Sat, Sep 27, 2014
Hosts Jessi and Jeff go through the concept of intelligence used for the show, that developed by Harvard University professor Howard Gardner. His theory is that intelligence is made up of six largely independent categories: linguistic, logical, musical, physical, social and visual. They discuss each of the six with experts, and provide real life examples of people who possess this needed intelligence for their careers. They speak of the thousands of applications received and narrowing those down to thirty-two contestants. They discuss how the challenges for the competitive aspect of the show were devised. They discuss the interactive component of the show: how viewers at home can test their intelligence along with the contestants as the show airs. The four contestants are introduced, they who include a charity CEO, an actor/law student, a business student/arts administrator/stand-up comic, and a teacher/ninja. Challenge 1, testing logic, entails doing math with the numbers moving around in the process. Challenge 2, testing linguistics, requires the contestants to make a convincing 45 second speech on a randomly chosen topic using as many of 30 predetermined words as possible. Challenge 3, testing social, has the contestants judging the emotion conveyed by people only seeing their eyes. Challenge 4, testing visual, has the contestants recreating a 15 piece ensemble shown to them on a model. And challenge 5, testing both physical and musical and worth double the points, is a moving instrument, on which the contestant must play a seven note melody played to them. The two contestants with the highest score move to the mega-challenge, a race testing all six concepts in six individual puzzles.
Sat, Oct 4, 2014
The four contestants are a novelist/psychology student, a cheese salesman, a stay-at-home mom and a firefighter/semi-professional poker player. Challenge 1, testing music, entails matching the two identical chords or melodies played in each set of five. Challenge 2, testing social, requires the contestants to tell if guest Raine Maida is telling the truth or a lie in four stories he relays about his band, Our Lady Peace. Challenge 3, testing visual, has the contestants putting together two two-dimensional geometric puzzles. Challenge 4, testing logic, has the contestants acting as cashier at a broken cash register where they have to produce the correct change for the customer. And challenge 5, testing both physical and linguistic and worth double the points, is a race to unscramble five letter words while cycling, each unscrambled word worth one point and one skeeball for up to an additional three points per ball. The two contestants with the highest score move to the mega-challenge, a race testing all six concepts in six individual puzzles.
Sat, Oct 11, 2014
The four contestants are a Ph.D. in Physics/physics professor, an ad copywriter/martial artist/figure skater, a radio talk show host, and a director of a First Nations tribal council. Challenge 1, testing music, entails identifying which instruments are dropped and in which order when an eight piece combo tune is played a second time. Challenge 2, testing social, requires the contestants to give a thirty second pep talk to the Mustangs, a youth girls soccer team on a losing streak, with John Herdman, coach of the Canadian women's national soccer team, acting as guest judge. Challenge 3, testing logic, has the contestants putting together a length of water piping through predetermined points along a wall. Challenge 4, testing linguistic, has the contestants making as many three or more letter words out of the letters in two other words. And challenge 5, testing both physical and visual and worth double the points, is a race to bounce a ball on top of a drum, using the drum to maneuver the ball over and under obstacles, with an additional bonus for each ball bounced into a basket. The two contestants with the highest score move to the mega-challenge, a race testing all six concepts in six individual puzzles.
Sat, Oct 18, 2014
The four contestants are an author/entrepreneur, a boxer/yogi, a journalist/editor-in-chief, and a retired teacher/student of life. Challenge 1, testing logic, entails doing a series of mathematical calculations in quick succession. Challenge 2, testing linguistic, requires the contestants to create a haiku on a theme using only a list of ninety-nine given words. Challenge 3, testing visual, has the contestants racing to put together a set of puzzle pieces inside two geometric shapes. Challenge 4, testing social, has the contestants determining a person's emotional state by looking only at the eyes. And challenge 5, testing both physical and musical and worth double the points, is one where the contestants have to perform a choreographed dance routine, including a dance solo. The two contestants with the highest score move to the mega-challenge, a race testing all six concepts in six individual puzzles.
Sat, Oct 25, 2014
The four contestants are a fighter pilot, a singer/songwriter, a physician who does humanitarian work, and a doctoral candidate in medieval literature/archer/performing artist. Challenge 1, testing visual, entails matching the two identical images in sets of six. Challenge 2, testing social, requires the contestants to give a motivational 30 second speech to his/her sales team that has just had their worst quarter ever. Challenge 3, testing logic, has the contestants putting a water piping system together with set pieces that must go through various point along a wall. Challenge 4, testing musical, has the contestants choosing the two identical melodies or chords in sets of five. And challenge 5, testing both physical and linguistic and worth double the points, is a race to unscramble five letter words while cycling, each unscrambled word worth one point and one skeeball for up to an additional three points per ball. The two contestants with the highest score move to the mega-challenge, a race testing all six concepts in six individual puzzles.
Sat, Nov 1, 2014
The four contestants are an orthopedic surgeon/power lifter, a teacher/football player/musician, a cryptographer/former navy man, and an actor/singer/dancer in the form of a drag queen. Challenge 1, testing linguistic, has the contestants making as many three or more letter words out of two scrambles of six letters apiece. Challenge 2, testing social, requires the contestants to tell if guest Shannon Tweed-Simmons is telling the truth or a lie in four stories she relays about her life. Challenge 3, testing visual, has the contestants choosing which three out of nine complex shapes are overlaid on a figure shown to them. Challenge 4, testing logic, has the contestants acting as cashier at a broken cash register where they have to produce the correct change for the customer. And challenge 5, testing both physical and musical and worth double the points, is a moving instrument, on which the contestant must play a seven note melody played to them. The two contestants with the highest score move to the mega-challenge, a race testing all six concepts in six individual puzzles.
Sat, Nov 8, 2014
The four contestants are a master electrician, a high school student who is his class president, a stay-at-home mom and consultant, and a poet. Challenge 1, testing logic, entails doing a series of mathematical calculations in quick succession. Challenge 2, testing linguistic, requires the contestants to create a haiku on a theme using only a list of ninety-nine given words. Challenge 3, testing music, entails identifying which instruments are dropped and in which order when an eight piece combo tune is played a second time. Challenge 4, testing social, requires the contestants to give a 30 second pitch to sell a combination vacuum cleaner/head massager to a group of potential customers. And challenge 5, testing both physical and visual and worth double the points, is a race to bounce a ball on top of a drum, using the drum to maneuver the ball over and under obstacles, with an additional bonus for each ball bounced into a basket. The two contestants with the highest score move to the mega-challenge, a race testing all six concepts in six individual puzzles.
Sat, Nov 15, 2014
The four contestants are an Olympic medalling swimmer/photographer, a psychiatric nursing student/DIY handyperson, a media and visual artist, and a law student/tarot card reader. Challenge 1, testing linguistic, has the contestants making as many three or more letter words out of two scrambles of six letters apiece. Challenge 2, testing social, requires the contestants to tell if guest Jason Priestley is telling the truth or a lie in four stories he relays about his life. Challenge 3, testing visual, has the contestants choosing which three out of nine complex shapes are overlaid on a figure shown to them. Challenge 4, testing logic, has the contestants putting a water piping system together with set pieces that must go through various point along a wall. And challenge 5, testing both physical and musical and worth double the points, is a moving instrument, on which the contestant must play a seven note melody played to them. The two contestants with the highest score move to the mega-challenge, a race testing all six concepts in six individual puzzles.
Sat, Nov 22, 2014
The eight finalists are put through two more preliminary rounds to narrow the field down to four. The first preliminary round, which includes all eight contestants, is a speed round, which entails competing in mini challenges back to back, those challenges which encompass all six areas of intelligence. The two contestants with the highest score move onto the final four, the two contestants with the lowest score being automatically eliminated. The middle four contestants move to the second preliminary round, where in pairs of two, the contestants will compete in more mini challenges, with the first to win three of those mini challenges within each pairing also moving to the final four. Those final four then compete in six standard challenges, again each testing a different area of intelligence. Challenge 1, testing visual, has the contestants answering numerical questions about a group of about twenty eclectic people crossing a crosswalk. Challenge 2, testing musical, has the contestants performing karaoke in a randomly chosen style using randomly chosen lyrics, with guest Measha Brueggergosman judging their performances. Challenge 3, testing linguistic, requires the contestants to come up with as many words within a given parameter. Challenge 4, testing logic, entails placing three mirrors in a maze to redirect a laser shone through the maze to hit five preset targets. Challenge 5, testing social, requires the contestants to make a thirty second speech on the rationale for moving the Canadian capital to one of four randomly chosen cities, with guest Bob Rae judging the speeches. And challenge 6, testing physical, has the contestants building pyramids using plastic cups, those pyramids which must be deconstructed in the same order built. The two with the highest combined score over the six challenges moves onto the final super gauntlet, testing all six intelligences in one race, the winner who will be crowned Canada's Smartest Person.