I flew out to Toronto for a trivia quiz along with about a hundred other contestants from various careers and walks of life to participate in Test the Nation on the CBC. Those watching at home on Sunday January 20th were be able to play along with the television show, or even online. There were several teams (cab drivers, bloggers, backpackers, celebrity impersonators, chefs, and flight attendants) and we were all put to the test with some 21st century trivia. Here’s how the night unfolded:

SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! That was the chant when it was announced that our celebrity, Samantha Bee and teammate Rick Spence were both crowned top scorers at the end of the night. We were still awaiting the final team results but the bloggers were feeling pretty good at that point.

Throughout the evening our team chanted (Bee! Bee! Bee!), hooted and hollered, and talked a fair deal of smack. We were completely enamored with Samantha – who talked to us often, made motions our way and really interacted with “her people – the indoor kids”. Even when other teams would let a rousing “nerd” chant slip in our direction our solidarity was never shaken and we stood strong. It was also rather amusing that a teleprompter was facing our way (and our way only) before the show started. At one point someone rebooted the system and when the Windows 98 start up screen appeared we all had a nice chuckle.

So… was it a sweep? Did Samantha and Rick represent for the Bloggers while some other team won? Of course not, we took it all!

With an average of 50 correct answers out of 60, the Bloggers were victorious. It’s been a long day. A long day of cold winds and waiting around watching celebrity impersonators strut their stuff and have diva moments. There are so many witty, snarky and hilarious catch phrases that made me laugh today but I can’t bring my exhausted mind to remember them right now.

I have to say it was a pleasure to meet everyone – from the House impersonator dude, the Surreal Gourmet, Samantha Bee, Mr Geography of the cabbie team, and even “Paul Stanley” who said he practiced wearing his platform shoes for hours by jogging in them. The Flight Crew was impressive, the Borat impersonator was in character all night and freakin hilarious and the backpackers were probably our biggest competition.

Congrats to Rick Spence, and be on the lookout for photos of each person on the blogger team, taken by Rannie. Big thanks to Molly @ the CBC for getting me out here, being very encouraging, and supporting ‘Team Blogger’. Super tons of thanks to my family and friends (who all held viewing parties) and to all those Vancouver bloggers who supported us, watched the show, and played along.

We won’t get to know our individual scores til tomorrow but since the ‘test audiences’ scored an average of 40/60 and our team had 50/60 as an average, I’d say we did pretty darn well. Good times guys (hence the stupid grin on my face all night) and by the way… for the record… BLOGGERS RULE!

Update: John Biehler made some clips and put them on YouTube – video 3, video 2, and video 1 – check out “some of the face of non-mainstream media”.

Update: In case some trackbacks don’t work, here are a few more bloggers (and viewers) who have covered our victory last night – that will surely lead to world domination:

Buzz Bishop – We’re Blogging This
Canadian Entrepreneur – Sweep! Sweep!
Calgary Grit – The Answer is Bee
Jon Arnold – Bloggers 1 Rest of World 0
Lainey Gossip – I Love Winning
Right Between the Eyes – Don’t Wanna Brag, But …
Nunc Scio – The Sweet Smell of Blogger Victory
BlogTo – Backstage Celebrity-ish Interviews
Jonsian Logic – Test the Nation
Unsweetened – We Will Blog You
Pen Machine – Yay for the Indoor Kids!
James Viloria – Results – CBC – Test The Nation: Trivia
Airdrie – Bloggers Victorious
Five Blondes – Bloggers Emerge Victorious
Buzz Canuck – Bloggers are the Smartest
Ryan – Post Game Show
Amber Mac – Are Bloggers Smarter…

Update: More detailed results are in.

Just got back from the CBC and am thawing out in my hotel. Several of the Vancouver bloggers had to leave right from the set once the show was over since they fly out tonight. I’m lucky to have a morning flight, a morning flight that isn’t too early no less.

I have photos to share BUT I cannot reveal ANY information before the West coast broadcast of the show has aired. I’m currently watching myself on the local broadcast which is obviously delayed. Once the show has aired in Pacific time, I’ll share more photos on Flickr in my Test the Nation set.

The sun is out and there’s not a cloud in the sky, but it’s -11 celcius.

This morning we went down to the buffet and checked in with the production team setup in a small office at the hotel to cash in taxi receipts. Last night we ran into someone from the Chefs team in the elevator and I got to thinking – I didn’t even realize I could look up the names of ALL the other 199 contestants that will be on the show tonight. How silly of me.

In the elevator was Karen Barnaby from the Fish House in Vancouver, Bob Blumer from the Food Network will also be representing – he’s the guy with the crazy great hair who rolls around in an airstream souped up to look like a toaster. You can check out the rest of our competition (even the Paris Hilton lookalike) on the Test the Nation site.

I’m going to go wander around town for the next few hours, before checking in at the ‘ceeb. I don’t leave til tomorrow morning so I have a little more time in town tonight although I think some keen Toronto bloggers are initiating a ‘wrap party’ of sorts. Good times.

Update: I took pics this afternoon while on a walk with Kerry Anne.

Landing in Toronto and driving into downtown it looked as though Yaletown had gone and given birth to hundreds of offspring along the lake. The cab ride to the hotel was pretty steep (luckily it’s coming out of the tax payer’s pocket) and our hotel is actually rather lovely.

It’s “Monster Truck Jam” night at the Rogers Centre (aka the Skydome) and you can view all the action from our hotel lounge since it’s actually built into the side of the stadium.

Wireless in the hotel room works (thanks to John lending me the Airport), the king size bed looks inviting and the curtains are stapled to the wall. Looks like the only thing standing between downtown Toronto and my bare bum is a thin draping of sheer fabric.

I have no problem waking up at a the crack of 5:00am. John and I were out the door with plenty of time to get meet up with our chauffeur, Duane, and get to the airport so I could check in for my flight.

Photo credit: Duane on Flickr

Arriving at YVR we were all looking forward to some coffee and a wholesome breakfast at Milestones before I took off. I proceeded to the Air Canada check in area and noticed that not one single “check-in” station was manned by airline staff. The point here is to encourage travelers to check-in using the computer/automated kiosks, then they would proceed to a booth and talk to personnel about their checked baggage. Two issues arose for me, a) my reference number was not working at the computer kiosk and b) I wasn’t checking any luggage. Air Canada left me no option to actually speak to a person, face to face, when I was having issues. I tried several more methods of locating my ticket/boarding pass through the computer and nothing worked. It also didn’t help that the ticket wasn’t purchased on my credit card AND my credit card is still in my maiden name. After all this frustration I realized my flight had been CANCELED. A CBC rep was nice enough to give me a ‘heads up’ call and inform me that I would now be on a later flight.

Breakfast was delightful.

I went back to the computer kiosk thinking maybe it just couldn’t reference my ticket before since my flight was cancelled. No go. I finally went over to the “ticket purchase” counter for Air Canada at YVR (since the only other staff member I spotted was rude and less than helpful). The representative at the counter was pleasant and I was finally able to check in.

It’s been about five years since I’ve flown Air Canada and now I know why I avoid it.

We’re in the air at 12:30pm PT (when my original flight was supposed to depart at 9:00am PT). I’m writing this on my tray table as the man in the seat in front of me just reclined, all of a sudden (at lightning speed) and crunched my laptop against the ‘in flight entertainment screen’ on the back of the seat. Great.

Speaking of the ‘in flight entertainment screens’, they seem like a neat idea – and everyone’s got one – but since they’re touch-controlled everyone in the cabin is getting a little confused. Upon plugging in their headsets passengers are reaching down to the side and trying to adjust the volume. Thing is, the volume is also on the touch screen and what they’re doing is caller the flight attendant over and OVER again. It sounds like I’m in a super-fast elevator right now that’s stopping at every floor due to the call buttons going off all over the place.

This first leg of the journey has gone a bit rough, although I managed to grab about 20 minutes of sleep while they were de-icing the plane at YVR. The call button tones are keeping me a amused.

Update: The kid beside me keeps playing an unusual drum beat on his arm rests. I went to plug in my standard issue earphones and I couldn’t figure it out. The woman beside me helped me. I felt like a jackass. I turned on an episode of The Office. I chilled out. It was smooth sailing from there.