Now or Never – Details, episodes & analysis

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Now or Never

CBC

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/8d. Total Eps: 40

In a world that can feel pretty scary, it’s easy to get stuck. This is a show that celebrates what it takes to try. To take the risk. To have the talk. To rock the speedo. Because making even the tiniest change takes courage, and hosts Ify and Trevor are here to remind you that you’re not alone when you do. New episodes every Thursday.

Recent rankings

Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

🇨🇦 Canada - societyAndCulture
18/08/2026
#90
🇨🇦 Canada - societyAndCulture
26/07/2026
#71
🇨🇦 Canada - societyAndCulture
25/07/2026
#49
🇨🇦 Canada - societyAndCulture
24/07/2026
#39
🇨🇦 Canada - societyAndCulture
23/07/2026
#47
🇨🇦 Canada - societyAndCulture
22/07/2026
#34
🇨🇦 Canada - societyAndCulture
21/07/2026
#13
🇨🇦 Canada - societyAndCulture
20/07/2026
#14
🇨🇦 Canada - societyAndCulture
02/06/2026
#96
🇨🇦 Canada - societyAndCulture
16/05/2026
#99

Spotify

🇨🇦 Canada - trending
27/07/2026
#146
↗
🇨🇦 Canada - trending
26/07/2026
#171
↗
🇨🇦 Canada - trending
25/07/2026
#193
↗

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Score global : 58%

Publication history

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Latest published episodes

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Saying goodbye: How do you know when it's really over?

Thursday, November 13, 2025 • Duration 46:43

Saying goodbye can be hard — whether it's to a relationship, a job, or the place you call home. On this episode, hear how people knew it was time to say goodbye, and what happened after they walked away.

Ify pops in for one last visit to the Imperial Pub, an iconic neighborhood bar in Toronto that's closing its doors after 81 years. Long-time owner Fred Newman reflects on the end of an era, while regulars raise their glasses for one last toast.

After Donald Trump was elected back to the Oval Office in 2024, Anthony and Dominic Sposato became increasingly uneasy about living in America as a married gay couple with a 10-year-old son. They decided to pack their life into boxes and sell their home in New Jersey, with dreams of moving to Edmonton. But they aren’t yet sure if their application to immigrate across the border will be accepted.

For 21 years, Sam Corbett was the drummer in The Sheepdogs, one of Canada's most successful rock bands. But last month, he decided to call it quits to focus on being a stay-at-home dad. He tells us what it was like to break up with a band he's known since high school, how he's adjusting to life without thousands of adoring fans, and the moment he knew he had to put down his drum sticks for good.

How do you know when it’s time to say goodbye to your marriage? We sit down with Kristen Clancy and Robbie Gruenbauer, who just got divorced a few weeks ago, for a real conversation about what went wrong in their 12 year marriage, and how they managed to stay friendly through the breakup.

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What would it take to face your biggest fears?

Thursday, October 30, 2025 • Duration 53:30

Just in time for Halloween, stories of people being scared out-of-their-mind about something, but doing it anyway.

The last time Mike Bahuaud ran a half-marathon, he went into cardiac arrest and collapsed at the finish line, where his heart stopped beating for nearly five minutes. One year later, he's determined to run the exact same marathon, to finish what nearly ended him.

It was a regular Friday afternoon in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland when Shem Evans was randomly attacked and beaten by seven teenagers while picking up his kids from school. After the attack, fear rocked his family and the community. But when his wife Bailey Rempel didn’t see enough change, she took a leap and ran for city council to try to make things safer for everyone.

Lynn Sainté has a deep fear of throwing a party where no one shows up. But she also really wants to relive her church choir days, so she's booked a venue, hired some musicians, and sent out the invitations. When Ify checks in, she's only sold three tickets with a week to go. So will anyone show up? Ify joins her friend Lynn on the night of the event, to find out if all the nerves and stress are worth it.

After a traumatic swimming lesson as a child, Aaliyah Hall then discovered two of her family members died from drowning. She's been terrified of the water ever since. But now, she’s part of a group of Black women in Hamilton who are learning how to float without fear.

“Everything that mattered to me in my life, was stripped.” In a matter of months Judi Rees learned of the sexual abuse her children experienced, became dangerously ill, and ended her 30-year marriage. After living through a season of terrifying events, Judi shares what she’s learned from the other side.

"I run for everyone who can't." Runners share what keeps them moving

Thursday, October 23, 2025 • Duration 51:45

If you, like us, are not a runner, it might seem nuts to risk the muscle pain, the boredom, not to mention the chafing. So we asked a bunch of people what keeps them moving, and got some really surprising answers.

Four days ago, Tata Shifrin finished her first full marathon in Toronto. Which is not what her doctors would have predicted, since she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2014 and told she would likely be using a cane or wheelchair by now. The single mom tells us how what started as a sarcastic joke to her Russian grandmother is now a promise she's making to herself, and her three children.

Three times a week, the Running on Faith run club gathers at dawn on the streets of Surrey, B.C. What makes this run club a little different is that everyone connected to it lives in a shelter or recovery center. Founder

Andie Van Der Eerden tells us how she took her own battle with depression and anxiety and turned it into a mission of hope.

The kids in the Windbreakers Indigenous Youth Running Club in St. Albert, Alberta tell us about the connection between sweetgrass and running, and why it's always a good idea to put sage in your sneakers.

When Luc Zoratto stopped using drugs and alcohol, he started running. A lot. After years of non-stop training and marathon finishes, Luc is falling out of love with the sport that gave him so much.

Newfoundland’s Florence Barron is running in one of the most challenging road races in the country…at the age of 87. It’s not her first time competing, and as long as her body allows her, she says it won’t be her last.

An ex, a slob, and a real life 'Golden Girls': How to survive roommates

Thursday, November 20, 2025 • Duration 49:18

Roommates. They can be great, they can save you money....and they can also make your life a living hell.

Roommate households are the fastest growing living arrangement in Canada, so we wanted to know, how are people making it work? (or not)

Five stories of people navigating some tricky real-life moments with their roommates.

Deb King never thought she’d need to find a roommate at 67 years old, but that’s exactly what she’s doing right now. We join her on the hunt for “someone normal,” as she fends off dating requests, does background checks, and just tries to find a home for herself and her dog, Cirque du Soleil.

Jewel Casey and Jordan Woodward have spent the past seven months living together in an apartment in Invermere, B.C.…as exes. Despite the rough patches, sticking out their year-long lease together has led the couple to come to some surprising realizations about where their relationship went wrong.

It's move in day for Marisa, Matt, Chet, and Izabella, a group of friends in Toronto who just bought a 1.3 million dollar home together. They say that co-owning is their only way to crack the Toronto housing market. So how do they decide who takes out the garbage? And what happens if one of them gets a job in another city? They show us the whiteboard and 20-page contract that gets into the nitty-gritty of cohabitating with friends.

After Bev Suek's husband passed away, she realized she didn't like to live alone. So she opened up the doors to her six-bedroom home in Winnipeg, for other 50+ women who don't want to live alone, either. Trevor drops in for a visit with the real-life Golden Girls of Winnipeg, to find out how they handle everything from making meals to overnight guests (wink wink).

So you screwed up. Now what?

Thursday, November 27, 2025 • Duration 54:01

Messing things up is part of the human experience.

But what happens when you fail at something so big, and so publicly...how do you come back from that?

On this episode, four people confess their most epic fails, and what they're doing to dig themselves out.

Edmonton’s Kayla Huszar used to cajole, bribe and beg her children to brush their teeth. But her "gentle parenting" approach led to both her kids needing emergency dental surgery, and feelings of failure. How Kayla created boundaries, stopped getting bullied by her kids, and ditched the permissive approach.

When Jeremy Campbell first dreamed up the Line Spike Frontenac music festival this summer, he pictured 20,000 fans in a field, singing along to an all-Canadian lineup featuring Chantal Kreviazuk and Burton Cummings. Instead, his liquor license got revoked, fewer than 4000 people showed up, and he's now over $225,000 in debt. He tells us what went wrong, and why he still has the confidence to try again next year.

Ify takes her mic to Toronto's Metropolitan University, where students confess their biggest academic fails.

After years of gruelling training and international marathons, long-distance runner Natasha Wodak failed all of her attempts to make it to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Now 43 years old, the life-long competitor is learning how to accept where her body is at during this stage of her career — although she still hasn’t ruled out the 2028 Olympic Games.

After an existential crisis in her early 20s, Erica Rankin decided to quit her 9 to 5 job and start a protein cookie dough business. Things were going well at first, but after a mouldy cookie dough incident and some retail flops, Erica was forced to file for bankruptcy and move back in with her parents. She tells us why she's still determined to live the entrepreneurial life, and how she's doing it despite a lot of burned bridges.

After addiction, a mom fights to regain her daughter's trust

Thursday, February 26, 2026 • Duration 52:36

For years, Melissa MacMillan's opioid addiction brought chaos to her life - especially with her daughter Eden. Now, almost five years into recovery, Melissa and Eden share the tough conversations they're having as they try to rebuild their relationship.

What does it take to be truly 'out of the woods,' getting through one big life hurdle, only to face a whole new set of challenges? That's what this episode of Now or Never is all about.

A few weeks ago, Lisa de Lusignan wrote in to Now or Never to tell us about losing her husband to ALS, and the surprising thing helping her through her grief: pickleball. So of course we called her up, to find out how joy and sadness co-exist on the pickleball courts. “Nobody looked at me like, ‘Oh geez, I hope she’s OK today.' Which is fine! And lovely for people to do that. But sometimes I just want to be a girl coming to play pickleball, not the sad wife."

Since coming to Canada from Eritrea 23 years ago, Alazar Beyene has been giving new life to old shoes. But with the rise of fast fashion, business declined, so when his old patching machine broke down, Alazar was thinking about changing careers. Enter Marsha Shandur and her beloved winter boots. How Marsha turned to the power of the people for help to replace Alazar’s machine.

Mary Howley is on the hunt for a part-time job. She worked in the financial industry for nearly 30 years, but living as a single retiree in Ontario isn’t as financially secure or care-free as she’d hoped.

Tiffany Bird went 25 years without ever consuming a vegetable. She has ARFID, a fairly new and often misunderstood eating disorder that significantly restricts the volume and variety of foods people eat. For decades, the condition consumed her life and her health. Today, Tiffany is learning to accept that she may never be free of ARFID.

Take it or leave it: the art of giving advice

Thursday, February 12, 2026 • Duration 52:19

You know the feeling. You’re unsure. Stuck between two choices. The imposter syndrome is bubbling up, and you just need a little help.

So who do you turn to for advice? And how likely are you to take it?

This week on Now or Never, we’re sifting through the opinions, mantras, and clichés, to find out what works (and what doesn’t) when you get and give advice.

Ify and Trevor call up the Winnipeg senior citizens behind the Misericordia Place Life Advice Hotline, for tips on love, dating, and moose hunting. 1-800-wisdom at your fingertips!

For the past six years, Farideh Olsen has been recording voice notes full of advice for her 10-year-old daughter, just in case she dies. Farideh is completely healthy, but her biggest fear is that she won’t be around when her child needs advice, so Farideh is leaving lessons for her baby, including how to deal with her dad.

When Amanda Oake was feeling stuck in a rut working as a nurse manager, her best friend Krista told her to quit her job and buy a bee farm that was up for sale in western Newfoundland. So, Amanda did…despite knowing next to nothing about beekeeping. Years later, does Amanda regret taking her friend’s advice so quickly?

Julie Gordon, in Victoria, has always had a hard time making decisions. She would call on her friends, look for advice on the internet and when that didn’t work, she started to visit psychics. A few years ago, that search for guidance and reassurance let her down a path that cost her thousands of dollars and derailed her life.

Ten years ago, former Olympian and founder of I Challenge Diabetes, Chris Jarvis, tried to push himself to do a 160km ski marathon in Quebec; but problems related to his Type 1 diabetes meant he couldn’t finish. Now he’s challenging himself again, and pushing past all the bad advice he’s received throughout his athletic career, about what’s possible for someone with diabetes.

How do you know if you're "getting bushed" and what to do about it?

Thursday, February 5, 2026 • Duration 54:01

Across Canada, we've been hit with blizzards, snow squalls and extreme cold.

So what keeps you from going stir-crazy in the dead of winter?

On this episode of Now or Never, hear about the wild and creative ways people are avoiding cabin fever.

After living in the Yukon for over 40 years, Cindy Billingham and her husband, Ron, moved to a small town in Newfoundland to live out their retirement years. But not too long after they renovated their home and settled in, Ron suddenly passed away. As Cindy navigates grief and newfound loneliness, she’s on a mission to find a new group of friends who can help her avoid “getting bushed” — a slang term she picked up in the Yukon that describes feelings of isolation and restlessness during the winter months.

Maggie Glossop is an 80-year-old artist, affectionately known as the 'Bear Lady', thanks to her charming sculptures. Every winter for the past eight years, Maggie has stepped into Ottawa's Kitchissippi woods to build bears out of snow. Nearly a decade into the tradition, her sculptures continue to inspire people from near and far to get outside and hunt for the snow bears on the trail.

For members of Cat Lake First Nation, winter offers an opportunity to bring much needed supplies into the community, via the winter road. As the climate changes, Rachel Wesley is trying to help her community navigate an uncertain future — and a difficult trade-off in trying to find an alternative to the winter road.

We’re often told to fight back against peer pressure but at one work place, it’s the secret tool to get people out and moving. Trevor joins a group of colleagues in Winnipeg for their weekly workouts at Canada's windiest, coldest intersection, Portage and Main.

And, 10,000 aluminum cans. That's how many cans needs to collect, to pay for a projector and pull off his very first “Can Film Festival” in Whitehorse. It’s all part of his plan to bring people together to watch movies in the dreariest part of winter. But with only 5 days left until opening night, he’s still 363 cans short. CBC Yukon producer Andrew Hynes brings us the story of one man’s quixotic quest, and why he's so determined to do this, one can at a time.

'We can't sit back and do nothing': How ordinary Canadians are pushing back in times of chaos

Thursday, January 29, 2026 • Duration 51:54

Are you feeling paralyzed by the firehose of terrible news?

We get it. We feel that way, too. So we did what Mr. Rogers always told us to do when we're feeling scared: look for the helpers.

On this episode, hear how people just like you are channeling their feelings of helplessness into action, doing small things in the face of big problems.

As a school bus driver in Minneapolis, Jodi has watched her bus empty out as four-year-olds of colour are too scared to come to school. Her neighbours won’t leave their house to go to the laundromat. So now Jodi, a Canadian with only a green card, has gas masks by her front door so she can take to the streets in protest against ICE actions in her city.

A group of Iranian-Canadians in Calgary are working around-the-clock to help people send messages to loved ones in Iran, during the country's ongoing communications blackout and deadly protests. Their lifeline? Satellite TV. Armin Zarringhalam and Sepidar Valian explain how it’s possible, and what it’s like trying to protest the Islamic Republic in Iran from afar.

How do you laugh through a crisis? When Sudanese-Canadian comedian Faris Hytiaa was working on what would become his Juno-nominated album, Homesick, he was more afraid than he's ever been. Every member of his family was in Sudan as the war broke out in 2023, fighting to stay alive and make their way to Canada. Faris shares how the ongoing war in Sudan is impacting his comedy, and his identity.

And last week we asked you how you're channeling your feelings of helplessness into action, and we got an earful. From attempting to organize your first benefit concert (with zero experience) to volunteering with refugees, hear what people are doing.

Now or Never – Details, episodes & analysis

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Now or Never – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify