Episode list

Andrew introduces the eight nominees as Canada's Worst Driver Season 12. There are the nervous drivers: Tyler Dupont, a serial hit-and-runner who feels he's a safer driver by self-medicating with a few beers beforehand to calm his nerves; Daniella Florica, who would rather give up than continue whenever she gets nervous on the road which is often; and forty-one year old Lou Valcourt, whose nerves are largely from inexperience as she has only had her license for one year and has only driven by herself four times in her life. One extraordinary nominee in this category is Mike Adrain, the victim of a head-on collision thirteen years ago which left him with permanent brain damage. His license was revoked after emerging from his several month coma following the accident, then reinstated four years ago after he went through driver retraining at a brain injury clinic. The result of the injury on his driving is that he has slow reaction and cognition, which he feels he can overcome by repetition in tasks. There is the distracted driver: spiritualist Diana Hutchings believes her spirit guides will keep her safe, she not realizing that she is focusing more on things like her spiritual staff or reading out of her positive scriptures book while driving than keeping safe by being aware. And there are the purposefully reckless drivers: Cody Jensen, who has fun on the road by doing dangerous maneuvers like drifting, the result being he is one ticket away from losing his license for the seventh time; and Amrinder Dua, whose smug and cavalier attitude about driving and rules of the road has resulted in six major accidents thus far. The final nominee also falls into this last category: Krystal McCann, who Andrew and the experts believe on first glance is the most dangerous driver ever in rehab, as she seems to have no regard for the safety of herself or of others on the road, she believing her driving not a problem as she has not killed anyone. Andrew does not believe she is inherently a bad person when not behind the wheel, but he has the harshest words for her about her recklessness when behind the wheel. The nominees' first task is to do the approximate ninety minute drive on the predetermined route with their nominator in the back seat from Niagara Falls to the Drivers' Rehabilitation Centre at Dunnville Airport. The belief by those associated with the show of Krystal's extreme dangerousness on the road is so strong that no cameraperson is willing to accompany her on this drive. At the Centre, the nominees are then subjected to an assessment drive, consisting of a reversing section which includes both straightaways and slight curves, a tight maneuvering section through a concrete-barriered course, and a slalom which must be driven at 50kph. The eight then meet the expert panel for the first time, the panel who provide their initial thoughts.

Andrew explains the much more stringent driving testing regulations and the resulting much lower per capita vehicular accident rate in the United Kingdom compared to Canada. These differences provide the bases for the first three challenges facing the nominees. The first and third are annual challenges: riding the rails (which tests if the drivers know where their wheels are when they are driving), and the shoulder check (where the drivers are required to do both right and left shoulder checks while driving at least 70kph to know which is the safe lane in which to merge). The second is a variation on a regular challenge, where drivers are pitted head-to-head to complete a long curving reverse course, the winner in the head to head not necessarily the first to complete the course, but the first to complete the course without hitting anything, the "not hitting" part which some drivers do not understand. Before the second and third challenges, Tim provides lessons in the basics of reversing and Philippe provides lessons in the basics of shoulder checking respectively, the latter including the concept of a blind spot which some drivers either did not ever know or understand. Beyond he successful completion of challenges, the panel deliberation focuses solely on who they feel would be the safest person on public roads in deciding who to graduate, which largely takes into consideration attitude. Especially with the aggressive and/or reckless drivers, Andrew and the panel hope that Mike will provide an example of what recklessness on the road can and has led to. They also contemplate a first in twelve seasons: keeping all the nominees at the Centre over the entire course of the season.

With Cody Jensen being named the first graduate of the season, seven nominees remain at the Centre. The three challenges which the seven will take this week are all annual challenges or variations thereof. The first is the figure eight reverse challenge, which each nominee will do in a passenger van with the other six nominees as passengers. While the challenge is designed to test if the nominees know how to use their side mirrors, the drivers will have the extra pressure of doing the task in front of the gazing and often critical eyes of the other nominees. The second is perhaps the most audience favorite, namely the water tank challenge, this year's tank which has 200 liters of water potentially to dump on the nominees and their respective nominator passengers (and one unlucky expert panel member). The challenge is designed to teach vehicle dynamics and test pedal control. This year's course includes an acceleration/deceleration section leading into a sharp turn, an unexpected obstacle parking lot section, a tight maneuvering section which requires both driving forward and in reverse, and a slow reverse slalom section. The third is the eye of the needle, which this year will be done on a gradually curving course (called the Flora after season eight nominee Flora Wang's disastrous attempt on the challenge on a similar course) driven at 70kph. Through the week, a focus is placed on Tyler's history of drinking and driving, which the experience of others hopefully shining a light on the dangers of doing such to Tyler. By the panel deliberation, three nominees declare that they want to graduate this week, while the panel short lists two. They will have to decide if either has improved enough to return to public roads.

With Amrinder Dua being named the second graduate of the season, six nominees remain at the Centre. Andrew highlights that this year's crop of nominees is comprised solely of people younger than him, with no one being able to claim "seniorsitis" as the cause of their driving issues. The two challenges which the six remaining nominees will take this week are both annual challenges or variations thereof. The first is the trough challenge, which is designed to show the drivers that rear wheels take a sharper path than front wheels in a turn, something Andrew demonstrates on the ground before the challenge. Thus, the drivers will have to take wider turns than they would expect for their rear wheels to remain in the trough on the turns. The second is the swerve and avoid challenge, the maneuver which Philippe demonstrates to the nominees beforehand. Philippe's demonstration shows the drivers that if they step on their brakes to try and avoid hitting something, their wheels will lock causing them to skid right into the object. Instead they must steer - "swerve" - away from the object without braking until the vehicle is back under control. The nominees will also find that a common cause of failure in this challenge is target fixation, namely fixating on the object that they are trying to avoid, which instead makes them drive right into it. The nominees also participate in an annual demonstration to show them just how dangerous it is to drive while being distracted behind the wheel. The panel members hope that Diana in particular will be affected by the demonstration as arguably the most distracted driver that has ever attended drivers' rehab. Prior to the week, Shyamala has a one on one session with all six to discuss their primary issues, one who doesn't quite understand the seriousness of his issue, while another states she wants to change, with her actions saying otherwise. The panel, in their deliberation, will have to decide if the one person they are thinking of graduating this week has overcome the issue which brought that person to rehab.

With Diana Hutchings being named the latest graduate of the season - something about which Andrew admits he had to eat crow as initially believing she too flaky ever to graduate - five nominees remain at the Centre. Before embarking on the two challenges for the week, the five partake in a demonstration meant to show the dangers of speeding. The demonstration has each of the nominees driving the same course - which has a seen swerve and avoid obstacle - at 50kph, then 60kph then 70kph, which none of the five should be able to do without hitting the obstacle or driving off the course at the "speeding" 70kph. The panel members hope the demonstration hits home especially with Tyler and Krystal as the two admitted speeders. Andrew takes Krystal on a special drive beforehand to show her how to maintain driving speed, as her habit is to floor the gas pedal from the get go, get to the desired speed before she takes her foot off the floor to hit the brake pedal. And Tim takes Daniella out for a drive on the highway, which is her greatest driving fear. Both the highway drive and the swerve and avoid show Andrew and the panel something about Daniella which may make her the latest to go on the "never to graduate" list unless she can overcome that issue. The two actual challenges are both annual challenges. The first is the longest straightaway reverse in the world - 1km - which gets progressively wider as the course progresses. Each section of the course is designed to test different skills, the tight section most specifically in the use of side mirrors, while the wider section is to look where they want to go, which is far off into the distance. The second is the J-turn within an enclosed area, which each of the nominees is taught how to do by Philippe beforehand. The nominees in general surprise in how quickly they learn the skill, however that knowledge may or may not translate into success in the actual challenge. At the end of the week, one of the nominees comes to a revelatory moment which may affect his/her remaining time at the Centre. The panel, in their deliberation, only have one person they are thinking of graduating this week. The question then becomes if that person feels ready to leave.

As the panel, after their latest deliberation, decided to grant Mike's wish to remain at the Centre a little while longer and thus graduated no one this past week, five nominees remain at the Centre. Before embarking on their two challenges for the week, the five partake in a demonstration where they will drive a straight course at predetermined differing speeds while their speedometer is out of their eyesight to see if they know how to gauge how fast they are driving. In general, all five have some sort of issue regarding the speed at which they normally drive, with Daniella, Lou and Mike driving under the posted speed to varying degrees, and Krystal and Tyler driving far in excess of the posted speed. The first challenge is backing a trailer from a ninety degree position into a garage, the mechanics of which are taught to the nominees by Tim. This challenge is only done on Tyler's request as he owns a trailer which he has not driven in a year because of not knowing the techniques. The second challenge is the annual icy corner challenge, the mechanics of which are taught to the nominees by Philippe. Andrew believes this challenge is both the most difficult of the annual challenges and one of the most important for all Canadian drivers to do correctly, and as such hopes even more than usual that the nominees succeed. At this week's panel deliberation, they will have to decide if it is indeed Mike's week to graduate or if they will once again honor his request to remain at the Centre, which he wants to do until the bitter end and to return in future years. During the week, Krystal has what can only be described as a major hissy-fit, she backing her attitude on generational differences, with she being a self-professed millennial in all that the term entails. Andrew learns some information about Tyler which may have changed the way he was taught at the Centre up to this point in time. And Daniella takes the initiative for some self-learning, which impresses especially Tim.

On this, the series' one hundredth episode ever, four nominees are left in the running to be named Canada's Worst Driver Season 12 with the graduation of Mike Adrain last week. The next graduate will avoid going into the final for the title. For many of the challenges for the week, the nominees will have received continual training in some basic driving skills behind the scenes by Tim, those skills which must be used in combination to complete the challenges successfully. Those challenges include: the cross challenge, which entails knowing how to do an S-turn, parallel park and do a three-point turn in a confined space; and the teeter-totter challenge which tests pedal control. In another challenge, the nominees will have to demonstrate quick turning skills to do a slalom course at 80 kph. However, the challenge, called "know your limits", truly is to test if the nominees know how well they can drive in asking them if they would like the slalom markers moved closer together and by how much to drive the course again successfully at the same speed. And, Philippe is in the instructor's seat in showing the nominees how to do a one hundred eighty reverse spin out, which they will have to do in an enclosed space to complete the fourth challenge successfully. The naming of this week's graduate comes down to a question of if the person who did the best in this week's challenges is more deserving than the person who has shown the greatest safety on the road as demonstrated in those behind the scenes drives with Tim.

With Lou Valcourt being named the latest graduate, there are three nominees remaining at the Centre who are in the finale for the running of Canada's Worst Driver: Tyler Dupont, Daniella Florica, and Krystal McCann. Their first challenge, which they each have ten attempts and forty-five seconds per attempt to complete, is a forward and reverse slalom course. Their second challenge is the annual mega-challenge, where each is required to use all the knowledge learned at the Centre to maneuver through a set course. The sections on the course include a combined eye of the needle/slalom section, a forward and reverse precision driving section, a confined parking section, a reverse flick section, and an icy corner section. Their final challenge is to drive through a preset route through the streets and highways around Hamilton, Ontario with Andrew as their passenger and adjudicator. Beyond the technical success or failure of each of the first two challenges by the remaining nominees, there are continued moments of friction between Krystal and almost everyone she comes into contact with, including Andrew, the other two nominees, their nominators, and even her own nominator brother, Steven, who feels the need to apologize for her behavior. Even before the conclusion of the last public drive, all of which are far from perfect, it is a foregone conclusion of who is going to be named Canada's Worst Driver, that conclusion which does not even need to be explicitly stated at the final panel deliberation. Because of the unusual nature of the season, Andrew decides to change the format of the final ceremony to reflect some success while acknowledging perhaps what he considers their worst failure ever in this year's title holder.