A TV viewer must adopt a certain mindset when worst is first.
For that reason, through the years we largely have ignored reality shows with titles such as Canada's Worst This or Canada's Worst That. If the so-called contestants know the path to recognition comes from being brutal at something, then obviously they're going out of their way to be brutal and it's all stupidly fake, right?
But in terms of total eyeballs, there's no denying some of these shows have exhibited significant appeal.
Thus, when the screener for the fifth-season debut of Canada's Worst Handyman — which airs Monday on the Discovery Channel — arrived on our doorstep, we decided to down a shot of rye, open up our mind and give it a try.
It didn't take long to realize something.
Canada's Worst Handyman, hosted by Andrew Younghusband, is not a competition in any traditional sense, so you can't view it that way. Rather, it's free therapy for anyone who ever walked into a Home Depot or a Lowe's and immediately wanted to scream.
Watching Canada's Worst Handyman is like watching COPS, in that you feel better about yourself. As bad as we are, at least we aren't as bad as those poor bastards on TV.
The project for the fifth season of Canada's Worst Handyman is the renovation of a crumbling frat house in London, Ont. You almost can see Flounder from Animal House haunting the hallways.
It isn't Flounder who initially addresses the troops, but rather Alan Thicke, the Canadian entertainment icon who was a member of this frat in his days at the University of Western Ontario. Thicke lived in this particular frat house for a summer after he graduated.
The five finalists for the title of Canada's Worst Handyman — Angela from Spruce Grove, Alta.; Deen from High Prairie, Alta.; Cory from Burns Lake, B.C.; Simon from North Sydney, N.S.; and Matt from Elmsdale, N.S. — likely played up their incompetence to be selected for the show. We don't know that for sure, but most people have some Krusty the Klown in them when a TV camera is turned on, right?
Nonetheless, no matter how these folks were nominated or selected, they truly are dangerous. As admitted earlier, we didn't see much of the previous four seasons of Canada's Worst Handyman, but how has someone not been disastrously injured?
We wonder, too, if human nature kicks in with these contestants with regard to public humiliation.
Once they've been chosen for the show, and they know they're going to get their TV time anyway, deep down no one really desires to play the fool. So might these amateur renovators actually be as moronic as they appear to be?
Of the five contestants, the one we identify with most is Cory, because of his short temper. As someone whose glue never stuck in Grade 3 art class, we feel your pain.
But overall, the most notable personality trait shared by the quintet is a child-like resiliency. If you were this horrible at something, wouldn't you quit?
Canada's Worst Handyman is a bizarre form of rubber-necking, for sure. But hey, it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye, as everyone's mom used to say.
