CBC to premiere "Canada’s Ultimate Challenge" competition series in February

CBC to air new original competition reality format "Canada’s Ultimate Challenge" (8x60), produced by Insight Productions and The Gurin Company on February 16 on CBC TV and CBC Gem. The company also revealed the 24 Canadians that will be participating in the program. The winning team will receive a trip to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 to cheer on Team Canada.

The inaugural season of the competition series is hosted by sports broadcaster Nikki Reyes and professional snowboarder and CBC Sports analyst Craig McMorris, and sees the entire country turned into one giant obstacle course, with challenges in Whitehorse, YK; Squamish, BC; Kelowna, BC; Hinton, AB; Sudbury, ON; Thousand Islands, ON; and Québec City, QC, culminating with the finale on the Confederation Bridge between New Brunswick and PEI.

A CBC original series "Canada’s Ultimate Challenge" is executive produced by John Brunton and Mark Lysakowski for Insight Productions and Phil Gurin for The Gurin Company; Jeff Thrasher is the series producer for Insight Productions. For CBC, Sally Catto is General Manager, Entertainment, Factual & Sports; Jennifer Dettman is Executive Director, Unscripted Content; and Ann-Marie Redmond is Executive in Charge of Production. International format rights are handled by TGC Global Entertainment.

CBC'S CANADA READS RETURNS
CBC’s great Canadian book debate “Canada Reads”, returns for its 22nd edition, Monday, March 27 through Thursday, March 30. Ali Hassan will host a panel of celebrity advocates championing Canadian books that speak to this year’s theme, “One Book to Shift Your Perspective.”

Each day of the competition, one book will be eliminated by the panellists until a winner is declared the must-read book for Canadians in 2023. The “Canada Reads 2023” debates will broadcast each day on CBC Radio, with a live stream on CBC Gem, CBC Listen and CBCbooks.ca. The debates will be available later in the day on CBC TV and CBC Gem. Exact broadcast times for the live debates will be available soon on CBCbooks.ca.

Ali Hassan returns for his seventh year as host. "This year's theme offers a great opportunity for our panellists, and our audience, to widen their thought process and expand their understanding through a willingness to change their minds, and then change them again," said Hassan.