' from it and had no intent to produce her final answer at that moment, Gerry still passed by and informed her that the former number is incorrect. Because a vibrating noise was made after he told her this, Laura was considered to have made four attempts by that point instead of three; however, the number of attempts a contestant made had no relevance to the logical section of the challenge nor the challenge in its entirety. Peter produced an incorrect final answer that began with '18' on his first attempt, though it is unknown what the full number was. On her fifth attempt, Laura incorrectly produced 1985 as her final answer. As Peter was performing long addition on the side, Gerry passed by and said, "that's wrong." Because no vibrating noise was made after he said that, Peter was still considered to have made one attempt by that point instead of two. After finishing his long addition, Peter correctly produced 1842 on his second attempt and proceeded to the musical section.

The eight sequences at the musical section were do, do-mi, do-mi-sol, do-mi-sol-si, do-mi-sol-si-do\*, do-mi-sol-si-do\*-si, do-mi-sol-si-do\*-si-la, and do-mi-sol-si-do\*-si-la-sol. As Peter placed his headphones on at the musical section, Laura produced an unknown incorrect final answer on her sixth attempt at the logical section. As Peter was attempting to play back the fourth sequence at the musical section, Laura incorrectly produced 2146 as her final answer on her seventh attempt at the logical section. Around 25 seconds later, Peter correctly played back the eighth sequence at the musical section and proceeded to the linguistic section.

The sixteen letters to make ten words from at the linguistic section were O, A, A, N, E, T, R, I, I, H, K, R, I, F, L, and V. In the order that he wrote them in, Peter's ten words were 'ran', 'rain', 'tear', 'tie', 'hit', 'kin', 'tan', 'heat', 'train', and 'tea'. Upon completion, Peter squeezed the horn, finishing the challenge and being declared Canada's Smartest Person. Laura stopped at the logical section.

### Summary of Results

 **2nd** | **Laura Suen** | RUNNER-UP

### Notes

1. ↑ An asterisk signifies that the given musical note was an octave higher than the same musical note without an asterisk.

## Episode 208

The Super Gauntlet was the third of the three universal challenges and the ninth and final challenge overall. Jessi Cruickshank reminded the final two contestants, Jason Vander-Hoek and Katy Warren, that the winner of the challenge would be crowned Canada's Smartest Person. Jessi informed the viewers that they could participate in the challenge by predicting who between Jason and Katy would win on the Canada's Smartest Person app. 55% of the participants predicted that Jason would win and 45% of the participants predicted that Katy would win.

At the physical section, Balancing Act, Jason stacked all three of his cups on his perch first without making any mistakes and thus obtained a small head start at the linguistic section. Moments later, Katy finished stacking her three cups on her perch, also without making any mistakes, and proceeded to the linguistic section as well.

The nine two-letter letter blocks at the linguistic section, Slide and Spell, were 'ma', 'so', 'yh', 'kn', 'le', 'ig', 'mn', 'ht', and 'em', with 'mayhem', 'solemn', and 'knight' being the three six-letter words to form. Jason was the first to form these three words and proceeded to the musical section first. Immediately after, Katy finished forming these three words on her end and quickly caught up to Jason at the musical section.

The sequence at the musical section, Tone Zone, was do-sol-ré-ré\*-la. On his second attempt, Jason finished identifying his five notes first and proceeded to the logical section.

In increasing order, the five weights at the logical section, The Weighting Game, weighed 1 "tonne", 2 "tonnes", 2 "tonnes", 4 "tonnes", and 6 "tonnes". The crane had three hooks on its long side and two hooks on its short side. In order for the crane to be balanced, a contestant would need to place the 1-"tonne" weight on the long side's outer hook, the two 2-"tonne" weights on the long side's middle and inner hooks, the 4-"tonne" weight on the short side's outer hook, and the 6-"tonne" weight on the short side's inner hook. After Jason tested one of his weights on one of the crane's hooks, Katy finished identifying her five notes at the musical section on her third attempt and proceeded to the logical section. There, Katy correctly placed her weights first and proceeded to the visual section. Moments later, Jason correctly placed his weights and caught up to Katy at the visual section.

The cube at visual section, Pick Up the Pieces, consisted of seven pieces and featured the icon representing visual intelligence on two opposing sides. Katy assembled her cube first and hit the buzzer, finishing the challenge and being declared Canada's Smartest Person. Jason stopped at the visual section.

### Summary of Results

 **2nd** | **Jason Vander-Hoek** | RUNNER-UP

### Notes

1. ↑ An asterisk signifies that the given musical note was an octave higher than the same musical note without an asterisk.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8ofUJ\_9e18&t=6681s