Episode 205

The fifth episode of Season 2 of *Canada's Smartest Person*, **Steven, Will You Marry Me?**, aired on CBC at 8:00 PM on Sunday, November 1, 2015.

## Contestants

 **Alex Manea** | 31
 **Jakob Sanderson** | 18
 **Barry Shulman** | 71

## Synopsis

The episode opened with a narration stating that four Canadians from all walks of life would battle it out in order to move one step closer to being crowned Canada's Smartest Person. In order to present the four contestants that would be competing in this episode, a clip of Alex Manea, Barry Shulman, Jennifer Lam, and Jakob Sanderson 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 musical intelligence was going to be the first intelligence that the contestants would be tested on with Music Match being the corresponding challenge. By the end of the challenge, Jennifer got 2 correct answers, Alex got 3, Jakob got 5, and Barry got 4. Therefore, Jakob was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Barry was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Alex was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Jennifer 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 visual intelligence was going to be the second intelligence that the contestants would be tested on with Canvas Calamity being the corresponding challenge. Jessi then introduced Sean O'Neill, stating that he would serve as a guest judge in the challenge. Jessi asked Sean what he expects of the contestants in this challenge, to which he responded that he would judge them based on how their work makes him feel. By the end of the challenge, Sean ranked Jennifer in 1st place, Jakob in 2nd place, Barry in 3rd place, and Alex in last place. Therefore, Jennifer was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Jakob was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Barry was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Alex was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first two challenges, Jakob had received a total of 8 overall points, Jennifer had received a total of 6, Barry had received a total of 5, and Alex had received a total of 3. Jessi commented that, in spite of them trailing, there would be more opportunities for Alex and Barry to catch up 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 Cranium Crash being the corresponding challenge. By the end of the challenge, Jennifer got 3 correct answers, Alex got 5, Jakob got 4, and Barry got 2. Therefore, Alex was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Jakob was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Jennifer was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Barry was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first three challenges, Jakob had received a total of 11 overall points, Jennifer and Alex had each received a total of 8, and Barry had received a total of 6. Directly after, Jessi announced that physical intelligence was going to be the fourth intelligence that the contestants would be tested on with Teeter Tower being the corresponding challenge. Alex broke his beam first in 1 minute and 10 seconds, Jakob broke his beam second in 1 minute and 35 seconds, and Barry broke his beam third in 2 minutes and 11 seconds, forcing Jennifer to stop her progress. Therefore, Alex was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Jakob was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Barry was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Jennifer was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first four challenges, Jakob had received a total of 14 overall points, Alex had received a total of 13, Jennifer had received a total of 9, and Barry had received a total of 8. Jessi commented that Jennifer and Barry still have a bit of work to do in order to catch up to Alex and Jakob 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 Steve Patterson, stating that he would serve as a guest judge in the challenge. Steve joked that he was glad to have been called and brought into space. By the end of the challenge, Steve ranked Alex in 1st place, Jakob in 2nd place, Barry in 3rd place, and Jennifer in last place. Therefore, Alex was awarded 10 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Jakob was awarded 6 for finishing in 2nd place, Barry was awarded 4 for finishing in 3rd place, and Jennifer was awarded 2 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, as a final total score for the first five challenges, Alex had received a total of 23 overall points, Jakob had received a total of 20, Barry had received a total of 12, and Jennifer had received a total of 11. Since only the top two finishers could advance to the Gauntlet, Jessi congratulated Alex and Jakob on making it to the Gauntlet and prompted applause for Barry and Jennifer 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, Neil Barbour of Crow Head, Newfoundland and Labrador, with a score of 586, Elisha Ricci of Georgetown, Ontario, with a score of 585, Mark Rogers of Ottawa, Ontario, with a score of 585, Kristen White of Saint-Lazare, Quebec, with a score of 584, Catherine Vogelaar of Edmonton, Alberta, with a score of 583, Amanda Williams of Boundary Creek, New Brunswick, with a score of 583, Miguel Adam Magcalas Demonteverde of Scarborough, Ontario, with a score of 582, Tessa Lukenoff of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with a score of 579, Andy Lau of Calgary, Alberta, with a score of 568, and Katie Peacock of Shelburne, Nova Scotia, with a score of 564. 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. Alex gained the early lead on Jakob as the former completed the linguistic section. After unscrambling his final word though, Jakob was able to remain not too far behind Alex for the next couple of sections. Conversely, at the musical section, Jakob finished matching the pairs first, giving him a slight lead over Alex. However, at the physical section, Jakob failed twice at transporting three bricks across his teeter-totter, which allowed Alex to catch up and surpass him. Alex's flawless performance at the physical section along with a couple more failures by Jakob when transporting four bricks back across her teeter-totter allowed Alex to maintain a healthy lead over Jakob when proceeding to the logical section, which he breezed through. Ultimately, Jakob stopped at the physical section as Alex 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.

## State of the Nation

In relation to a pie chart, the public performed best in challenges of physical intelligence (consisting 25% of the pie chart). Musical intelligence, visual intelligence, social intelligence, logical intelligence, and linguistic intelligence, based on the related challenges, consist 10%, 17%, 17%, 15%, and 16% of the pie chart, respectively.

More specifically, the demographic of individuals aged 18-49 also performed best in challenges of physical intelligence (with an average percentage score of 72%). The average percentage scores for challenges of linguistic intelligence, musical intelligence, visual intelligence, social intelligence, and logical intelligence were 48%, 31%, 51%, 47%, and 46%, respectively, for this age demographic.

In terms of gender, men performed better than women overall with average percentage scores of 49% and 47%, respectively.

The top overall performing Canadian cities, by percentage score, were Tignish, Prince Edward Island, with 71%, Waterloo, Ontario, with 70%, and Camrose, Alberta, with 67%.

As for the public, the top performers, on a score out of 600, were Neil Barbour of Crow Head, Newfoundland and Labrador, with a score of 586, Elisha Ricci of Georgetown, Ontario, with a score of 585, Mark Rogers of Ottawa, Ontario, with a score of 585, Kristen White of Saint-Lazare, Quebec, with a score of 584, and Catherine Vogelaar of Edmonton, Alberta, with a score of 583.

## Current Placements

### Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 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.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Despite sharing a total score of 16 and 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.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 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-5-recap-steve-patterson-guest-star
2. ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2678137038
3. ↑ https://www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/blog/state-of-the-nation-S2-episode-5