SmartAsk

SmartAsk is a Canadian game show that ran for three seasons (2001–02 through 2003–04) on CBC Television.

The show was taped in front of a live audience, with the players sitting on a tiered set (one team on top and the other on the bottom).

The SmartAsk tournament was described by Ralph Benmergui, the show's executive producer, on TSN's Off The Record as being "Reach for the Top on acid," although in practice this largely involved crude humour, especially as the show went on and ratings sagged.

The show was hosted in its first season by Justin Landry and rapper Michie Mee.

The show also brought in numerous celebrity judges" for Season 2 including such celebrities as Colin Mochrie from Whose Line Is It Anyway, Olympic gold medalist Sami Jo Small, MLB star Chris Woodward, environmentalist David Suzuki, and German folk singer Heino.

"Superfan" Andy Saunders also made guest appearances during the show's second and final seasons, to give analysis, predictions, and statistics.

Saunders also handed out "Andy Awards" to the show's top players and funnier moments.

A major grievance against the selection process, however, was the subjectivity of evaluation of entries, with no clear criteria for judging.

Nevertheless, 124 schools were chosen from these entries from across the nation (the defending champion received an automatic berth into the next season).

The Adilman brothers were infamous for getting the rules to their own show wrong, often to inadvertent comic effect.

The first stage of SmartAsk after team's entries were accepted was qualifying for television through a game played on CBC Radio.

These games aired every Friday from late September to mid-November of the school year in which the season took place.

In the 10 and 20 point rounds, players had to wait until the host had finished the reading the question to buzz in.

In the radio show, teams buzzing in early forfeited their right to answer the question.

Before the 20 point round started, the host conducted brief interviews with the team captains.

Teams that won their radio game proceeded to compete in the television rounds.

Lightning Round length varied wildly in Season 1, with an average range being 8 to 18 questions.

If the player was incorrect, the opposing team received points equal to their bet.

If the player was correct, the opposing team lost points equal to their bet.

In the final game, the Lightning Round was three minutes long, the longest of the season.

Some of the worst of the season were Mio in a tutu (he also wore the pink spandex for the rest of the game, which led to a fair deal of banter before the Dirty Half Dozen) and Mio as an armpit hair model.

Once there, the two faced off in a 45-second Lightning Round, with each question being worth 50 points, or -50 for an incorrect answer.

The Dirty Half Dozen remained unchanged in format from the second season.

In the second half, question value doubled to 100 points, with the incorrect answer penalty being a 100-point deduction.

Also, the Bishop's College School-Fredericton High School third round game went to a 3-question overtime, the only time in all three seasons that this occurred.