From a media release:
Sports fans of all ages finally have a chance to bring their A-game to a high stakes event that pits athletes against couch potatoes against NHL mascots in a new, no-holds-barred contest. CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada’s Ron MacLean joins host Wendy Mesley to stick-handle Canada’s largest sports trivia event TEST THE NATION: SPORTS, bringing two hours of non-stop, wall-to-wall suspense—and fun—to CBC Television, Sunday, May 25, at 8 p.m.
Don Cherry also makes a colourful guest appearance, delivering one of the 50 trivia questions from Coach’s Corner. This fourth and most unpredictable instalment of TEST THE NATION separates the champs from the chumps; viewers will find out who has really come to play in this wild world of sports—and we mean wild!
Who are the champs? Men or women? Beer drinkers or wine aficionados? Actual athletes or armchair ones? Brains, brawn or both?
In studio at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto, 240 Canadians from every province and territory will be flexing their brain muscles. This round will pit six star-studded teams against each other, including sportscasters, armchair athletes, Olympic medallists, mascots and cheerleaders, referees and umpires and extreme athletes. Famous sportscasters take on Olympic champions such as Jeffrey Buttle, Elvis Stojko, Ross Rebagliati, Marnie McBean and Liz Manley. Don’t rule out the cheerleaders and mascots! NHL mascots from every Canadian team are on board and ready to win. The celebrity ‘coaches’—Alan Thicke, designer and Project Runway mentor Brian Bailey, hockey legend Paul Coffey, stand-up comedian Debra DiGiovanni, musician Chris Murphy from Sloan and actress Victoria Pratt—will play from the sidelines and cheer on their respective teams.
“Whether you’re a sports fan or a trivia enthusiast, this is a show that the entire family can watch and play,†said Kirstine Layfield, executive director, network programming, CBC television.
Curious sports fans can test their knowledge of sports and anything sports related now and get a head start at www.cbc.ca/ testthenation. To play the game, the only equipment required is a pen and paper. Scorecards will be provided in the National Post on Saturday, May 24th. They can also be attained by logging onto www.cbc.ca/testthenation and downloading the official scorecard.
Sports fans who are watching the playoffs can also take the test at BuzzTime pubs and restaurants and vie for the top score. During the show, viewers will have the chance to win a Wii by texting P-L-A-Y on their cell phones.
