Canada's Smartest Person

Canada's Smartest Person
Also known asCanada's Smartest Person Junior (season 4)
GenreCompetition
Created byRobert Cohen
Presented by
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4 (+1 special)
No. of episodes30
Production
Executive producerRobert Cohen
Production companyMedia Headquarters
Original release
NetworkCBC Television
ReleaseSeptember 28, 2014 (2014-09-28) –
present
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Canada's Smartest Person is a Canadian reality television competition series. Contestants compete in a series of different challenges based on American psychologist Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences to earn the title of "Canada's Smartest Person."[1] The first three seasons of the series were hosted by television personality Jessi Cruickshank,[2] and the fourth by actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee.[3] Actor Jeff Douglas co-hosted the first season in 2014 with Cruickshank.[2]

The show is produced by Media Headquarters and broadcast nationally on CBC Television. The first version of the show aired in 2012 as a 2-hour special.[4] The series was picked up and the first full season aired on CBC as a 9-part series in 2014. It was the number one new Canadian series of the fall season, with almost one in four Canadians tuning in.[5] In 2016, it was the only original Canadian format to be nominated for the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's Golden Screen Award for highest rated reality series. The second season began airing on October 4, 2015.[6] On March 31, 2016, CBC announced the series would return for a third season as part of their fall/winter schedule.[7] The fourth season, a spin off known as Canada's Smartest Person Junior, began airing on November 14, 2018. Canada's Smartest Person has one of the highest percentages of family and co-viewing ever on CBC.[8]

During the broadcast, viewers participate in all of the challenges from home in real-time using a smartphone app. The play-along app has been an industry-leading success. The first season of the series saw over 175,000 downloads of the app and nearly one million individual intelligence tests taken across the country.[5] As of 2017 there have been over 300,000 downloads of the app, making it one of the most successful peer to peer gaming applications in Canada.[9]

  1. ^ Wilford, Denette (September 26, 2014). "'Canada's Smartest Person', CBC's New Brainchild, Wants To Take On The World". Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Harris, Bill (September 25, 2014). "Jessi Cruickshank and Jeff Douglas host Canada's Smartest Person". Toronto Sun. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  3. ^ Liwanag, Robert (November 12, 2018). "15 Minutes with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee". Reader's Digest. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  4. ^ Wilford, Denette (December 12, 2011). "Canada's Smartest Person': Are You Him/Her?". HuffPost TV. Archived from the original on February 11, 2012.
  5. ^ a b "CBC'S CANADA'S SMARTEST PERSON, THE NUMBER ONE NEW CANADIAN SERIES THIS FALL, WRAPS WITH HIGHLY ANTICIPATED TWO-HOUR SEASON FINALE - CBC Revenue Group". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  6. ^ "CBC Announces Season 2 of Canada's Smartest Person".
  7. ^ "CBC Announces Season 3 of Canada's Smartest Person".
  8. ^ "CANADA'S SMARTEST PERSON JUNIOR". solutionsmedia.cbcrc.ca (in French). Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  9. ^ "Canada's Smartest Person nominated for 4 Canadian Screen Awards".