Canada's Worst Handyman
Canada's Worst Handyman | |
---|---|
Developed by | Proper Television |
Written by | Andrew Younghusband |
Presented by | Andrew Younghusband |
Country of origin | Canada |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 6 |
No. of episodes | 45 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Guy O'Sullivan |
Running time | 60 minutes (including commercials) |
Original release | |
Network | Discovery Channel Canada |
Release | March 13, 2006 June 13, 2011 | –
Related | |
Canada's Worst Driver Blood, Sweat & Tools |
Canada's Worst Handyman is a Canadian
Format
In each season, typically five contestants and their nominators arrive at the Handyman Rehabilitation Centre, where they partake in a two-to-three-week (16 filming days over 18 days) renovation project there, consisting of challenges that are designed to improve the contestants' handyman skills in an effort to not be named Canada's Worst Handyman. Each contestant and nominator pair are assigned colour-coded workplaces and otherwise work separately on their respective projects. Prior to entering the Handyman Rehabilitation Centre, each contestant performs a challenge in their own home, to be aired in the first episode; this is colloquially referred to as the "home challenge."
Since season
At the end of each episode, two experts (there were three in season
The experts reserve the right to not name the most improved handyman or to name more than one contestant as the worst, though the former has never occurred and the latter only once (season
Throughout the entire process, the experts teach the contestants the various skills they may need in order to perform the challenge in classroom sessions. Starting in the third season, the experts also perform each and every challenge themselves before the contestants are given the challenges, partly as a demonstration to the contestants and partly to show that the tasks can be done correctly and within the time limit, similar to that of Canada's Worst Driver. During the challenge, the experts observe each contestant from the show's production facilities or, in later seasons, the "expert room." The experts may also intervene in the event of a gross safety violation or other serious incident or if a contestant is otherwise unprepared for the challenge (such as prerequisite challenges not being close to completion).
The final episode of each season differs in many details, but is centered on a list of tasks that all contestants must finish. For
Experts
Experts | Season | |||||
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1 |
2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
Geoff Woodmansey | ||||||
Gail Prosser-Craig | ||||||
Jo Alcorn | ||||||
Jill Rydall | ||||||
Dr. Julie V. Hill | ||||||
Robin Lockhart | ||||||
Greg House |
Tools
In the first three seasons, the contestants were given the tools and materials needed for each challenge, with most being of the
Nominations
Like its sister series, the contestants are chosen by nominations submitted to Proper Television. Canada's Worst Driver and Canada's Worst Handyman are filmed alternately, with each season of Driver followed by a season of Handyman (except for the first season, in which Handyman was filmed during the summer and Driver was filmed during the winter, Driver has been filmed during the summer and Handyman was filmed during the winter). Nominations for the next season of one are accepted shortly before the airing of a season of the other on Discovery Channel. Candidates may be nominated by multiple nominators, though like its sister series, only one nominator accompanies the contestant to the Handyman Rehabilitation Centre.
Home Video/Internet Availability
Like its sister series, all six seasons are available for download in Canada from the
Seasons
Season | Originally Aired | Worst Handyman | Runner(s)-up | |
---|---|---|---|---|
First Aired | Last Aired | |||
1
|
March 13, 2006 | April 24, 2006 | Keith Cole
|
Darryl Andrews |
2 | April 16, 2007 | June 11, 2007 | Terry Cress | Ruth Summersides |
3 | May 5, 2008 | June 23, 2008 | Joe "The Bullet" Barbaro | Terry "Tex" Neves |
4 | May 4, 2009 | June 15, 2009 | Johnnie Bachusky | Brian Macdonald |
5 | May 3, 2010 | June 14, 2010 | Deen Flett | Simon Larade |
6 | May 2, 2011 | June 13, 2011 | Charlene Hunt | Ajay Pal Singh |
Season 1 (2006)
Season 1's theme was apartment renovation.
Season 2 (2007)
Season 2's theme was shed building.
Terry Cress was named Canada's Worst Handyman due to his poor attitude and work ethic, demonstrated when he tore apart his eco-shed with a chainsaw order to remove the shed from the warehouse. This season saw the first instance of a nominator being replaced (Angie Cress served as Terry Cress' nominator after his original nominator, Harvey Houle, was unable to continue for medical reasons). This season also featured the first-ever instance of a contestant being named the worst in consecutive episodes, as Jeff Gignac refused help from others when needed and made too many mistakes in the Building a Doghouse Group Challenge. This season also featured the first instance of a contestant being named both the most improved and the worst in the same episode, as Terry did more things correctly, despite the usual husband-wife interactions causing trouble, but chose not to finish unfinished work. This season also featured the only instance of a contestant-nominator to be named joint-most improved, as Jaime García and Sheilla Stengler were named as such as, despite the usual mother-in-law-son-in-law interactions causing trouble during both The Entertainment Unit and Television Challenges, the fact that they completed the Cork Floor Challenge correctly. This season also featured the only instance of a contestant-nominator to be named joint-worst, as Candace Landmark and her husband, Justin, were named as such due to Justin's continual butting-in and Candace's often-futile attempts to take charge, resulting in Justin doing much of the work (although as it turns out, at the time of filming, Candace was three months pregnant with their second child, which explains the real reason why Justin had been doing much of the work). This season saw the only instance of two female nominees (every other season had only one).
Season 3 (2008)
Season 3's theme was design and commercial renovation.
Joe "The Bullet" Barbaro was named Canada's Worst Handyman for his poor design and workmanship in his room and for his perceived lack of progress. This season saw the first time the experts completed each and every challenge themselves in a room on the second floor under identical conditions to the contestants.
Season 4 (2009)
Season 4's theme was working outdoors in the cold winter.
Johnnie Bachusky was named Canada's Worst Handyman for his slow progress. This season saw the first-ever expulsion in any Worst Handyman series when Brian Pugh was removed for behaviour reasons (it was later implied that he threatened Brian Macdonald following the Three Doors Group Challenge). This season also saw the first (and only) instance in which two contestants were named the worst in the same episode, as Brian Pugh and Angie Budgell were named as such for leading the team to the ground in the Window Group Challenge and for not passing a single challenge, respectively. This season also featured the second instance of a contestant being named both the most improved and the worst in the same episode, as Johnnie did learn the most during the Plumbing Challenge, but also did the most damage to his bathroom.
Season 5 (2010)
Season 5's theme was renovation of a central kitchen.
Deen Flett was named Canada's Worst Handyman due to his unsafe work, becoming the first person to have been named as such without having been the worst in any given episode. This season saw the second instance of a nominator being replaced (Joey Larade served as Simon Larade's nominator after his original nominator, Linda Larade, was unable to continue due to other commitments). This season also saw the only instance of a nominator being named the worst, as Matt Hanley was named as such for his constant negativity, pessimism and lack of support of his wife, Angela Finseth, to the point he wants her to fail at everything.
Season 6 (2011)
Season 6's theme was transforming a common area into a spa.
Charlene Hunt was named Canada's Worst Handyman due to her slow craftsmanship, becoming the first (and only) woman to be named as such. This season featured the third instance of a contestant being named both the most improved and the worst in the same episode, as Dan Lafleur's failure to read the instructions led to him being named as such, even though the other nominees (barring only Ajay Pal Singh) voted him the most improved.
Spinoffs
- Junk Raiders
Junk Raiders was a spinoff series starring veteran contractor Geoff Woodmansey which used construction junk and castoffs to produce quality construction.
- Blood, Sweat & Tools
In June 2014, Discovery Channel Canada started canvassing for couples for a new season at www.badhandyman.ca, using clips from past seasons.[2] This became Blood, Sweat & Tools, a 2015 revamp of Canada's Worst Handyman starring Helder Brum, Rob Koci, and Hillary Manion, who also served as challenge judges and expert advisers to the contestants that featured handymen couples instead of individual handymen, proceeding on DIY challenges.[3]
See also
- Handyman Superstar Challenge
- Junk Raiders
References
- ^ "Facebook". Facebook.com. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
- ^ a b "Bad Handyman Casting". www.badhandyman.ca. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
- ^ a b Bell Media, "Not-So-Handy Duos Give it Their All in New Competition Series BLOOD, SWEAT & TOOLS, Beginning April 13 on Discovery", March 25, 2015