Network: NBC
Episodes: 10 (hour)
Seasons: One
TV show dates: August 25, 2008 — October 25, 2008
Series status: Cancelled
Performers include: Josh Temple, Michaela Clemence, Ben Coleman, Sandy Gabriel, Steven Hopper, Rommel Gargoles, Bryce Frazier, Christopher Young, Rie Heffron, Eric Waterhouse, Rick Broider, Phil Kolarczyk, and Amy Brodsky.
TV show description:
In this extreme competition reality series, 13 men and women leave their white collar lives to get their hands dirty, working in some of America’s most demanding occupations.
Each week, contestants try a different job like crab fishing in the Bering Sea, navigating a semi on the most difficult highway in North America, searching for gold in Alaska, climbing to new heights with a bridge crew, driving a monster truck, performing a mountain rescue, drilling for oil, and even bullfighting in Texas.
At the end of each episode, their temporary boss and co-workers evaluate each person’s performance and determine who should be eliminated from the show, sent to return to their regular job back home. The ultimate winner of the competition goes home with lots of bumps and bruises, as well as the combined first-year salaries of each of the tough occupations they’ve endured.
The show is hosted by Josh Temple and narrated by series creator Thom Beers.
Episode 10
The finalists are Michaela Clemence, Ben Coleman, Steven Hopper, and Sandy Gabriel. They must compete in three back-to-back challenges with little sleep. For the first job, the final four head back to St. Angelo, Texas to the rodeo ring. They are each awarded a 2009 Dodge Ram truck.
Josh re-introduces Rob Smetz and tells them their challenge is to snatch a ribbon off a bull’s head in 90 seconds or less. The clock stops ticking when the ribbon is in their hand or on the ground. If more than one person is unable to complete the task for any reason, the person with the least amount of time in the ring will go home. Rob tells them that there are no riders to protect them. It’s man against beast.
Sandy gets thrown in the air and stomped on by the bull. Out of the gate, the bull bucks and wraps his legs around Michaela’s neck and drives her head into the ground. An ambulance takes her to the hospital with two broken vertebrae. It looks like Steven is going to be the winner but then Ben loosens the ribbon quickly and, by chance, the bull knocks it off the rest of the way. Ben beats Steven’s time by a whole minute. Michaela is out of the competition and is lucky that she’s not paralyzed.
Ben, Steven, and Sandy move on to Odessa, Texas to the oil rig. Boss Henry McElroy greets them again. They must disconnect a 90-foot pipe length, stack it, climb the derrick to the monkey board, tie off the pipe, then take the escape line to the finish. The worker with the slowest time will be sent home. Ben is up first and finishes in the quickest amount of time. Steven does well but is a minute slower. Sandy’s progress is hampered by a broken finger and she comes in last and is eliminated.
The last job is logging in Port Angeles, Washington — a task everyone found to be one of the hardest. They must run down a log-laden hill, gear up, then fall a 100-foot Douglas fir tree. Then, run back up the hill, cut a log into three 21-foot sections and load them onto the trailer.
Finally, they must race to the toolbox containing two envelopes, one labeled Ben, the other labeled Steven. The first to grab their envelope wins $298,000 ($2,000 was subtracted because the contestants broke a jack during the contest).
Ben, the 28-year-old carpenter from Boston, won the contest and soonafter started training to be a Monster Jam driver. He used the prize money to buy a house.
First aired: October 25, 2008.
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