Canada's Got Talent

Canada's Got Talent is an anglophone Canadian reality talent show series that debuted on the Citytv network on March 4, 2012,[1] and part of the global Got Talent franchise. The logo used for Canada's Got Talent does not follow the logo from America's Got Talent, but instead follows the logo from Britain's Got Talent.

Canada's Got Talent
Created by	Simon Cowell
Written by	Trevor Boris, Sabrina Jalees, Mark Lysakowski
Directed by	Joan Tosoni Sue Brophey
Presented by	Dina Pugliese
Judges	Stephan Moccio Measha Brueggergosman Martin Short
Voices of	Dina Pugliese
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	22
Production
Executive producers	John Brunton, Barbara Bowlby and Ed Robinson
Producers	Mark Lysakowski Paul Becker Trevor Boris Cliff Dempster
Running time	30 - 120 minutes
Production companies	SYCOtv FremantleMedia Insight Productions Talkback Thames
Distributor	Rogers Media Television
Release
Original network	Citytv
Original release	March 4 – May 14, 2012
Chronology
Related shows	America's Got Talent Britain's Got Talent
External links
Official website

As with other series in the franchise, the program was a competition in which entertainers in various fields competed to win a cash prize of $100,000 and a Nissan GT-R, an opportunity to perform during Citytv's New Year's Eve bash, a possibility to perform in a venue in Las Vegas and a trip to Trinidad and Tobago.[2][3]

The series only ran for one season, won by the Manitoba-based dance troupe Sagkeeng's Finest; 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".[4] In April 2020, a spin-off version of the show called Canadian Family's Got Talent carried out virtually by Citytv during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada ran from April 27 to May 26. It was won by Toronto-based singing trio CZN.

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 may have shown their disapproval to 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

Those that were accepted past the audition round 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 that made it to this point, thirty-six (36) acts made it through to the next round which was the semi-finals.

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 may still end a performance early with three X's. The judges were again asked to express their views on each act's performance. After all acts have performed, phone lines, Twitter, Facebook, text and online voting platforms opened for a one-hour, while the public voted for the act they think were the best. Voters could submit a total of 50 votes (10 in each platform). After the votes were counted, the act that has polled the highest number of public votes automatically was 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.

Broadcasting

Because of the various time zones in Canada, only viewers in the provinces and territories east of Manitoba saw the show live (in the Newfoundland, Atlantic 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 see 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.

Judges

Comedian and actor Martin Short was announced as the first judge on October 13, 2011. On October 17, opera singer Measha Brueggergosman and musician/composer Stephan Moccio were announced as the two judges who would be joining Short at the table. Citytv Toronto personality and Breakfast Television host, Dina Pugliese, was the host of the show.[5]

Season overview

The first season of Canada's Got Talent, a reality television series, premiered on March 4, 2012, and ended on May 14, 2012, on City.[1] Unlike America's Got Talent, the show only had the audition round, top 37, semi-finals, and then the finale. The premiere episode, which aired March 4, 2012, took in a viewership of 2 million on average throughout the night, a record for Citytv.

Auditions

Preliminary Auditions

Canada's Got Talent travelled to six different cities across the country for the producer auditions: Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Halifax during the months of September and October 2011.[1]

After the final auditions were completed in Halifax, the show then travelled to Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Halifax and Montreal for the live-audience auditions which were taped in October, November, December 2011 and January 2012.[6]

A total of 244 acts were given a "yes" during the auditions. A total of 108 auditions were aired on television (both eliminated acts and successful acts).[7]

Judges Round

Those that were accepted past the audition round 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 walking up to the judges or Dina (host) to find out if they made it to the next round. Originally, out of all that made it to this point, thirty-six (36) acts were to make it through to the next round which would be the semi-finals but because the judges "broke a rule" the final number of semi-finalists were thirty-seven (37). During the episode, it was announced that 244 acts were given a "yes" during the auditions meaning that 207 were eliminated (some of these auditions were not shown on television).[7][8][9]

Below is the list of thirty-seven (37) semi-finalists in no set order. Note that some of the acts below may have not been aired on television.

Order	Performer	Act Description
1	Yuval Fichman	Piano
2	Jack Ettlinger	Singer
3	Christopher Charles	Singer
4	Shale Wagman	Ballet
5	Lisa Odjig	Hoops
6	Terry Im "KRNFX"	Beatboxing
7	Scott Jackson	Beatboxing
8	Pulp City Inn	Rock Band
9	Angela Ewtushik and Rally	Dog
10	Broken Dance	Dancers
11	Aygul Memet	Circus
12	Fantasy Circus	Circus
13	Wushu by Storm	Mixed Martial Artists
14	Francelle Maria & Mathieu Leger	Yodellers
15	Oneblood	Singers
16	Angry Candy	Band
17	Ivan Daigle	Singer/Guitarist
18	The Dance and Illusions of Oslen	Illusionist
19	Nathan Knowles	Dancer
20	Freshh	Boys Dance Group
21	Good for Grapes	Band
22	Jonah Berens	Singer
23	Sagkeeng's Finest	Tap Dancers
24	Michel & Jack Forestier	Melody
25	Marissa Puff	Fire Dancingchri
26	Laheeb Quddusi	Impersonator
27	Roger Leblanc	Actor
28	Eric Saintonge	Circus
29	Vithou Thurber-Promtep	Singer
30	Enigma Dance	Dancers
31	Daddy Cool	Dancers
32	The Brat Pack	Dancers
33	H.I.X	Beat Boxing Group
34	Julie Lafontaine	Opera Singer
35	Marianne Demers	Singer
36	Silvia Ricciotto	Singer
37	Craz E Crew Stunt Team	Bike Stunts
38[note 1]	Volodymyr Martyniuk	Magician/Illusionist

Footnotes

1. Due to Good For Grape's drop-out in the competition, Volodymyr Martyniuk took the place of the band is now a semi-finalist.

Source:[7][9][10]

Semi-finals

At this point in the competition, the selected thirty-seven acts will perform in front of an audience and the judges. The semi-finals will contain six or seven acts per week for six weeks with the day after being the results show. Each week, out of the acts that perform, only two will make it to the finals. To determine who moves to the finals, viewer's at home will select one act and the judges will select the other.[11]

Broadcasting

Because of the various time zones in Canada, only viewers in the provinces and territories east of Manitoba see the show live (in the Newfoundland, Atlantic and Eastern time zones). All other areas in Canada are taped and even though the show does mention the show is live, it is not. All Citytv stations air the show at 8:00 pm (in each time zone where there is a CityTV station) with the Toronto station being the first CityTV station to reach 8:00 pm. So viewers in Newfoundland see the show live at 9:30 pm and viewers in the Atlantic at 9:00 pm because there is no CityTV station in these provinces to broadcast the show at local time. The same process occurs with the results show. Also, the semi-finals are filmed at Showline Studios in Toronto.

Key	Buzzed out	Judge voted for act to move onto finals.	Did not make it to the final.	Made it to the final.	This act was one of the two YouTube Last Chance auditions that were chosen either by the judges or Canada to advance to the semi-finals.

Week 1 (April 2–3, 2012)

Freshh (who received the most votes to move onto the finals) and Julie Lafontaine (who the judges picked to move onto the finals) made it to the finals out of the 7 performers during Week 1. Also, Caitlin Bell and Mathew Cathcart "The Emsee" were the two YouTube auditions that joined the competition.

Order	Semi-Finalist	Act	Buzzes and Judges' votes			Result
			Martin	Measha	Stephan
1	Wushu By Storm	Mixed Martial Artists				Eliminated
2	H.I.X.	Beat Boxing Group				Eliminated
3	Pulp City Inn	Rock Band				Eliminated
4	Marissa Puff	Fire Dancer				Eliminated
5	Christopher Charles	Singer				Eliminated
6	Freshh	Boys Dance Group				Advanced
7	Julie Lafontaine	Opera Singer				Advanced
8	Caitlin Bell	Singer				Eliminated
9	Mathew Cathcart "The Emsee"	Rapper				Eliminated

Footnotes

Source for performances show:[12]

Source for results show:[13]

Week 2 (April 8–9, 2012)

Angry Candy (who received the most votes to move onto the finals) and Scott Jackson (who the judges picked to move onto the finals) made it to the finals out of the 7 performers during Week 2. Also, none of the judges buzzed for any of the acts during the entire show.

Order	Semi-Finalist	Act	Buzzes and Judges' votes			Result
			Martin	Measha	Stephan
1	Scott Jackson	Beatboxer				Advanced
2	Daddy Cool	Dance Group				Eliminated
3	Roger LeBlanc	Actor				Eliminated
4	Angry Candy	Band				Advanced
5	Yuval Fichman	Pianist				Eliminated
6	Vithou Thurber-Promtep	Singer				Eliminated
7	Fantasy Circus	Circus				Eliminated

Week 3 (April 15–16, 2012)

Shale Wagman (who received the most votes to move onto the finals) and Emilio Fina (who the judges picked to move onto the finals) made it to the finals out of the 7 performers during Week 3. Also, one of the two YouTube auditions that the judges picked in Week 1 of the semi-finals, Caitlin Bell, performed but was eliminated from the competition during the result show.

Order	Semi-Finalist	Act	Buzzes and Judges' votes			Result
			Martin	Measha	Stephan
1	Craz E Crew Stunt Team	Stunt Team				Eliminated
2	Jonah Berens	Singer				Advanced
3	Nathan Knowles	Contortionist				Eliminated
4	Brat Pack	Dance Crew				Eliminated
5	One Blood	A cappella group				Eliminated
6	Caitlin Bell	Singer				Eliminated
7	Shale Wagman	Dancer				Advanced

Week 4 (April 22–23, 2012)

Ivan Daigle (who received the most votes to move onto the finals) and Mathew Cathcart "The Emsee" (who the judges picked to move onto the finals) made it to the finals out of the 6 performers during Week 4. Mathew was the Judge's pick from all the YouTube auditions to compete in the Semi-Finals announced during Week 1 of the results show. Also, none of the judges buzzed for any of the acts during the entire show.

Order	Semi-Finalist	Act	Buzzes and Judges' votes			Result
			Martin	Measha	Stephan
1	The Dance and Illusions of Oslen	Illusionists				Eliminated
2	The Forestier Family	Melodists				Eliminated
3	Enigma Dance	Dancers				Eliminated
4	Mathew Cathcart	Rapper				Advanced
5	Ivan Daigle	Singer/Guitarist				Advanced
6	Lisa Odjig	Hoop Dancer				Eliminated

• ^2 Stephan buzzed after the act was over only to make Measha stop talking when he was. The buzz was not directed towards the performance.

Week 5 (April 29–30, 2012)

Sagkeeng's Finest (who received the most votes to move onto the finals) and Terry Im "KRNFX" (who the judges picked to move onto the finals) made it to the finals out of the 6 performers during Week 5. Also, Stephan Moccio performed one of his songs during the results show.

Order	Semi-Finalist	Act	Buzzes and Judges' votes			Result
			Martin	Measha	Stephan
1	Eric Saintonge	Circus				Eliminated
2	KRNFX	Beatboxing				Advanced
3	Sagkeeng's Finest	Tap Dancers				Advanced
4	Silvia Ricciotto	Singer				Eliminated
5	Angela Ewtushik and Rally	Dog Tricks Act				Eliminated
6	Jeffrey & Karen Chang	Dancers				Eliminated

• ^3 Martin and Stephan buzzed after the act was over only to show that he disagreed with Measha. The buzz was not directed towards the performance.

Week 6 (May 6–7, 2012)

Broken Dance (who received the most votes to move onto the finals) and Aygul Memet (who the judges picked to move onto the finals) made it to the finals out of the 6 performers during Week 6. Also, Measha Brueggergosman performed one of her songs during the results show. None of the judges buzzed any of the acts during Week 6.

Order	Semi-Finalist	Act	Buzzes and Judges' votes			Result
			Martin	Measha	Stephan
1	Jack Ettlinger	Singer				Eliminated
2	Broken Dance	Dance Group				Advanced
3	Laheeb Quddusi	Impersonator				Eliminated
4	Francelle and Mat	Duet				Eliminated
5	Aygul Memet	Circus				Advanced
6	Marianne Demers	Singer				Eliminated

Finals

Only 12 acts made it to this point in the competition. After all the acts performed in the two-hour special on May 13, 2012, Canada voted for their favourite, and the winner of Canada's Got Talent's first season was crowned on May 14, 2012, on the finale of the show. The winner received a brand-new Nissan GT-R, possibly a performance in Las Vegas, a spot on Citytv's 2013 New Year's Eve Bash and $100,000 in Canadian currency.[14][8]

The youngest platinum-selling recording artist in history, Jackie Evancho, who was a finalist on Season 5 of America's Got Talent, sang the Sarah McLachlan song "Angel" as a guest artist on the season finale on May 14.[15] Canadian rock band Hedley performed the song "Beautiful" from their album Storms.

Sagkeeng's Finest received the most votes from Canada, winning the first season of Canada's Got Talent.

Results (Season Finale) aired on May 14, 2012

Key	Winner (1st Place)	Runners-up

Order	Performer
1	Sagkeeng's Finest
2	Terry Im "KRNFX"
3	Julie Lafontaine
4	Aygul Memet
5	Ivan Daigle
6	Broken Dance
7	Shale Wagman
8	Scott Jackson
9	Angry Candy
10	Mathew Cathcart "The Emsee"
11	Jonah Berens
12	Freshh

Production

On May 30, 2011, Citytv and Insight Production announced that they would create a Canadian series of the hit Got Talent series and that the show would begin in Spring 2012.[16]

The stage for Canada's Got Talent is almost exactly the same used on Britain's Got Talent; the only difference being that the stage is not full of moving LED lights in Canada.

On October 13, 2011, it was announced that Martin Short would become one of three judges for the show.[17] Four days later, Stephan Moccio and Measha Brueggergosman were confirmed to be the other two judges for the show. On the same day, Dina Pugliese was also announced to be the host for Canada's Got Talent.[18]

Ratings

Order	Episode	Viewers (millions)	Rank (night)	Rank (week)
1	"Toronto Auditions"	1.463[19]	2[20][21]	15[22]
2	"Calgary Auditions"	1.120[23]	TBA	23[23]
3	"Vancouver (Part 1) Auditions"	0.953[24]	TBA	23[23]
4	"Winnipeg Auditions"	1.124[24]	5	23[23]
5	"Halifax and Vancouver (Part 2) Auditions"	0.829[25]	8	31+[26]
6	"Toronto Auditions (Part 2)"	0.981[25]	TBA	31+[26]
7	"Montreal Auditions"	0.940[27]	TBA	31+[28]
8	"Cutdown Episode"	0.754[27]	TBA	31+[28]
9	"Semi-Final 1"	0.690[29]	TBA	31+[30]
10	"Semi-Final 1 Results"	0.451[29]	TBA	31+[30]
11	"Semi-Final 2"	0.559[29]	TBA	31+[30]
12	"Semi-Final 2 Results"	0.271[31]	TBA	31+[32]
13	"Semi-Final 3"	0.612[31]	TBA	31+[32]
14	"Semi-Final 3 Results"	0.270[33]	TBA	31+[34]
15	"Semi-Final 4"	0.573[33]	TBA	31+[34]
16	"Semi-Final 4 Results"	0.286[35]	15[35]	31+[36]
17	"Semi-Final 5"	0.561[35]	12[35]	31+[36]
18	"Semi-Final 5 Results"	0.311[37]	14[37]	31+[38]
19	"Semi-Final 6"	0.308[37]	14[37]	31+[38]
20	"Semi-Final 6 Results"	0.326[39]	11[39]	31+[40]
21	"Live Finals 2-Hr Show"	0.521[39]	9[39]	31+[40]
22	"Finale"	0.459[41]	10	TBA

Canadian Family's Got Talent

In April 2020, during an interview on Breakfast Television, Simon Cowell announced a spin-off version of the show called Canadian Family's Got Talent carried out virtually by Citytv during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. The contest, presented by Canadian Tire, ran from April 27 to May 26, and was judged by Cowell alongside hosts Dina Pugliese and Devo Brown.[42] The contest was won by Toronto-based singing trio CZN.[43]

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