History YMMV / CanadasWorstDriver

** Jillian from season 11 gained some fans for her driving skills and her struggle with anxiety, but others hate her for her verbal abuse of her fiancé. Her appearance as a nominator on Season 13 helped sway fans back

** Jillian from season 11 gained some fans for her driving skills and her struggle with anxiety, but others hate her for her verbal abuse of her fiancée. Her appearance as a nominator on Season 13 helped sway fans back

** Also, from Season 7, Janis, Shirley's nominator. It depends on whether one considers her...very vocal reactions to Shirley's bad driving to be reasonable or unhelpful. Even Cam Woolley called her a "screech-owl" during the Mega-Challenge.

*** Andrew, where Krystal constantly attacked him for pointing out (correctly) that her driving is putting others at danger, leading Andrew to state on camera that her drama is tiring him out. His breaking point was when he, visibly frustrated at that point, had to state that Krystal's texting and driving habit was endangering the crew and showing that she did not commit to her promises of not texting and driving while moving in Episode 7. The true point however is in the final episode where her many in fractures on the road laws, combined with her road rage text dependent usage, and constant yelling at Andrew caused him to finally have enough, call off the road test and leave her to drive back to the rehab center herself, with him hitching a ride in the camera car.

** In Episode 2 of Season 14, Andrew encourages Karlene by telling her that she might not overcome her fear and anxiety then, but she'll overcome it in time. Karlene does manage to, in Episode 6...only to relapse ''after being graduated'' and crash straight back down into the same nervous wreck she entered the show as.

** Brad and Donna from Season 7. He's a grumpy , perpetually frustrated driver with some deep seated anger issues, and she's a controlling wife who often laughs at Fred's mistakes, but both are also sympathetic, Brad for his mother's death from a road accident and Donna's treatment of him, Donna for her severe shoulder injury and having to care for her ailing father. Donna also earned some points for being supportive of Brad when he did well (the donut challenge being a good example).

*** Scott's expulsion, especially since it was so quick. After failing the shoulder check challenge, and laughing it off, his nominator Danny had enough and cancelled his insurance effectively tomorrow. Since the rules state that all drivers must have insurance in order to drive the shows vehicles on the courses, Scott was effectively expelled from rehab in the second episode, though based on his poor attitude towards learning, he would have been expelled eventually.

*** John. He graduated from rehab early since he promised to better his attitude after talking with Aaron. The only other person on the shortlist for that episode was Lauri, who despite doing better in the challenges, wanted to stay in rehab for a bit longer.

** In Season 8, Flora seemed to be one of the better drivers initially, and both viewers and the show's judges alike predicted that as soon as her husband Frank stopped acting like a {{Jerkass}} BackseatDriver, she'd massively improve and quickly graduate. Unfortunately, her performances actually got ''worse'' as the season progressed, and seemed to show no real correlation as to how Frank behaved or whether he was even in the car, resulting in her being named the joint-worst for the season alongside Kevin.

** Jillian from Season 11. She had the best technical skills out of all of the nominees, and could have graduated early, but she stayed on. Unfortunately, her performances dropped in the second half, and she couldn't get the confidence to drive on the road test.
** Karlene from Season 14. Her confidence as a driver managed to grow up until Episode 6, where she was able to ''proudly'' drive onto and off of a highway alone. But her attitude took a ''massive'' nosedive starting with the Water Tank Test, and even though she was easily that episode's graduate, she refused to take the one last lesson she'd ''asked'' for and returned to the nervous wreck she'd started the season as.

** Also from Season 7, Janis, Shirley's nominator. It depends on whether one considers her...very vocal reactions to Shirley's bad driving to be reasonable or unhelpful. Even Cam Woolley called her a "screech-owl" during the Mega-Challenge.

** Diane from Season 8 was shortlisted every second episode, but was ultimately the last person to graduate, in part due to her twice refusing to graduate, and also due to the panel inexplicably deciding that Margherita should graduate over Diane in the penultimate episode.

** Siham from Season 10 was nominated several times as the season progressed, but kept narrowly missing out and ended up in the final episode. In her case, it was mostly because while she was quite capable technically, she had major issues with confidence and kept relying on her husband to make all the decisions. In the end, she didn't actually graduate as such, but did get easily the most positive edit out of any runner-up... not that this stopped her from dropping a ClusterFBomb or ten on Facebook and Twitter, over the fact that Jason was graduated over her.

** Daniella from Season 12 generally did well in the challenges throughout the season, but consciously or otherwise kept talking herself out of graduating by admitting that she still felt very nervous about the idea of driving in public. It ultimately culminated in her completely losing it on the highway segment of her final drive and Andrew having to make every decision for her, with only Krystal's trainwreck of a final drive preventing Daniella from being named (or even considered as) the worst.

** While Andrew is definitely the star of the show, Cam is almost as popular thanks to his straight-talking nature and lack of any hesitance in calling out people who offer up any form of bullshit.

** Season 7 had probably the show's two all-time most popular contestants: Aaron and Shirley. The former for his backstory, his desire to make sure his own accident counted for something in helping others (even if it meant being named the worst, which he ultimately wasn't), and his overall performance on the show. Shirley's popularity was thanks to her consistently positive attitude and passing more challenges than anyone in the show's entire history, something that wasn't at all diminished when she got named the worst thanks to a horrid road test. Her darkhorse status was only further cemented when she came back for ''Ever'' and graduated second after a virtually flawless performance.

** Season 10 had a somewhat unusual example of this trope. While the season was actually airing, Siham was by far and away the most popular contestant with the fans, who viewed her as the DistaffCounterpart of Aaron, and it helped that she generally did well in the challenges. That all changed the day after the finale aired, when she went ballistic on social media, aiming some incredibly nasty insults at the people involved with making the show, and even some implied legal threats.[[note]](While she was vague about what exactly upset her, the general gist of it seemed to be that she was ''very'' pissed off that Jason was given the final graduation instead of her, and that Cam had tried to name her the worst driver. Many of the show's fans actually ''agreed'' that Siham should have been the final graduate, but the way she handled the issue unsurprisingly turned people off of her)[[/note]] Instead, Santana is now generally regarded as the season's Ensemble Darkhorse; while an early graduate, she was also perhaps the best performer aside from George, and definitely had the best attitude toward learning.

*** Eric (Season 2 Michael's nominator) was well liked for being similar to Michael, and fans were happy to see him return for the second half of ''Ever''.

** Darris from Season 14. He drove like a total {{Jerkass}}, even verbally attacking other drivers, and his outbursts frighten even his mother. But Andrew quickly realized Darris's SurvivorGuilt over surviving a traffic accident that killed his cousin, to the point where Andrew outright called Darris's fatalist mindset a "[[DeathSeeker death wish.]]"

** They pushed the 10th season anniversary a lot with a lot of their obstacles birthday related.

** Two examples in Season 8 -- Klyne started out looking like another young driver who didn't give a crap about improving, in the same mold as Colin or Scott, but he took the rehab process seriously and ended up being the third person to graduate. In fact, he could have been the ''first'' person to graduate, but actually turned the opportunity down, feeling that he still had a lot more to learn. Also from that season, Margherita was probably the worst driver (other than Kevin) in the first half of the season, and initially didn't seem to care much about improving (largely due to her nominator constantly telling her that the experts were dumb and to disregard their advice), but she eventually took the lessons on-board and improved significantly over the course of the season, eventually becoming the penultimate graduate.

** Tyler from Season 12 would have been easily the most-disliked driver in any previous season (Krystal easily outshone him in that regard this year), due to his generally oblivious attitude and admission of habitually drinking and driving. However, he made a real effort to improve over the course of the season, was treated more sympathetically by fans after it was revealed that he had sustained a brain injury several years prior, and finally redeemed himself by doing well in the last two episodes, becoming the season's final graduate. Even the aforementioned Krystal's nominator, Steven, said that watching Tyler's journey had made the season worthwhile despite Krystal's own refusal to learn.

** [[CaptainOblivious Sholom]] in Season 11 is this for most fans. His total oblivious was just painful to watch, and failed all but one challenge. Fans of Jillian were more angry when he was passed over as the worst that season in favor of Jillian.

* Krystal in Season 12 is quite possibly the most hated nominee on the show that it required a folder for organisation.
** She was already hated by fans before the first episode even finished. Her driving in both the drive to rehab and her audition tape is scary to the point of putting her nominator (and brother) in harm's way, and she argues that she isn't the worst because she hasn't killed anyone yet. At the time, fans on the Facebook page of the show stated that she will either be named the worst this year, or expelled like Colin and Scott.

** Her driving skills and behaviour only went FromBadToWorse as Season 12 progressed, and it didn't look pretty. By the time Episode 5 & 6 aired, she is now constantly arguing with her nominator (and brother) Steven, starts refusing to do challenges because she believes that Andrew and Steven is the problem, throwing angry temper outbursts and tantrums and keeps blaming other people for making her feel bad. By Episode 7, her fights with Steven turned physical and she is now being openly hostile to the panel of experts and Andrew himself. Even Andrew asks about the open hostility, and finds out that Krystal thinks that he is the problem.

*** Andrew, where Krystal constantly attacked him for pointing out (correctly) that her driving is putting others at danger, leading Andrew to state on camera that her drama is tiring him out. His breaking point was when he, visibly frustrated at that point, had to state that Krystal's texting and driving habit was endangering the crew and showing that she did not commit to her promises of not texting and driving while moving in Episode 7. The true point however is in the final episode where her many in fractures on the road laws, combined with her road rage text dependent usage, and constant yelling at Andrew caused him to finally have enough, call off the road test and leave her to drive back to the rehab centre herself, with him hitching a ride in the camera car.

*** Philipe and Tim, where Krystal defiantly states that she gets bored driving safe, drives dangerously for fun and laughs, ignoring their driving lessons on purpose because "they are too high a level for me" and brazenly states that she shouldn't need them to help her drive. Tim's breaking point was when he saw Krystal go off road during the trailer challenge in Episode 6, and Philipe's was when she blew off his driving lessons in Episode 3.
*** And lastly, Shyamala when Krystal blames everyone else for making her 'feel bad' and showing incredible anger to the entire panel. Her breaking point came when Krystal stated that she would never understand millennials in Episode 6, despite Shyamala being a ''licensed and practising psychologist!''.
** The last episode was possibly the worst of her. She laughed when Daniella was having a hard time on the three in a car challenge, causing everyone to [[DudeNotFunny lash out on her behavior]], and ending with her leaving the car in frustrated denial. This caused her brother to refuse to look at her anymore and [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere disappeared for the rest of the episode]], although the show probably let him walk off the set for his own mental and physical well being (he did film a final interview expressing his concern on his sisters behavior). Then her public road test was considered the worst out of the three, and her constant ignorance, infractions, and yelling at Andrew were too much for him to handle, causing Andrew to end the road test abruptly after she deliberately turn a corner sharp and fast, and him walking off and making his own way back to the rehab center in the camera car. With no needed discussion, the panel named her the worst this year (without the trophy because she didn't earn it), and she ends her tenure as the most hated contestant on the show.

*** Sean. He managed to admit that driving fast wasn't safe, and graduated right after Jodi in the same episode (which never happened before then).

*** Emily. If she was in any other season, she definitely would have been named Canada's Worst Driver based on her lack of skillset. However, she barely managed to leave rehab without the title because Ashley's anger management problems were seen as more of an impending problem on the road. Admittedly, Emily did get glasses to address her eyesight problems while Ashley never made any attempt to control her road rage problem (especially toward her husband).

*** Dale is another case. Everyone thought she was bound for the final 3 (and possibly "worst ever"), but she left rehab after the slalom challenge, went back home, and broke her hand when trying to break into her own home. With the fact she wouldn't drive soon from that injury, and her complete lack of memory, the experts and Andrew expelled her from rehab. Almost {{subverted}} when she was brought back for the running, but was passed over for Kevin as his public drive was horrific.

*** Ian didn't pass any challenges, but was allowed to graduate early since the experts believe he was the most aware of the personal problems he was making (that and promising to quit as a taxi driver helped his case as well). Even he was surprised at the decision. In most circumstances it would probably have been George who graduated that week, but he had a son who was just learning to drive, and the panel seemed determined not to let him graduate until they knew he wouldn't pass on any bad habits.

*** Tina and Alex both had rage issues on the road, but both of them managed to pass the "Shoulder Check" Challenge, which lead to both of them on the shortlist. When the panel couldn't agree on who to graduate out of the two, Andrew decided to graduate ''both'' of them that episode (though it could have also been that the show had nine contestants instead of the normal eight, so they needed to slim the numbers faster).

** Travis from Season 13. He improved a lot over the course of his run, but he was up against Shayne and Adam who were shortlisted more than once (In fact this was Adam's third time in a row being shortlisted). Travis got to graduate however since Shayne admitted that he had some road rage problems during a lesson with Tim, and Adam only passed one challenge this episode.

*** To further about Colin, he went to college for [[HypocriticalHumor police studies]] - i.e. to become a police officer - when he was nominated, and said on camera that he would flash his student ID at any officer that pulled him over and claim he was on his way to an exam. Then, he said he 'didn't think cops were the smartest people out there'. Cam Woolley [[TheDogBitesBack took a number of very helpful photos of Colin's car, his license plate number, and the video clip of him saying he thinks police are stupid, and emailed it to all the officers in Colin's town.]] Apparently, he had to sell his car because of all the police attention.

** Angelina from Season 5 is also really bad to the point where she tries a reversing challenge while drinking a coffee without a lid. When she is forced to drop it, she wouldn't shut up about how upset she was. Also, her driving is horrendously bad to the point that her nominee admitted that she tended to crash ''all the time'' and Angelina was convinced that she did well on some challenges where she nearly destroyed them. No wonder she 'won'. Andrew even called her the worst driver of all time.
*** And if you were scheduled to take part in a show called ''Canada's Worst Driver Ever'', what should you ''not'' do the night before you make an hour long drive to the rehab center? Get drunk. Angelina showed up at the starting line with a hangover and had to hitch a ride with Chris.
* TheWoobie: Aaron, considering what he'd gone through. For extra lovability: his positive attitude and insistence on serving as a reminder about the ''real'' point of the show.

** The show's premise is to try and make bad drivers better, but sometimes there are drivers that show they are unable to drive at all whether due to medical reasons, mental/emotional problems, or just being unable to drive at all. By the twelve seasons so far, at least 4 nominees have given up driving (two gave up willingly, one was willing to in the beginning only to be forced when he tried to weasel out of the deal, and one was forced to give up driving due to failing a medical driving review).

** Ryan from Season 14. Normally, nobody is allowed to graduate in the first episode, but Ryan proved that he was an excellent driver without his phone that the panel decided to make an exception.

* Alexis from Season 14. Despite being a young mother who was in multiple accidents at the age of 21, she irritated fans with her non caring attitude, dismissal of the lessons, and calling the whole experience "stupid".

** Darris from Season 14 is starting to become this. While he is definitely the strongest driver of the nominees, as his multiple passes show, his road rage and aggressive attitude is considered the main problem, and because he is making half-hearted promises to change, they are the reasons why he was barred two episodes in a row.

** Darris from Season 14 is starting to become this. While he is definitely the strongest driver of the nominees, his multiple passes show, but his road rage and aggressive attitude is considered the main problem, and because he is making half-hearted promises to change are the reasons he was barred two episodes in a row,

** Brad was shortlisted two times, but his main problem was that his wife was more in control of the decisions than himself. He did manage to become the last graduate though.
*** Season 7 saw a rare ''deliberate'' example of this trope, as Aaron could have potentially graduated by about the halfway point of the season. However, he was determined to stick around for the whole season, mainly because he wanted to take part in the final road test, which would prove once and for all that he could drive again.

* JerkassWoobie: Angelina. She may be ignorant at times, and show a lack of improvement but her depression, anxiety and overall mental health problems are almost enough to make her a straight example of TheWoobie. Her boot episode in ''Ever'' shows just how damaged the poor woman is.

** Paul from Season 6, despite being the best that season, didn't graduate until the fourth episode (the first case was Scott's expulsion, and the second case was that Cam barred him from graduating as he failed the Icy Corner Challenge). Brad was shortlisted two times, but his main problem was that his wife was more in control of the decisions than himself. He did manage to become the last graduate though.
** Season 7 saw a rare ''deliberate'' example of this trope, as Aaron could have potentially graduated by about the halfway point of the season. However, he was determined to stick around for the whole season, mainly because he wanted to take part in the final road test, which would prove once and for all that he could drive again.

** Adam from Season 13. He is the best driver of the final 3, and was short-listed four times in a row (which also ties him with S4 Ashley and S9 Michael for the record), but his low confidence is the major problem, and his refusal to graduate kept him in rehab in the fifth episode.[[note]](though given that it seems an unwritten rule that the fifth episode of a season always ends with no graduation, chances are if he ''had'' wanted to graduate it would have been denied on the grounds that he did poorly in the Water Tank Challenge)[[/note]] He ended up in rehab until the last episode of the season, where a good road test saw him finally graduate.
** Shayne from the same season was this as well. He was the other strongest driver so far, and probably would have graduated in Episode 6 had he not admit to the panel that he had some road rage problems during the highway lessons with Tim. He did eventually graduate in the next episode.