''Canada's Got Talent'' is a Canadian television

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

talent show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

, which debuted on the

Citytv Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

on March 4, 2012. It is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise. As with other series in the franchise, the show is a competition in which entertainers in various fields compete to win a prize. In the first season, the winner won a prize of $100,000 and a

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, an opportunity to perform during Citytv's New Year's Eve bash, a possibility to perform in a venue in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

and a trip to

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. In the second season, the winner will receive a cash prize of $150,000. The first season was won by the

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

-based dance troupe Sagkeeng's Finest. After initially passing on producing a second season, a ''Canadian Family's Got Talent'' competition was held on Citytv's morning show ''

Breakfast Television Breakfast television (Europe, Canada, and Australia) or morning show (United States) is a type of news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts live in the morning (typically scheduled between 5:00 and 10:00a.m., or if it is a ...

'' in 2020, in acknowledgement of

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

lockdowns A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison ...

across the country (and to promote season 15 of ''America's Got Talent''). The contest was won by

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

-based singing trio CZN. Citytv later announced that it would be reviving ''Canada's Got Talent'' for a second season in 2022. In October 2021, Citytv announced that

Lindsay Ell Lindsay Elizabeth Ell (born 20 March 1989) is a Canadian-American country pop singer, songwriter, guitarist and television personality from Calgary, Alberta. Her music incorporates elements of rock and blues. She was signed to the US record labe ...

would host, along with

Howie Mandel Howard Michael Mandel (born November 29, 1955) is a Canadian-American comedian, television personality, actor, and producer. Mandel voiced the character Gizmo in the 1984 film ''Gremlins'' and the 1990 sequel '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch''. I ...

Lilly Singh Lilly Saini Singh (born September 26, 1988) is a Canadian YouTuber. Singh began making YouTube videos in 2010. She originally appeared under the pseudonym Superwoman (stylized IISuperwomanII), her YouTube username until 2019. In 2016, she was in ...

Kardinal Offishall Jason Drew Harrow (born May 11, 1976), better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall (), is a Canadian rapper, record producer, DJ, and record executive. Often credited as Canada's " hip hop ambassador", he is regarded as one of the country ...

, and

Trish Stratus Patricia Anne Stratigeas (; born December 18, 1975) better known by the ring name Trish Stratus is a Canadian professional wrestler, actress and yoga instructor. She is currently signed to WWE. Often regarded as one of the greatest Women's Per ...

serving as judges. The season premiered in March 2022, and ended in May. It was won by

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

singer

Jeanick Fournier Jeanick Fournier is a Canadian singer from Saguenay, Quebec, most noted as the winner of the second season of ''Canada's Got Talent''. Fournier, who works as a palliative care attendant in Saguenay and is the adoptive mother of two children w ...

. Following the second season's finale, the series was greenlit for a third season.

Format

Auditions

The auditions took place in front of the judges, and a live audience at different cities across Canada. At any time during the audition, the judges would show their disapproval of the act by pressing a buzzer, which lights a large red "X" on the stage. If all the judges pressed their buzzers, the act must end. Voting worked on a majority-of-two basis, where two positive votes from the judges were required.

The Cutdown

In the first season, acts that were accepted past the audition moved on to the Judges Round (also known as "The Cutdown"). This stage of the competition did not feature any audiences, and only contained contestants performing in front of the judges. Out of all the acts that made it to this point, thirty-six made it through to the next round, which was the semi-finals. In the second season, this part of the show was removed.

Semi-finals

The semi-finals and final were broadcast with a varying number of semi-finals, followed by the one final split into two episodes over one night. The remaining acts performed across a number of semi-finals, with the two most popular acts from each semi-final winning a position in the final. Judges could still end a performance early with three X's. The judges were asked to express their views on each act's performance. Phone lines, Twitter, Facebook, texting and online voting platforms opened for a one hour after all acts performed. The public voted for the act they thought were the best. Voters could submit a total of fifty votes (ten in each platform). After the votes were counted, the act that polled the highest number of public votes, was automatically placed in the final. The judges then chose between the second and third most popular acts, with the winner of that vote also gaining a place in the final. All other acts were then eliminated from the competition.

Judges

Canadian comedian and actor,

Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2019 Short became an Officer of the Order of Canada. He ...

, was announced as the first judge on October 13, 2011. On October 17, opera singer

Measha Brueggergosman Measha Brueggergosman (née Gosman; June 28, 1977) is a Canadian soprano who performs both as an opera singer and concert artist. She has performed internationally and won numerous awards. Her recordings of both classical and popular music ha ...

and musician/composer

Stephan Moccio Stephan Moccio is a Canadian composer, producer, pianist, arranger, conductor and recording artist. He co-wrote and co-produced the two end credit songs for ''Fifty Shades of Grey'' and its soundtrack: "Earned It" (The Weeknd) and " I Know You ...

, were announced as the two judges to join Short. Citytv Toronto personality and ''

'' host,

Dina Pugliese Dina Pugliese (; born May 22, 1974) is a Canadian television personality, currently the co-host of City Toronto's ''Breakfast Television''. She joined the show in 2006, replacing Liza Fromer.Salem, Rob (October 29, 2006). "Dina fits like a sli ...

, was the host of the show. In October 2021, it was announced that

and

would serve as judges for the show, with

as host.

Season overview

Season 1 (2012)

The first season of ''Canada's Got Talent'' aired on Citytv across Canada (and on other TV stations across the country, where there is no Citytv station), starting on March 4, 2012. Preliminary auditions for the first season of ''Canada's Got Talent'' took place during fall 2011, and continued into January 2012. Auditions for the show took place in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

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and Halifax. Acts chosen to perform in front of the host, judges and a live audience were invited back, starting in Calgary on October 18 and 19. The production tour then went to each of the original cities in October, November, December 2011 and January 2012. Those chosen by the panel of judges went to Toronto for the next rounds, and completed with audience voting, in April and May 2012. Sagkeeng's Finest received the most votes from Canada, winning the first season of ''Canada's Got Talent''.

Season 2 (2022)

In June 2012, Rogers Media president Scott Moore announced that a second season would not be produced, after a "careful consideration of all factors, including the current economic climate". However, on June 8, 2021 it was announced that the series would be revived, first announced to be returning in spring 2022. Production on the series took place in fall 2021 at

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

. On December 31, 2021, it was announced that the revival would premiere in March 2022, which was later specified as March 22.

received the most votes from Canada, winning the second season of Canada's Got Talent.

Season 3

Following the season two finale in May 2022, it was announced that the series was greenlit for a third season. The auditions were filmed at the OLG Stage at the

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. Filming took place from October 19 to 23, 2022.

Season summary

Broadcasting

Because of the various time zones in Canada, only viewers in the provinces and territories east of

saw the show live (in the

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and Eastern time zones). All other areas in Canada broadcast the show on a tape delay basis. All Citytv stations aired the show at 8:00 p.m. (in each time zone where there is a Citytv station) with the Toronto station airing the program at 8:00 p.m. Viewers in Newfoundland saw the show live at 9:30 p.m. and viewers in the Atlantic region at 9:00 p.m., because there is no Citytv station in these provinces to broadcast the show at local time. The same process occurred with the results show.

Ratings

References

External links

*
Production website
* {{Got Talent 2010s Canadian reality television series 2020s Canadian reality television series 2012 Canadian television series debuts Canadian television series based on British television series Canadian television series revived after cancellation Citytv original programming * English-language television shows Television series by Fremantle (company)