“This is a once in a lifetime experience,” Winnipegger Marshall Carroll says about being a contestant on a recently taped show called Canada’s Smartest Person.

Carroll and three other Canadians will vie for the title of Canada’s Smartest Person on a two hour special that airs on CBC television on Sunday, March 18 at 8 p.m. The show is hosted by Comedian Gerry Dee  and pits Carroll against 27 year old Hamilton Tiger Cats offensive linesman, Peter Dyskowski; 23-year-old student and gamer, Laura Suen; and spoken word poet, Greg Frankson  in a series of  challenges aimed at testing six areas of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. The person who proves that they have the most versatile smarts will earn the title of Canada’s Smartest Person.

Dr. Marshall Carroll has a Ph.D. in theoretical quantum chemistry. He is currently chair of the Science Department at Vincent Massey Collegiate where he teaches Senior High School Chemistry, Physics, and, in conjunction with the University of Winnipeg, one Introductory University Chemistry course. He is a stand-up comedian and a singer/songwriter on the side who pens his own song parodies and posts them at marshcarroll.com.

Carroll was picked for the show after applying online last December. He flew to Toronto late last month for a whirlwind 17-hour taping session.

“I had to use all my creativity, stamina, and energy to stay awake and be able to solve the challenges. It reminded me of the endurance, persistence and good old blood, sweat and tears that are needed to compete in Maccabiah at Camp Massad,” Carroll explained.

“This was a once in a lifetime experience that I couldn’t pass up. I was picked up by a chauffeur at the Toronto airport, I received a gift basket filled with things like Smarties and smart water, I had my very own dressing room at the studio and I got to participate in a TV show taped in front of a live studio audience. It was so cool and so much fun."

“I enjoyed meeting Gerry Dee, former teacher turned comedian. I also got to meet Canadian Alan Bishop who worked on the Survivor TV series creating many of the mental and physical challenges for the show. He was called upon to create some of the challenges for this show, as well,” said Carroll.

Carroll has received a lot of media coverage back in Winnipeg. He was interviewed by CBC Radio, 92 CITI FM, the University of Winnipeg Radio Station, 92.5 FM Kamloops and City TV – Breakfast Television. Articles on his experience have appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press, the METRO, and the Sou’wester.

It seems that everyone wants to know exactly who is the smartest person in Canada.

When asked about that, Carroll said, “I can’t tell you who won. It’s super-duper secret. There were no prizes for winning the overall competition – only bragging rights.”

“You will have to watch CBC at 8 p.m. on Sunday night to find out who won.”

The challenges on the show were aimed at testing the six areas of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. The widely accepted Multiple Intelligences Theory says intelligence is based on several different capacities – including logic, visual, physical, language, musical and social – rather than one general ability. Each person has a unique combination or profile of intelligences. You can test your own multiple intelligences at Facebook.com/canadassmartestperson .

On the night of the broadcast, Canada's Smartest Person viewers can put their own wits to the test and play along simultaneously with the challenges online at www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/ or with an innovative app (for Apple iOS) created for the show.

Here is one of Marshall's most popular parody songs on youtube: The WHMIS Warble. WHMIS stands for Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System.