Margaret Fay

**Margaret Fay** was a contestant on Season 2.

## Background

*Retrieved from CBC.ca*

There's something to be said for focused smarts — Margaret is sure to find the musical challenges perfectly harmonious, given that she's a talented bassoonist who performs with the Windsor and Niagara symphonies. While growing up, Margaret's keen logical smarts led the adults in her life to urge a path towards science, but Margaret followed her passion for music instead — in addition to the bassoon, she also plays the piano, recorder and violin. That musical mastery was honed through two master's degrees, and Margaret is also currently pursuing her doctorate in Music at Indiana University. When she's not sharpening her sonic skills, Margaret enjoys staying active through running, yoga, and biking. Sweet sounds + physical prowess = some pretty super smarts!

Margaret is a freelance bassoonist who performs regularly with the Windsor and Niagara Symphonies. As a teen, Margaret was recognized for her logical smarts and pressured by adults in her life to pursue a career in science, but nothing could prevent her from making a life out of her passion for music.

In addition to the bassoon Margaret also plays the piano, recorder and violin. Margaret has two master’s degrees and is currently in the final stages of her Doctorate in Music at Indiana University.

Music isn’t all Margaret brings to the table! She’s very active and loves running, practicing yoga, and biking several times a week.

## Episode 206

Before Margaret was summoned to the stage, a clip of her and the other three contestants, Marco Iannuzzi, Amanda Khan, and Permadi Witjaksono, introducing themselves was shown. In this clip, apart from introducing herself, Margaret stated that she has been living and breathing music for most of her life. In the first challenge, Double Take, Margaret got 5 correct answers. As a result, Margaret finished in 3rd place and was awarded 2 overall points.

In the second challenge, Twitterverse, Margaret was the third contestant to present her tweet based upon the theme of **blind date** and she had composed, "MYSTERY MAN HELL: TROUBLE DANCING. CAN'T SEE AS MY HUSBAND. #LIBIDODISASTER." Guest judge Dan Levy commented that Margaret's tweet just adds on to the collection of strong tweets he has heard that night. Dan ranked Margaret in 2nd place for her tweet and Margaret was awarded 3 overall points as a result.

In the third challenge, Faces, Margaret, Marco, and Amanda all got 5 correct answers, but Marco answered faster on average than the other two did and Margaret answered faster on average than Amanda did. As a result, Margaret finished in 2nd place and was awarded 3 overall points. In the fourth challenge, Mix Master, Margaret earned 4 points. As a result, Margaret finished in 1st place and was awarded 5 overall points.

In the fifth challenge, Balls of Fury, Margaret finished catching her red balls 1 minute and 14 seconds into the challenge and correctly completed her equation grid and finished 1 minute and 26 seconds into the challenge. As a result, Margaret finished in 2nd place and was awarded 6 overall points. After the first five challenges, Margaret had received a total of 19 overall points, which she shared with Amanda. The tie between Margaret and Amanda was settled by the number of times either contestant placed 1st in challenges. Since Amanda placed 1st in two challenges and Margaret placed 1st in one, the former finished in 2nd place and the latter finished in 3rd place. As a result, she was eliminated along with Permadi. Jessi prompted applause for Margaret and Permadi in spite of their shared elimination.

After the sixth and final challenge, the Gauntlet, ended and Marco was declared the sixth finalist of the season, Margaret and the other three contestants celebrated onstage with Jessi.

### Summary of Results

 2

  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. ↑ Despite sharing a total score of 19, Amanda placed 1st in two challenges and Margaret placed 1st in one. Therefore, Amanda and Margaret placed 2nd and 3rd, respectively, for the pre-Gauntlet phase of this preliminary episode and Amanda advanced to the Gauntlet along with Marco.
2. ↑ Despite sharing a total score of 5, Marco answered faster on average than both Margaret and Amanda did and Margaret answered faster on average than Amanda did in the challenge. Therefore, Marco, Margaret, and Amanda placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, respectively, for this challenge.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 http://web.archive.org/web/20151219222413/http://www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/participants/margaret
2. ↑ https://www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/blog/meet-episode-6-competitors