Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS
THEY WORK HARD for the money. They always have. That’s the point of Tough as Nails, a decidedly unglamorous reality competition that never whisks its everyday contestants—which include a roofer, a drywaller, a welder and a female ironworker—to some exotic location. Instead, they’re more likely to be found in a junkyard, on a farm, maybe a foundry, anywhere that elbow grease and selfless teamwork come in handy.
From The Amazing Race’s Phil Keoghan, who thankfully has stopped patronizing these unsung laborers for “sweating on factory floors instead of gym floors,” Nails celebrates the work ethic in its grungy, sweaty challenges. (No wonder one of the six-member teams calls itself “Dirty Hands.”) Shoveling coal, dismantling a car, smashing concrete, stringing barbed wire on a fence they just constructed—this…
