A masterclass in how not to perform the "Swerve and Avoid" challenge.note
The show is called Canada's Worst Driver for a reason...
Season 1
- David managed to wreck the car he was using (which was specifically chosen because it was hardy) driving through a wall made up of cardboard boxes.
- For getting lost, see Chris's final drive. For those not familiar with Montreal geography, veering away from downtown Montreal and actually finding your way into the bus-only area of the Henri-Bourassa bus station by accident (it's literally on the opposite side of the city) is roughly akin to attempting to fly a plane from New York to London... and ending up in Mexico City instead.
- Madalena manages to similarly drive the bus - only loop at the Rosemont bus terminal during the final drive.
Season 2
- Being the first contestant to be kicked off of any Worst Driver show in the world (Colin).
Season 3
- The icy corner challenge doesn't involve an icy corner and is essentially just driving down a road with a slight curve. Jason still manages to crash the car and kill it.
Season 4
- Donna's run on the Icy Corner Challenge might go down as the worst of the series as she hit the gas pedal instead of the brakes and left skid marks on the grass next to it.
- Earlier in the same episode, Donna managed to break five traffic laws at once during the street parallel parking challenge, when she got out of the car to yell at a driver who was honking at her. Had she been caught, she'd have gotten almost $600 in fines.
Season 5
- Angelina passed only one out of 23 challenges on her way to "winning" the show. As an indication of just how terrible that is, bear in mind that Colin from Season 2 deliberately tried to fail every challenge during his time on the show... and still managed to pass two challenges prior to getting ejected half-way through filming. Even worse, Andrew even named Angelina "Canada's Worst Worst Driver" in a special episode prior to Season 8.
- Mike Butt's road test may well have been the worst final drive of anyone not to be named the worst of their season, with him committing a total of 23 ticketable offences — for perspective, only Shirley and Chanie, the worst drivers in Seasons 7 and 10 committed more, and even then only by three and one respectively — and nearly mowing down both a cyclist and an old woman. Cam thought it was so bad that Mike deserved to be named the worst even in the face of Angelina's overall train-wreck of a performance, and the only reason the other panellists didn't feel the same way was because he had agreed to destroy his driving license.
Season 6
- Scott and Dean weren't allowed to finish their drive to the rehab center, which is the very first challenge in the series.
- Scott getting kicked off the show is a twofer. It not only happens in the second episode (setting the record for fastest expulsion) but also by his own nominator (when his nominator Danny canceled his insurance).
- The Water Tank Challenge usually floods the interior of the car. Dean, however, managed to flood the car's engine with a hard stop after the first straightway. He didn't even get to the precision driving parts.
- In some challenges, obstacles are carved and painted Styrofoam. On at least two occasions, they've run out of obstacles before the nominees can complete the challenges. Jamie took it a bit further, she hit a Styrofoam obstacle in such a way that it shattered the windshield of the car. No other driver has done so before or since.
Season 7
- Afiya sped so much that the cameraman ordered a stop. Not only that, she hit an obstacle even before leaving the parking garage where the drive began. Jon would have been stopped if he had been accompanied by a cameraman (the Corvette he drove to rehab didn't have enough seats to seat a cameraman).
- Sly in the trough challenge made the biggest and most dangerous blunder by deciding to gun the last stretch and tore the undercarriage in the process!
Season 8
- Flora holds the record for the worst Eye of the Needle challenge run by spinning off the road at 140 km/h!note It was just sheer luck that Flora didn't flip the car and she and her husband were able to walk away. In later seasons, the part of the runway she skid on is dubbed "the Flora Turn".
Season 9 (Ever)
- Angelina returns, and she hadn't improved any as of the start of Canada's Worst Driver Ever, where she became the first-ever contestant not to be able to even attempt the drive to rehab, since she was hung over from a night of drinking, resulting in Chris having to take her instead.
- Later on, during the fourth episode, Angelina manages to hit every hoop in the Eye of the Needle Challenge, while closing her eyes. This is after Andrew gave her flats to wear instead of her heels.
- While many drivers lose most of the water in the water tank challenge, Shelby became the first driver to empty the entire tank. He drove over a foam figurine, and the resulting jolt broke the tank spilling all 100 litres into the driver's compartment. The camera showed him waiting patiently while the tank emptied out onto his head.
- This trope was invoked almost word-for-word by Andrew in the final episode, after Sly's final attempt at the reversing challenge ended with him backing into a nearby car with such force that its rear windscreen practically exploded:Michael: Okay, I think we can call that a failure.
Andrew: (voiceover) We'll call that a Colossal Failure! - Kevin has the dubious dishonor of being the first person to have their final road test end midway simply because of poor skills.
- Kevin also had the dubious honour of being the only driver to get to drive the Longest Reverse challenge forwards, and he still failed it by speeding and hitting several rims, bursting one of the car's tires in the process. The fact that he tried afterwards to claim that he had passed the challenge was the icing on the cake.
Season 10
- In the parking lot challenge Chanie pulls into a reserved parking spot, crashes into the sign marking it as a reserved spot, and has a tire on the dividing line, earning her three penalty laps, plus a fourth when she hits a marker driving the first of those laps.
- Episode 7 had only 1 challenge pass between all four of the nominees!
- Every season has at least a Hero Car that the show uses for one challenge per episode, and while the nominees bang the cars up they still manage to drive fine. In this season, however, the hero car (a Cadillac) got beat up so much, it refused to even start up for the final two episodes!
Season 11
- Polly's Swerve and Avoid run had her floor the gas pedal after swerving away from the obstacle and go a hundred yards in the grass area before finally stopping at a mudpit.
- Shmuel holds the record so far for having to stop the distracted driving challenge twice-first he got a garbage can caught under the car (the end result was not pretty) and somehow managed to puncture a tire!
- In the timed slalom in the final episode, Sholom manages to beach the car on a foam block at the edge of the runway.
- Sholom from Season 11 managed to equal Angelina's record of only passing one challenge in the entire season. Though unlike her, he actually managed to pull out a road test that, while decidedly mediocre, was still worlds better than Polly's, and when combined with Jillian not even being able to attempt the final drive due to her nerves, resulted in him only ending up as third-worst.
Season 12
- Tyler's run on the Eye of the Needle Challenge was almost close to how Season 8's Flora's run was!
- Krystal's final drive was one long lesson in how not to drive a car, and how not to speak to your passenger. For some perspective, immediately beforehand Daniella had turned in a performance that in most previous seasons would likely have seen her named the worst, suffering such a complete Heroic BSoD that it would likely have resulted in a serious accident had Andrew not been there to guide her every move. Krystal's drive was so bad that the experts decided there was no need for a discussion over who was the worst.
- When someone is named Canada's Worst Driver, they receive the big, ugly hunk of scrap that is the Canada's Worst Driver Trophy. Krystal did so poorly throughout the season (due to her bad driving and worse attitude) that when she was named the worst, she didn't get the trophy.note
- She also has the shortest Water Tank Challenge run — from the start, she immediately floors the gas (considering her habit of releasing random pressure once she does "feathering pedals"), causing a ton of water to dump on her and Steven. She then quits probably centimeters from where she started. Every other nominee at least does the challenge start to finish, no matter how bad their pedal control is.
Season 13
- Ashley not only had the worst assessment run in the show's history, as she hit almost everything with enough force to damage the car, but also had the worst slalom run as she hit all five of the foam figures.
- Travis' run on the Eye of the Needle was considered by Andrew as the worst in the show's history due to running through 4 of the 5 arches and deliberately missed the fifth one while speeding at 90km/h.
Season 14
- Alexis had one of the worst Swerve and Avoid performance ever as she ran through the middle barrier when the object appeared, and impaled the front of the Mustang with a wooden plank. The scary thing though; she didn't think it was that bad until she saw the carnage she caused!
- Brandon's final drive was deemed the worst in the show's history by Cam for many reasons; committing $2,100 worth of fines, had to be pulled over three times by Andrew just to calm down, and having zero knowledge of even the basic road signs (ex: he did not know what a one-way sign meant). Ultimately, this led to him being named the Worst that year.
Others
- Crashing into the concrete barriers (spaced at freeway lane width) in the Drive in a Straight Line challenge.
