'Tough As Nails' Plays to Kinder Rules

IN MIDDLE SCHOOL I emailed CBS and asked them to make a teen version of their reality show Big Brother, in the hope that they would cast me and I could schmooze and deceive my peers to win the contest’s $500,000 prize. Schmooze and deceive weren’t my bright ideas: They formed a strategy I had seen succeed on previous seasons of Big Brother and Survivor, as clueless heroes were undone by ruthless, money-hungry, victorious villains. Even CBS’ clean-fun competition The Amazing Race had enabled contestants to backstab another team for $1 million.

So it’s unexpected that the network’s newer prime-time contest Tough as Nails plays to kinder rules—and that it has become part of my mostly drama-filled viewing habits. Twelve Americans with some of the most strenuous jobs that exist (welder, farmer, firefighter, ironworker, and more) vie in team and individual challenges to see who’s the hardest and smartest worker. As an artsy guy whose most physically demanding professional activity is typing, I would not have pictured myself in the Tough as Nails fan base. And yet, here I am.

Phil Keoghan, host of The Amazing Race, produces Tough as Nails alongside his wife and producing partner Louise Keoghan, Andy Thomas, and others. Keoghan’s intent for the program is clear. “There’s lots of shows out there that honor people that are really good at singing and dancing and are good looking,” he told Deadline, “but I felt that there was a place for acknowledging those people who keep a country running. Real people in real life who are real tough.”

Airing when essential workers, at great risk to themselves, are keeping a COVID-19-stricken U.S. going, Tough as Nails couldn’t be timelier. It contrasts with other reality show contests in its elimination process: There isn’t one. Or rather, there’s a $200,000 grand prize for the winner of a series of individual competitions, but those defeated along the way don’t leave the show. Instead, they remain for team competitions throughout the season, with the winning team for each contest splitting a cash prize. The required teamwork nearly eliminates the possibility of villainy, especially in combination with participants’ evident respect for one another as workers trying to make an honest living.

I am definitely not asking CBS to book me for the next season. I would never qualify to be on this show, but we all probably know plenty of folks who would. What they’re capable of is a wonder. Gifts as divine as theirs deserve an audience.