Episode 305

The fifth episode of Season 3 of *Canada's Smartest Person* aired on CBC at 8:00 PM on Sunday, December 11, 2016.

## Synopsis

The episode opened with a narration stating that six Canadians are ready to battle to become *Canada's Smartest Person*. In order to present the six contestants that would be competing in this episode, a clip of Wali Shah, Melissa DeCiantis, Dustin Herbison, Michelle Salt, Tristan Campus, and Eric Yue introducing themselves in that order was shown as they entered the stage. Jessi Cruickshank greeted the contestants and warned them 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' visual intelligence, social intelligence, musical intelligence, physical 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, Eric finished in 1st place with an overall percentage score of 81%, Dustin finished in 2nd place with an overall percentage score of 73%, Melissa finished in 3rd place with an overall percentage score of 71%, and Michelle finished in 4th place with an overall percentage score of 56%, leaving Tristan and Wali as the bottom two finishers with overall percentage scores of 39% and 55%, respectively. Therefore, Eric was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Dustin was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Melissa was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, Michelle was awarded 1 for finishing in 4th place, and Wali and Tristan were eliminated from the competition for being the bottom two finishers. Jessi prompted applause for Wali and Tristan in spite of their shared elimination. Following this, a more elaborate clip presenting Michelle, Dustin, Eric, and Melissa 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 visual intelligence for the second challenge 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 Michelle in 1st place, Melissa in 2nd place, Dustin in 3rd place, and Eric in last place. Therefore, Michelle was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Melissa was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Dustin was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Eric was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first two challenges, Michelle and Eric had each received a total of 6 overall points and Melissa and Dustin had each received a total of 5. Jessi then prompted for the viewers to see her own artwork which revealed that the show was going into another commercial break.

The Randomizer selected logical intelligence for the third challenge with Extreme Layover being the corresponding challenge. By the end of the challenge, Melissa got 3 correct answers, Dustin got 4, Michelle got 1, and Eric got 5. Therefore, Eric was awarded 5 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Dustin was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Melissa was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Michelle was awarded 1 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, after the first three challenges, Eric had received a total of 11 overall points, Dustin had received a total of 8, and Melissa and Michelle had each received a total of 7. The tie between Melissa and Michelle was settled by their overall percentage scores in the Speed Round. Since Melissa had an overall percentage score of 71% in the Speed Round and Michelle had an overall percentage score of 56%, the former held 3rd place and the latter fell into 4th place. Since the contestant who was currently in 4th place would not be advancing to the fourth challenge, Michelle was eliminated from the competition. Jessi prompted applause for Michelle in spite of her elimination and congratulated the remaining three contestants for their progress before stating that the show was going into another commercial break.

The Randomizer selected linguistic intelligence and physical intelligence for the fourth challenge with Wobble Words being the corresponding challenge. Given that this would be a hybrid challenge, Jessi announced that it would be worth double the points. Dustin successfully stacked his word, 'trashy', 1 minute and 40 seconds into the challenge and Eric successfully stacked his word, 'tangos', 3 minutes and 10 seconds into the challenge, forcing Melissa to stop her progress. Therefore, Dustin was awarded 10 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Eric was awarded 6 for finishing in 2nd place, and Melissa was awarded 2 for finishing in last place. After the challenge, Jessi revealed that, as a final total score for the first four challenges, Dustin had received a total of 18 overall points and finished in 1st place, Eric had received a total of 17 and finished in 2nd place, and Melissa had received a total of 9 and finished in 3rd place. Since only the top two finishers could advance to the Gauntlet, Jessi congratulated Dustin and Eric on making it to the Gauntlet and prompted applause for Melissa 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. Dustin and Eric were neck and neck over the first two sections. However, Dustin struggled greatly at the visual section, allowing for Eric to develop an extensive lead over the next two sections. When Dustin finally realized his mistakes at the visual section and proceeded to correct them, it was too late as Eric completed the linguistic section soon after. Ultimately, Dustin stopped at the visual section as Eric 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 using CSP SmartPlay as found on the show's Facebook page. The show closed with Dustin, Eric, 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.

## Current Placements

### Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 The placements of the contestants eliminated directly after their respective preliminary episodes' Speed Rounds are determined by how far below their overall percentage scores were from the corresponding average overall percentage score:
In Episode 301, the average overall percentage score was 59.17% and the overall percentage scores of Vincent and Rup were both 49%, resulting in differences of 10.17% for both contestants. Despite this shared difference, 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.
In Episode 302, the average overall percentage score was 66.17% and the respective overall percentage scores of Christine and CJ were 45% and 59%, resulting in respective differences of 21.17% and 7.17%.
In Episode 303, the overall percentage scores of Rebecca and Gwyneth were unintentionally cut from the episode, but it can be deduced that each was between 45% and 50%. Therefore, the overall percentage scores of Rebecca and Gwyneth are both treated as 47.5% for these calculations and, in turn, the assumed average overall percentage score in Episode 303 was 54.83%, resulting in assumed differences of 7.33% for both contestants. Additionally, in reality, it is presumed either that Gwyneth received a higher overall percentage score than Rebecca did or that they received equal overall percentage scores but Gwyneth answered faster on average than Rebecca did based on their eventual call out order. Therefore, Gwyneth placed higher than Rebecca.
In Episode 304, the average overall percentage score was 53% and the respective overall percentage scores of Siera and Darryl were 33% and 49%, resulting in respective differences of 20% and 4%.
In Episode 305, the average overall percentage score was 62.5% and the respective overall percentage scores of Tristan and Wali were 39% and 55%, resulting in respective differences of 23.5% and 7.5%.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Despite sharing a total score of 5 and an equal number of 1st place finishes in challenges, Ryan and Bruce placed 2nd in one challenge and Steve and Chris did not place 2nd in any. Therefore, Ryan and Bruce placed higher than Steve and Chris. Between Ryan and Bruce, despite also sharing an equal number of 2nd and 3rd place finishes in challenges, Ryan had an average placement of 3 throughout his preliminary episode while Bruce had an average placement of 3.2 throughout his. Therefore, Ryan placed higher than Bruce. Additionally, between Steve and Chris, despite also sharing an equal number of 2nd and 3rd place finishes in challenges, Steve had an average placement of 3.7 throughout his preliminary episode while Chris had an average placement of 4 throughout his. Therefore, Steve placed higher than Chris.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Despite sharing a total score of 11 and an equal number of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes in challenges, Susan had an average placement of 2 throughout her preliminary episode while Michelle had an average placement of 3.3 throughout hers. Therefore, Susan placed higher than Michelle.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/blog/canadas-smartest-person-reveals-30-new-competitors-for-season-3