On the latest America’s Toughest Jobs the crew go skyward as they clean, paint and fix lights 60 stories in the air as a bridge maintenance crew. Following last weeks leave of Rie everyone realized that it was still any one’s game. This week the job was bridge maintenance and not everyone was excited. Both Chris and Steven were afraid of heights of weren’t looking forward to climbing on top of the bridge. Michael was excited though as she loves heights and did well along with everyone else.

As the crew moved to their first job they had to walk on a small pathway underneath the road of the bridge. Chris had some trouble, clinging to the side of the wall, and everyone had a laugh at his expense. When they got to the location to haul their tools up the seven remaining players had to walk out onto a small platform, hang over the side and pull their tools up. Steven was up first and although he was scared he was able to pull through. Chris had some trouble though as he stood back too far and almost spilled his tool container to the water below. Everyone else easily walked out and did the job moving onto the next.

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After three injuries and a family visits, the bulls take over the crew of America’s Toughest Jobs. Following Eric’s leave after a disastrous round in the oil rig, the remaining eight remained in Texas where they took on the fighting bulls. Nobody was excited to do the dangerous stunt as they would go head to head with rodeo fighting bulls. To start off their job the eight were pitted against a wheelbarrow with horns in it. It was supposed to simulate the actual bull they would be fighting but for some it was actually worse. Sandy and Steven took the bull right on, making good progress as usual. It was the normal bottom feeders that didn’t shine through and for one it could have cost them the game.

During their practice runs both Chris, Ben and Rie faltered. Chris rammed right into the wheelbarrow and felt just muscling the bull would keep him safe. Nobody really agreed with him so he felt the odd man out once again. Ben did something similar but simply stood still, letting the “bull” ram right into him. Rie was the one who took the hard hit as she couldn’t zig-zag enough away from the impending hit. She fell to her knees, pulling the one out of the socket and keeping her out of the practice run and ultimately giving her a huge disadvantage when it came to show time. Rie’s knee didn’t look that bad but her injury, and most likely fear of being in the ring with the bull, kept her from the practice round and almost kept her from performing at show time.

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After the last three weeks in frozen Alaska, America’s Toughest Jobs thaws out by returning to the continental United States. California to be exact for some monster trucking! This week the ten remaining members of the crew were put to the test through three monster truck jam courses. It all began with a little practice where some proved strong while others fell short. Before the practice began we saw a short segment from Rick who grew up loving the same truck he was about to drive. He went more in depth with his past, saying how he was homeless at the age of three.

With the boss overseeing everything the crew were always being watched and critiqued. Those who stepped up the game were the three girls and Ben, all doing well during the initial test and showing progress. The show tended to focus on those who did bad as it was the most entertaining. First up was Eric who is a bit schitzo it seems. After having his truck shut off by the boss he continued to cost down the track, almost running into a wall. Chris didn’t do any better as he throttled for too long, also having his car shut off. Even though he was told seconds before that he should brake if his car is shut off, Chris continued to glide scaring even the most professional guys there. Chris didn’t take kindly to the incident and, like his past driving job, gave excuses that made no sense. Last up for mistakes was Bryce who made a huge one. After learning the hand signals on when to start and stop, Bryce apparently forgot them. As the released gave him a thumbs up Bryce pushed the gas and sped onto the track. His car was immediately stopped as he almost his the official who was supposed to give him the ok to go. It seems a thumbs up means “are you ready” rather then “GO” and Bryce mixed the two up. It didn’t look good for him but others would thankfully save him in the end.

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When was the last time you heard someone say their profession was mining for gold? It’s been awhile since the gold rush but America’s Toughest Jobs is bringing it back! The crew remained in Alaska this week, returning to Anchorage for their mining ordeal. With their bosses in tow the 11 remaining workers hiked to gold mining central: the creek. At the job site the crew was taught how to both pan for gold as well as drudge. Their first day was all about panning the good old fashioned way.

For the first three or so hours nobody was hitting any gold. The bosses said they weren’t necessarily looking at how much gold they found but how well they worked individually and as a team. After a few hours of no luck Sandy, once again, stepped up the game by finding a chunk! Rick and Michaela followed shortly there after and everyone was on the gold rush bandwagon. Although everyone found SOME gold, others were just not getting it. The boss couldn’t believe how some of the crew, especially Ben and Phil, were just sloshing the pans around. They felt after a full day of panning they should have got the hang of things but apparently its harder than it looks. Phil, who was lacking in the gold department, got knocked down another knock by actually getting knocked down. While crossing the creek (a big no no) Phil took a tumble and could have been washed away in the frigid water. Luckily only his bucket got washed away and he came out with only  a cold.

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Last week America’s Toughest Jobs took on the seas of Deadliest Catch and this week another Discovery Channel favorite is visited: Ice Road Truckers. The twelve remaining contestants remained in Alaska for the task and after getting their permits to drive 18 wheelers the challenge was off. With only six big rigs for the job, the twelve were split into pairs with two in each truck. One would drive 250 miles to Anchorage Alaska while the other would take over the remaining 250 miles the next day.

With the first six on the road half had problems. Rommel started it off early by stalling out as the trucks pulled onto the road and continued that streak while going up one of the many Alaskan hills. Bryce also had some trouble on the hill but his problems were going down. Since the hills are so steep, breaking wasn’t an option so the truckers had to downshift to make the decent. With over 10 gears to choose from, some of the drivers were finding it difficult to pull off these shifts, one of them being Bryce. Chris had the hardest drive though, stalling not once but several times on two different hills. His driving was so dangerous that his supervisor pulled him from the drivers seat and allowed his partner Phil to take over for the rest of the drive. Phil, along with Rie and Eric, did great at the drivers seat and showed how ice road trucking should be done.

After a nights sleep, which happened to be in the bright Alaska night, the next six drivers were ready to take the reamining 250 miles which were much worse then the first. The six driving this time faced a blizzard, unpaved roads and several avalanche warnings. About a quarter way through the drive the cast pulled up to a newly crashed truck and it made them all think just how dangerous their “job” was. It caused little paranoia though as most of the second round drivers did well. Sandy once again shined as she proved it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman doing the job and Phil once again showed his success at the wheel. The only one with problems was Amy, once again. She was horrible at crab fishing and it was obvious she wouldn’t fair well here. Although she did well pre-hills, she almost killed Rie and herself by not putting the truck in gear doing down a steep and curvy hill. Her supervisor almost pulled her from the seat but luckily she got the truck in gear last minute. Chris also had a second chance to prove himself to his supervisor but after sleeping most of the way while Phil was driving he learned very little. With his big mouth open, Chris drove well his second time but berrated his supervisor in “his truck” which sent Chris packing. His supervisor was so heated from the argument that he kicked him out of the truck all together, forcing him to drive to the finish point with the boss and Josh, the host.

When it came time to name the bottom four Josh asked the truckers who they thought should be in there. It was kind of pointless to do so though, if you ask me, since they only got to see how their partner drove. After asking Rie who should be in the bottom four, she chose her partner Amy since that’s the only person she could evaluate. Amy didn’t take it too kindly though and when the weakest four were announced, Rie leaned in for a hug but Amy wasn’t having it. She couldn’t deal with Rie’s flip flop of friendship and “call out” but hey the producers basically asked for it. Since I got ahead of myself let’s just say the bottom four now. Rommel, Bryce, Amy and obviously Chris were chosen to compete to stay in the game. What they had to do was back one of the trucks up to gate without hitting any cones. They then had to remove the hydraulics, pull out the pin connecting the truck to the freight and then pull the truck through the finish line. The slowest to do so would go home and would not be able to compete in the next job.

Bryce started things off but not so well. It took him two tries to back the truck up and after hitting a cone his time went up by a minute. In the end he did finish though and Rommel was up next. Rommel did well, by not hitting any cones and perfectly lining up his truck he beat Bryce’s time which ensured he would stay in the game. Crazy Chris followed Rommel and showed his lack of trucking skills once again. After taking several attempts to get the truck lined up with the gate and hitting two cones, Chris finally finished with a time well over Bryce’s, meaning it was up to Amy to either send herself home or send Chris home. With a stellar move into the gate, Amy was sure to do well but her bad luck continued as she couldn’t pull the pin out, disconnected the freight car. Her lack of strength showed once again and with her time going past Chris’, Amy was sent packing and told she would not be moving on to the next job.

Next week its gold mining time! It doesn’t seem THAT hard but hey, I guess if you get swept away in a river like one contestant is rumored it, it just might be the toughest one yet!

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After watching shows like Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers it’s a wonder why anyone would want to take on America’s Toughest Jobs. People get hurt or possibly die on these shows but 13 tough men and women are taking on those jobs in hopes of winning a cash prize. On the premiere of America’s Toughest Jobs, the 13 shipped out Deadliest Catch style in the Alaskan bay. Their first job were as crab fisherman and they joined two ships as greenhorns aka deck hands.

The show started off unlike others as it jumped right into the thick of things without formally introducing the cast. Actually I have no clue what half of the casts names are and most of them weren’t even shown. Since the ships could only fit a small amount of workers, the 13 were split up into two teams with five working on one ship and the other six filling up the crew of another. As the ships set sail the host Josh let us know how the shows format would work. Each captain would choose the two weakest members on their ship. The four that were chosen as the weakest would then set sail once again to prove themselves. The two captains would then decide the weakest out of the four and that would be the person sent packing from the show.

Since it was hard to follow the two teams and get to know most of the people I’ll run down some memorable moments from the initial voyage. It seemed the girls were starting the show strong as both Michaela and Sandy were selected on the best on their corresponding ships. Michaela was chosen since she seemed to be the strongest and hardest working crew mate on her ship while Sandy, who had a rough start with sea sickness, picked up speed the second day and really showed that she wanted to be there.

There were also some close calls throughout the initial voyage. Ben was almost pulled off the boat thanks to his rope throwing error while Eric fell several times and seemed too hyper to understand anything. Amy was also having problems, along with Senta, as they both puked their guts out and just seemed too weak to even crunch the fish guts in order to bait the crabs. Amy also had a moment where she couldn’t bite the head of a fish off thanks to her allergy to fish. It was a ceremonial opening to the crabbing season and I have a feeling they used Amy’s allergy against her. Steven also had a bit of a problem on the boat but that was more him being lazy then anything.

When it was time to select the four weakest members of the crew: Senta, Amy, Steven and Eric were chosen for the second voyage. The others were safe and didn’t have to ship out again while the four chosen would go out for another day or two of the grueling job. Steven really pulled his weight this time, taking over for Michaela in a way. He moved the cages and really showed improvement, something the two captains noticed. Eric on the other hand was even more frazzled then his first go around. He almost swept himself off the boat, sat on top of the cage and stood behind it so many times that I lost count. Amy picked up her pace a bit but still didn’t show any sign of being stronger or better at the job. I’m really not sure why she wasn’t sent home but instead the captains chose Senta as the weakest. They said she didn’t show any strength and slowed down too much to stay in the game. Sadly I disagree with the captains, as atleast from what they shown, Senta was pulling her weight and didn’t make any mistakes. Unlike Amy and Eric who were even worse their second time around, Senta improved but sadly she had to be sent packing.

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