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  • Accidental Innuendo: Azim won't stop fondling his gearshift.
  • Adorkable:
    • Michael is a major geek, and able to drop sci-fi and comic references into any conversation, but also manages to stay very charming and likable while doing so.
    • Shelby from Season 3 is also well-liked for his pleasant demeanor and enthusiasm to learn.
  • Anvilicious: Driving safety is important. Justified trope, as when the show was running, car accidents on average killed about 2,000 people and injured over 150,000 each year in Canada alone.
  • Badass Decay:
    • 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 Backseat Driver, 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.
    • Sly went from a near perfect final drive in Season 7 and a promise not to drive distracted to a terrible performance in Ever. Ultimately Double Subverted when he had a great road test once again.
    • Jillian from Season 11. She had the best technical skills out of all the nominees that season, 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 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.
  • Base-Breaking Character:
    • Sly from Season 7 and Ever. He's one of the worst-performing drivers the rehab center has seen, especially when it came to reversing. His broken distracted-driving promise to Aaron and avoiding the Worst Driver title over Shirley (both major Ensemble Darkhorses) didn't earn him much respect. However, some viewers feel the experts were too harsh on him, given that Sly managed a decent public drive in Season 7 and a perfect public drive in Ever, and unlike many of the other bad drivers was willing to admit to his faults. He was even willing to call himself the Worst Driver Ever, despite the aforementioned flawless final drive.
    • 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.
    • Darris from Season 14. There's no mistaking his Dark and Troubled Past as a major cause for his attitudes towards driving, but viewers are split as to Darris genuinely did have a Heel–Face Turn or if he merely wanted to pretend he had, with some in the latter group even considering him sociopathic.
    • 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.
  • Elimination Houdini: An unusual example of this trope, since being eliminated from the show is a good thing:
    • Billie-Jean from Season 3 was shortlisted three times in a row, yet there was Always Someone Better each time. On the fourth occasion of her being nominated she nearly failed to graduate again, as the experts thought that Shelby had done better in the episode, but Andrew persuaded them that it was time to let Billie-Jean go.
    • Ashley from Season 4. She was shortlisted to graduate four times, and still was named Canada's Worst Driver. She was an unusual case overall, since it was obvious to everyone that she was a way more skilled driver than runner-up Emily, and in fact most of the drivers from her season; the real problem was her inability to get on with her husband while driving, something which neither made any real attempt to improve (frying the alternator on Andrew's own truck in the final road test didn't help much either). This is likely why the producers took a more active role in helping Melissa in Season 5, as she and her nominator/husband Wil were similarly dysfunctional.
    • Father Giles and Jakob, the third-last and second-last graduates from Season 5 were each shortlisted three times before eventually leaving, which in both cases was further delayed by no-one graduating in the fourth episode, and then Crystal having to pull out during the following episode.
    • Season 6
      • Paul, 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.
    • Shirley from Season 7 was also shortlisted twice, but held back because one episode, no one was good enough to graduate, and a second time because Tab had addressed her major issue more than Shirley had.
    • 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 due to the panel inexplicably deciding that Margherita should graduate over Diane in the penultimate episode.
    • Michael from Ever, who managed to tie Ashley's record of 4 nominations without graduating... including being shortlisted three times in a row, much to his dismay. He would probably have graduated in the fourth or seventh episode, if not for Angelina being forced out due to her mental health issues in the former episode, and Dale being kicked out of rehab for attempting to quit and injuring herself in the latter. He was the final graduate of the season, however, after a nearly-flawless public drive (while Sly had a flawless public drive, he did so badly on the challenges throughout the rest of the season that Michael was given the final graduation instead).
      • Michael qualifies as well in Season 2, as he was shortlisted three times, but Karen was chosen over him in Episode 2, and a double graduation in episode 7 put him in the final. The one time he arguably would have graduated, Andrew chose to expel Colin instead of graduating anyone.
    • 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 graduate as such, but did get easily the most positive edit out of any runner-up... not that this stopped her from dropping a Cluster F-Bomb or ten on Facebook and Twitter, over the fact that Jason was graduated over her.
    • Jillian from Season 11 wasn't actually nominated at any point prior to the final episode, but could probably have graduated at any time she wanted, as she passed the majority of challenges she took part in (including every challenge in the second episode), and was considered the season's best driver from day one. However, she kept passing up the opportunity to graduate on the grounds that she still needed to address her severe anxiety, eventually resolving to take part in the final road test. Sadly, her nerves proved too severe, which prevented her from taking the road test and caused her to be named the worst.
    • 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 train wreck of a final drive preventing Daniella from being named (or even considered as) the worst.
    • Season 13
      • Adam. 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  He ended up in rehab until the last episode of the season, where a good road test saw him finally graduate.
      • Shayne. 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.
    • Darris from Season 14 was declined graduation twice. This wouldn't be too bad, but he was the only one on the short list both times and passed every challenge he took part in. This is because panel was more worried about his attitude towards driving over his skills. He still ended up being the second graduate.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • While Andrew is 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.
    • Michael from Season 2 and Shelby from Season 3 (both of whom came back for Ever), for both being all-around nice guys who always take full responsibility for their mistakes. Michael's ability to drop pertinent comic and sci-fi references into any situation may also help.
    • Season 5's Father Giles, for being the epitome of a Cool Old Guy, and even praying with Crystal immediately after she found out that her brother-in-law had been killed in a traffic accident.
    • Paul from Season 6; despite being a stereotypical Badass Biker and tough guy, he proved calm, capable and a very adept learner.
    • 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.
    • From Season 8, we have Diane. She started off not caring about whether or not she would be named "Canada's Worst Driver", but really improved a lot over the course of the season, and present what Andrew considered the best road test the show has ever had.
    • Season 10 had a somewhat unusual example of this trope. While the season was airing, Siham was by far and away the most popular contestant with the fans, who viewed her as the Distaff Counterpart 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  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.
    • Season 12 had Mike, who had suffered a brain injury (like Aaron) turned up to eleven (which was he had to relearn everything that he had ever learned in his life) and his commitment to learning how to drive again, despite the numerous accidents since he gotten.
    • Season 13 has both Adam and Shayne as fan favorites. Adam for his Adorkable nature and his story of becoming a man, and Shayne for his story on gaining more confidence and changing his whole outlook on life after an accident when he was 13.
    • Season 14 has Descy, for being the sole voice of reason among possibly the most dysfunctional bunch of drivers in the show's history outside of Ever. It also helps that she's been one of the more consistent performers from early in the season.
    • Even the nominators have gotten a few fans such as:
      • Eric (Season 2 Michael's nominator) was well liked for being like Michael, and fans were happy to see him return for the second half of Ever.
      • Baba G (Season 13 Breanna's nominator) for being a tough old woman, and her caring attitude to her granddaughter.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • In Season 5, Crystal's final run of the 180 Handbrake Turn challenge ends with her "killing" the foam figure with her nominator's face, which Crystal laughs off. Shortly afterwards, before the course can be reset for the next driver, Crystal receives a phone call informing her that her brother-in-law had been killed in a traffic accident.
    • Brad's aversion to driving was treated pretty lightly in the first few episodes of Season 6, but it takes a new light when he reveals his mother was killed by a reckless driver in Episode 4.
    • Angelina back in Season 5 was essentially the Dumb Blonde trope made flesh, which ended up contributing to a fair bit of the season's humor. This is then deconstructed when she's named the Worst Driver for the season, and when she comes back in Ever we learn why she's the way she is: Angelina had severe alcohol, medication, and anxiety issues, among other things. Season 5 was Angelina on a good day — she was a broken woman who needed real rehab, not just driving rehab. Recognizing this, the judges pulled her from Ever and got her some help (which sadly failed, as she was still convicted of drunk driving in 2015).
    • 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.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • In a Facebook exclusive promo for Season 7, Ben sings about each contestant and their nominator and includes the line "Shirley is sure that she'll go first and Janis is sure that she's the worst". By the time of CWD Ever, both are nearly proven right, with Shirley being the worst in Season 7, and graduating in Episode 2 of Ever, which is typically the first episode someone graduates.
    • The opening credits feature a car driving recklessly with the license plate XLR 8 N. Season 2 introduces us to Sean, who loves driving recklessly and has the license plate SPEEED.
    • Dale's bizarre rant about "personal realities" took on shades of this after Kellyanne Conway's infamous "alternative facts" claim in 2017.
  • Jerkass Woobie:
    • 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 The Woobie. Her boot episode in Ever shows just how damaged the poor woman is.
    • Yolanda, Michael's nominator for the first half of Ever, had suffered permanent physical injuries due to being in car crashes. That she took out this fear on one of the show's most amicable drivers didn't earn her much sympathy.
    • 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' Survivor Guilt over surviving a traffic accident that killed his cousin, to the point where Andrew outright called Darris' fatalist mindset a "death wish."
    • Brad and Donna from Season 6. He's a grumpy, perpetually frustrated driver with some deep seated anger issues, and she's a controlling wife who often laughs at Brad's mistakes and is prone to screaming, 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).
  • Milestone Celebration:
  • Mundane Made Awesome: The show itself basically managed to make a driver's education course and run it on national TV for 14 seasons.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
    • Arun from Season 5. He was not liked by most viewers at first, especially during the fifth episode when he displayed blatantly sexist behavior toward his wife and nearly caused a half-dozen accidents in the lane changing rally. However, the news that fellow contestant Crystal's brother-in-law had been killed in a motoring accident later in that episode really seemed to shake him up, and after that, he took rehab a lot more seriously, started behaving more reasonably toward his wife, turned in the first ever perfect road test on the show's history and became the season's final graduate.
    • By extension, Crystal herself. Prior to her brother in law dying, she was probably the most ignorant driver in rehab, but the news gave her a rude awakening.
    • 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 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.
    • Angelina in Ever was received with much more sympathy and concern after she left the show for mental health issues.
    • Mariah from Season 10 was an early favorite to end up as the season's worst driver, due to her lackadaisical attitude and unrepentant admission of drink-driving. Over the course of the season, she made a genuine effort to improve and fully redeemed herself by getting a "no drinking and driving" tattoo on her arm when she graduated.
    • Jordan from Season 11 was hated for his self-centered attitude, and lack of interest in the rehab center early on. However, he managed to fix his main problems (eyesight, driving distracted), and developed a better attitude for learning, earning his graduation by Episode 6.
    • 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 drank to alleviate issues with a brain injury he sustained several years prior, helped Daniella a lot with her own confidence problems, and finally redeemed himself by doing well in the last two episodes, becoming the season's final graduate. Even Krystal’s nominator, Steven, said that watching Tyler's journey had made the season worthwhile despite Krystal's own refusal to learn.
    • Travis from Season 13 was not liked in the beginning due to his lack of skills and his initial Never My Fault attitude. But he did improve a lot in terms of skills and dropped his initial attitude which earned his graduation by Episode 6.
    • Jillian's treatment of her fiancé made her one of the more hated drivers on Season 11, but coming back for Season 13 as a nominator for Ashley helped redeem her.
    • Britney from Season 14 wasn't as disliked as Alexis and probably not even as much as Brandon, but her casual attitude towards accidents really rubbed some viewers up the wrong way. She turned it around big-time in the last few episodes, leading the experts to dub her arguably the most improved driver in the show's entire history.
  • The Scrappy: There have been several.
    • Colin (season 2) and Scott (season 6) are both In-Universe for their arrogance and not taking the show seriously. After Scott was expelled, Paul said: "Maybe this will wake him the @##! up".
    • Donna from Season 4, as a result of her unrepentant attitude toward drunk-driving and continuing to believe that she should drive despite numerous health problems. Even after the loss of her license she remained as defiant as ever in the e-mail she sent to the show.
    • Dale isn't very popular for being ignorant and delusional, especially after her antics in Ever, which ultimately resulted in her being expelled in the penultimate episode and made many viewers think she should have still received the title despite being expelled (and she almost did). If she wasn't hated for that, she's more likely hated for trying to run over Andrew and pass it off as a "joke" back in season 6.
    • Kevin in season 8 and Ever was greatly disliked by viewers for his dishonesty and because he blamed everything else on his bad driving from the weather to his blind eye, even swearing at Andrew and snapping at him after he stopped the drive when it was becoming too dangerous to continue. Kevin also snapped at some fans on the Show's Facebook page.
    • Sly with some fans in Ever, for breaking his distracted driving promise to Aaron from Season 7, and also to fans of Season 7's Shirley, who felt he should have still been named the worst because of his near-complete inability to learn despite his better final drive.
    • 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 angrier when he was passed over as the worst that season in favor of her.
    • Melanie from Season 13. While she wasn't too bad in the first half of the season, her poor attitude soon rubbed people the wrong way when it came to learning the lessons especially since she's in rehab for her kids as two of them have special needs.
    • 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".
    • In terms of most hated nominators; we have Wil (Melissa's nominator) from Season 5 based on his constant yelling that goes into Domestic Abuse territory, Frank (Flora's nominator) from Season 8 for being an aggressive and belittling control freak who never listens to anybody's requests to keep quiet, and Yolanda (Michael's nominator) from Ever as she refused to go into the vehicle with him, and even reprimands him if he passes a challenge. Nobody missed Yolanda when her husband (and Michael's original nominator from Season 2) took her place in the second half.
     Krystal 
  • Krystal in Season 12 is quite possibly the most hated nominee on the show that it required a folder for organization.
    • 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 attitude, once she was in rehab, was not better, in fact it might have been worse. She looks more focused on her phone than the challenges, and even put down Tim's and Phillipe's driving lessons and techniques during the panel section, stating that she "doesn't need to use them" even though those techniques help her to be safe. She also instantly developed a visible resentment and strong dislike of Andrew for calling her out on her horrendous driving.
    • It doesn't stop there, the supposed pinnacle of her Scrappiness is in Episode 4 where she disregards the "Distracted Driving Challenge" for showing how her texting can be dangerous, and somehow claims to the experts that she can text and drive because everyone else is doing it. When Andrew and Cam call her out on it, she cusses and flips the bird at Andrew and leaves the room. And yet, despite her horrendous disrespect to the panel of judges, she isn't expelled because of it, although many fans speculated at the time that the show did not expel Krystal is that the production staff did not want to give her the satisfaction of being kicked out of the show. It is later confirmed that at the time Andrew and the CWD panel thought that they still could help her and did not want to seem like they were giving up.
    • Her driving skills and behavior only went From Bad to Worse 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 are 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.
    • Also, in a terrible record first that could be predicted as early as Episode 1, Krystal managed to upset, anger and piss off the entire CWD panel of experts with her wild and dangerous behaviors, in the order listed below:
      • 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 breaking point however is in the final episode where her many infractions 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.
      • Cam, when Krystal breaks so many road rules and laws that he knows are there to keep people safe and she doesn't admit that she is dangerous at all. His breaking point was when she was texting and driving while moving, while the CWD props crew was setting up the slalom challenge in Episode 7.
      • Phillipe 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 Phillipe’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 practicing 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 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 disappeared for the rest of the episode, although the show probably let him walk off the set for his own mental and physical wellbeing (he did film a final interview expressing his concern on his sister’s 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.
  • Shocking Elimination: Sometimes, viewers, nominees, and nominators will be surprised over the decision the experts make on who to graduate.
    • Bob from Season 1 is the earliest example. He was a road rager who didn't initially take rehab seriously in the beginning, but after talking with Andrew, he managed to control his temper and became the first graduate. Andrew even notes that he thought Bob would be in rehab longer.
    • Season 2:
      • 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).
      • Early on, Colin's expulsion was this to both the candidates, and viewers. With his poor attitude to learning, and deliberately failing the challenges, a lot of people expected him to be named Canada's Worst Driver that year. However, Andrew had enough, and destroyed Colin's keys, effectively expelling him from rehab.
    • Season 4:
      • Donna's medical expulsion. Before the Water Tank Challenge, she was easily the worst driver of the eight, and everyone predicted she would be the recipient of the title. However, she suffered an angina attack during the water tank challenge (a condition she failed to mention to the crew beforehand), which caused the show to remove her from the show out of fear of any worse medical problems.
      • Teagan, at least to the contestant perspective. While Ashley was the better technical driver of the final four and was up on the shortlist for the fourth time, Teagan was the best out of them in two of the three challenges and improved a lot more of his own problems than Ashely. The three females (Ashley, Amy, and Emily) were not happy about the decision though Andrew did admit that the decision, regardless of the outcome, would not have produced a good reaction.
      • Emily. If she was in any other season, she 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 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).
    • Season 6:
      • 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. According to Andrew's narration, the other driver's expected Scott to graduate in Episode two, and had he not failed on the Shoulder Check, he actually could have.
      • Jamie from the same season can be this as well. Compared to her, Brad was the better technical driver, but she showed more confidence in the wheel, while Brad still had not fully gotten his wife to cooperate with him yet.
    • Season 7:
      • Jon. 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.
      • Sly is this, though not in a good way. Compared to Shirley's challenge record, he failed more than he passed, and looked to be the "winner" of that season. However, he had a flawless road test while Shirley had the worst out of the three, barely saving him from the title.
    • Margherita from Season 8. Despite Diane having a better success rate, the experts graduated Margherita on the fact she was able to manage her emotions, fix her pedal control, and being less self-centered. Andrew admitted he didn't agree with the decision, but did congratulate her nevertheless.
    • Ever Season:
      • Henrietta was disqualified from rehab after admitting she wasn't driving as much anymore, causing the experts to let her go in the first episode.
      • Chris managed to graduate from Episode 1, which is normally the episode where no one graduates. However, he was the best driver of the nine, so they didn't need to keep him around any longer.
      • 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, her complete lack of memory and extremely concerning psychological state, 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.
    • Season 10:
      • 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.
      • Tyler is another case. He didn't pass any challenges in his graduation episode (in fact there was only ''one'' challenge pass that episode), but his performance wasn't as bad as the other three, and he showed more confidence and awareness out of them.
    • Season 11:
      • Tina and Alex both had rage issues on the road, but both 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).
      • Jordan. He had a better attitude compared to his It's All About Me attitude in the beginning, but Renee had a better attitude overall, and was technically better than Jordan. However, when Renee mentioned that she wouldn't drive her son on the highway just yet, the show felt to keep her around for one more week and graduated Jordan instead.
      • Both Sholom and Polly are a similar case with Sly above. Near the end of the season, the consensus was that Jillian would be the final graduate, and Sholom/Polly would be the "winner" and "runner-up" respectively. However, while both made mistakes on their road test, Jill didn't complete the road test, and the two of them were allowed to leave (they didn't graduate though; Sholom's poor challenge record had him "fail" rehab, while Polly was named the runner-up).
    • 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 that episode.
    • Season 14:
      • Ryan. 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.
      • Karlene. Managing to overcome her fear of driving, being able to drive alone on the highway, made her a clear standout to graduate. But her confidence plummeted afterwards, with her believing she still needed more lessons. Even though they offered another lesson when she was graduated, she refused—and completely broke down. She even wrote an email to the show claiming it had been the worst experience of her life.
  • The Woobie:
    • 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.
    "Aaron, buddy? Everybody loves you."
    Andrew Younghusband, during a "You Asked" preseason episode.
    • To a lesser extent, Melissa from Season 5. The Rolls Royce was also one.
    • Flora has had her confidence plowed through by Frank even more than she plows through obstacles. As hopeless of a driver she is, many viewers have expressed sympathy for her because of the constant admonishment she's subjected to by her husband.
    • Angelina in Ever. Seeing her slowly descend into a sobbing Broken Bird is heartbreaking, you just want to hug her and let her know that the world is not all out against her.
    • Season 12's Mike is one, considering his tragic backstory. He and his wife/nominator Christian were involved in a horrendous traffic collision more than ten years prior that left him with significant brain damage and forced him to relearn skills as basic as walking. The poor guy was very aware that his poor memory and capabilities as a driver left much to be desired, and struggling with challenges was an endless source of frustration.
    • As much as the show treated Adam's car accident and subsequent loss of confidence as a joke throughout Season 13, the ordeal was still incredibly traumatic for him - breaking down during the icy corner challenge since it was as close to reliving that painful memory as he could get - and almost ruined his dream of becoming a limo driver.

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