On-air personalities
The show was hosted in its first season by Justin Landry and rapperHow to get on SmartAsk!
Schools wishing to compete for the championship first submitted a written, audio or video entry to the CBC on a topic announced on the CBC's ''SmartAsk'' page. 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). 122 of these 125 schools then competed with another school in their province or region onGame formats
SmartAsk had 4 different formats: one for the radio games, and one for TV in each season. The Adilman brothers were infamous for getting the rules to their own show wrong, often to inadvertent comic effect.Radio show
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 theSeason 1
In the first season, there were four rounds: the 20 point round, the 50 point round, the 100 point round and the Lightning Round. The first three rounds were NPB rounds. In the first three rounds, play was as in the radio NPB rounds. However, on TV, there was a lockout system: if a team buzzed in before the question was finished that team could not buzz in for approximately 1.5 seconds. The questions increased in difficulty with each round. Each round had 3 categories, and each category had about 4 or 5 questions, but some had 3 or 6. The categories were often given humorous names which had some connection to the content of that category. In the Lightning Round, each question was worth 50 points, with 50 points deducted for an incorrect response. Lightning Round length varied wildly in Season 1, with an average range being 8 to 18 questions. Unlike in later seasons, teams were not given the amount of time for the Lightning Round. Player interviews were conducted at two different points in the game throughout the season. Players (one from each team) were either interviewed prior to the 100-point round or prior to the Lightning Round. Contestants stayed in their seats for the interviews. Generally, winning teams scored at least 1000 points. In 4 games, both teams scored at least 1000 points. In their first round game,Season 2
The second season's format was probably the most unconventional SmartAsk had during its 3-year run. In the second season, the rounds were the 20 point round, the 50 point round, Dawg Eat Dawg, the Dirty Half Dozen and the Lightning Round. The 20 and 50 point rounds were NPB rounds. In the 20 point round, there were 2 categories of 3-4 questions each, a video question, and then another category of 3-4 questions. The last category was given by host Mio Adilman, who came out from backstage in a rather embarrassing costume. He came out in aSeason 3
The third season format saw an end to the Dawg Eat Dawg round and further importance for the Lightning Round. The rounds became the 20 point round, the 50 point round, Smart and Smarterer (meant as a play on '' Dumb and Dumberer'', which was released in mid-June 2003), the Dirty Half Dozen and the Lightning Round. The 20 and 50 point rounds worked as they did in the second season. The video question was renamed "Nobu Nation" after host Nobu Adilman. Mio's Moment still existed, but Mio's costumes were considered to be not as embarrassing as the by-then infamous Speedo. Some of the worst of the season were Mio in a tutu (he also wore the pinkWinners
* 2002External links