Discovery Channel Canada is set to debut what it is calling its “biggest series ever,” Canada’s Greatest Know-It-All, on Monday, Jan. 30 at 10 p.m.

The eight-part series by Toronto-based prodcos Boxing Cats and Cream Productions for Discovery Channel, and hosted by Daniel Fathers (The Transporter, Heartland) follows 10 self-proclaimed know-it-alls competing against one another in challenges of intellect, strategic thinking, teamwork and physical strength.

The original series is a new format for Discovery Channel, developed as a collaboration between the channel and the prodcos, which both had approached Discovery with similar initial proposals loosely tied to what is now Canada’s Greatest Know-It-All, says Ken MacDonald, VP programming, Discovery Channel.

“We worked with [Boxing Cats and Cream Productions] as partners to develop a format, with [Discovery] contributing our input based on our knowledge of our audience and our brand to shape this format and develop the show together,” MacDonald tells Playback Daily.

MacDonald says Canada’s Greatest Know-It-All is the channel’s most ambitious series to date, both in terms of its budget and its complex challenges.

For example, one of the show’s more high-concept challenges involves the cast determining the correct release point of a “bomb” from a real Lancaster Bomber aircraft.

“It’s not just another elimination show,” he emphasizes, explaining that the competitors compete both with each other and against each other to test their knowledge and problem-solving skills, earning points in a series of complex tasks. The individual with the fewest points after a final surprise challenge leaves the series.

MacDonald says that he thinks the show will resonate with Discovery Channel’s audience because everyone has a friend or family member who “knows absolutely everything about everything, has an opinion about everything, knows how to do things better.”

The show is designed to laser-target that knowledge-craving Discovery watcher, says MacDonald.

“We probably, collectively, spent more time developing the challenges than anything else attached to this program, because that was where we felt we really had to target a Discovery audience,” he explains. “The challenges couldn’t be silly; they had to be clever, and there had to be a takeaway, as well as the entertainment value.”

Knowing their audience, he says, is what pays off when developing new concepts for programming.

“This is an example of why I think a lot of our Canadian programming has been so successful. We like to be at the table in developing the concept out with the producers, because we do know our audience extremely well. We do a ton of research and we know our brand extremely well.”

The show’s digital media strategy will include live Twitter chat during the broadcast, and web extras like trailers and multiple choice quizzes for viewers to test their knowledge at home.