What really shocked you when you were surprised? Expect the unexpected as we look at "surprise" this week.

Read on to find out what's on the show, or listen to the podcast by clicking the "Listen" button. (Originally aired Oct. 1, 2011)

 

Giving birth to a baby isn't usually a surprise... after all, you've got about nine months warning. But for Vijay and Zubine Sivasankaran, the surprise was where their daughter, Levyna, was born. They'll tell us their story.

Would you pay someone for a "surprise?" Like, where you had no idea what was going to happen to you... just that something was going to happen? The founders of Surprise Industries! have found that people will... and we'll talk with Tania Luna, one of the co-founders, about why.

Lots of people pull off the "surprise marriage proposal." But Shawn Lippert went one further... he set out to pull off a surprise wedding with his then-girlfriend, Colleen. They'll tell us how it worked out.




What was your last big surprise? Sook-Yin asks some unsuspecting strangers for theirs.

Aliza Amihude loves to surprise people... so maybe it's no shock that she took naturally to an unusual job... Aliza was a sassy singing telegram. And since she loves shaking up people's boring lives, Aliza thought she'd be a singing telegram forever... but she'll tell us why one gig was so surprising, she knew it was her last.

*SPOILER ALERT!* Clare Lawlor brings us some surprising science on spoilers...and the ending is awesome!

Natasha Pinterics is a stay at home mom in Edmonton. And that's a job that's full of surprises. But one particular day, her baby girl wasn't sleeping, her son was in full tantrum mode, and Natasha was exhausted. But there's no way she could have been prepared for what happened next...

Dan Mangan tells us about hanging out with the daughters of Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson... and how someone else managed to surprise them all.

If you uncovered a deep, dark secret in your family's past, what would you do with it? Sook-Yin will talk with Martin Davidson, who made it his mission to find out everything he could about his grandfather... and what he was really doing during the Second World War.

Have you ever known something that you couldn't tell anyone... something shocking about yourself that you were afraid to tell the rest of the world? Winnipeg teenager Graeme Coleman knows how you feel, because he recently went through exactly the same thing...

A couple years ago, Lisa Rundle and her girlfriend went on a memorable trip to San Francisco. Like a lot of tourists, they spent some time on Fisherman's Wharf, until Lisa got sick of the tourist hordes and  tried to make a fast getaway... only to be surprised by a San Francisco institution. She'll tell us what really startled her about her encounter with "The Bushman."




Have you ever been totally embarrassed by a surprise? Frank Graves was... on the night of the last federal election. We'll talk to one of Canada's most famous pollsters about how he got it all wrong... and why. (You can read more of Frank's thoughts on it here.)

If you're a teacher, it isn't always good news when your students plan a "surprise" for you. Michael Jursic will tell us about the surprise his students planned for him... and what it taught the teacher.

And here's this week's playlist:
Real Estate - "It's Real"
Jill Barber - "Took Me By Surprise"
Beyonce - "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)"
Peggy Lee - "Sunshine Cake"
Feed the Birds - "The End"
Dan Mangan - "About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help At All"
Kathryn Calder - "Who Are You?"
Coeur de pirate - "Adieu"
Greg MacPherson - "Numbers"
Foster the People - "Pumped Up Kicks"

Bonus surprise video! See Beyonce's surprise visit below: