INTERVIEW: ‘Hard to Kill’ highlights dangerous professions
Photo: Hard to Kill features Tim Kennedy, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, traveling the United States looking for dangerous jobs. Photo courtesy of Discovery Channel / Provided with permission.
How’s this for a résumé? Ranger qualified. Green Beret. Special Forces sniper. Veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. Professional mixed-martial arts (MMA) fighter.
Tim Kennedy is all of these, and now he can add TV host to his long list of attributes.
Kennedy is at the center of Hard to Kill, a new series premiering Tuesday, July 31 at 10 p.m. on Discovery Channel. On the show, the veteran will travel the United States looking for the most dangerous professions, and he seeks to highlight the men and women who are risking their lives to finish the job.
On the inaugural season, viewers can catch stories involving workers who trigger avalanches with explosives, a cowboy who needs to escape the wrath of a 2,000-pound bull and pilots who test out aviation inventions in the Mojave Desert. These are not typical 9-to-5 gigs.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Kennedy about the new series. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What inspired you to become a MMA fighter?
There wasn’t MMA when I first started fighting. What you had was some athletes like me that liked to do different martial arts, but there was no way to test the best fighter. Many people don’t know that the origins of MMA is actually from Japanese jiujitsu fighters. That was the birthplace of MMA. What got me so interested in this sport is getting to test my skills and do martial arts against some of the toughest guys out there, and to see who has the best practice. And, of course, getting to kick some ass.
Where did the idea for this new series come from?
It all started with one big idea. The production team sat down with me before we started filming. They basically said, ‘Tim, we’re doing a show. But what do you want it to be?’ What was most important to me was having a show that paid homage and gave respect back to the country that I love so much, and then I wanted to do a bunch of stupid things that might just get me killed. That was the initial rough draft of this show! It’s a show that tries to not only understand but also appreciate the countless men and women who make this country so great — and do some stuff that might just kill me!
How did you select the dangerous jobs to highlight?
We selected jobs by our ability to access them, truthfully. That was a pretty tough part. There are thousands of really tough jobs with tens of thousands of people doing them. I’d love to feature all these on the show, but getting access can be pretty difficult. These first episodes focused on careers that not only are really dangerous, but ones we were able to gain access to.
What was one of the most dangerous experiences you had?
Easily, the most dangerous was getting burned alive inside of an airplane that was on fire. That really sucked.
Do you feel that the series is a tribute to these ‘everyday heroes’?
This show is nothing but a tribute to all the men and women that make our lives livable. This American dream of ours is due to the courageous men and women doing these jobs that nobody could do ever besides these people. These are people I truly believe were destined to do these jobs. That’s really the point of the show — to honor those men and women who put their lives on the line every day.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Hard to Kill, starring Tim Kennedy, premieres Tuesday, July 31 at 10 p.m. on Discovery. Click here for more information.
