New Brunswick — Canada’s Worst Driver, a popular show on the Discovery network, was set to film its newest season in New Brunswick, but executives of the show have had to cancel those plans as they were overwhelmed with applications. “We’re a pretty small production,” said Joe Ferris, executive producer of the show. “We’ve got a staff of about 25 people overall, and most of them are on the filming side of things. We’re used to getting anywhere from 50 to 100 applications that we go through, but we had over 5,000 in the first day here, and we just don’t have the man-power to keep up with that kind of demand.”
The Manatee has learned that the show was set to film in the pothole filled streets of downtown Fredericton during the summer months when road-construction is at its peak, usually sending commuters into a rage. “We thought this would be the ultimate test to one’s driving abilities, and their ability to keep their cool behind the wheel,” explained Ferris. “It’s really too bad that we’ve had to change our plans — this would have surely been the most entertaining season yet.”
Ferris told The Manatee that his inbox had been filling up with letters from people applying on behalf of their friends and family. Some of the emails simply contained random licence plate numbers of strangers. “We didn’t find a single application from someone who was actually applying for themselves,” Ferris explained. “It was all people who knew other bad drivers — sometimes a lot of them. We had one person who applied for 26 different people.”
Charlie Lawton was one of the applicants The Manatee interviewed. “I know tons of terrible drivers,” he said. “My mother, her mother and even her mother — they’re all outrageously bad. I don’t think 93-year-olds should be allowed to drive, especially if they’ve only got one eye.”
Ferris told us that one name that came up 68 times in their brief review was that of Dustin Wood, a 22 year-old resident of Fredericton. “It’s not me who’s the bad driver,” he said defensively. “It’s every other friggin’ person in this stupid city. I haven’t been at fault in any one of those 9 accidents; I don’t care what the insurance company says — or the police.”
Wood walked us through one of his alleged incidents. “One time I was behind this person who had no clue how to merge properly, so I waited and waited until I had enough and pulled off to the side to pass them, and that’s exactly when they finally started to go, so I plowed into the back of them — clearly not my fault.”
The show’s producers are hopeful for a future where they’ll be able to come back and film in New Brunswick. “Maybe if we have a few more successful seasons elsewhere, we’ll be able to hire a larger staff and come back this way,” said a disappointed Ferris. “It’s pretty obvious that there’s a hot-bed of bad driving and New Brunswick really, really needs our help.”