World's Toughest Trucker is a British reality competition television series produced by Dragonfly Productions and GroupM Entertainment which pits eight international truck drivers against each other in a series of challenges, with the winner receiving US$150,000 and the title "world's toughest trucker".
The series aired in the UK on Channel 5 from 6 January to 23 February, 2012. There are eight hour-long episodes in one season.
World's Toughest Trucker premiered in South Africa on SABC3 on Wednesday 22 May 2013, at 20h00. New episodes broadcast weekly.
Synopsis
World's Toughest Trucker is a nerve-shredding, truck-busting global competition in which eight road-hardened truckers from around the world go wheel-to-wheel on some of the planet's most treacherous truck journeys to discover who all is talk and who's the toughest trucker of them all.
They think they've seen, and driven, it all. But the eight truckers in this entertaining series are about to power huge vehicles through places they never thought possible.
From hauling wild cattle in Australia to adventures in the Amazon and hairpin bends in the Himalayas, the men tackle an unrelenting sequence of global challenges that will drive them to despair, as they compete for the title of "world's toughest trucker" and a big cash prize.
Each journey lasts three grueling days. Along the way they will have to drive, load, lift, dump, navigate, repair, refill, clean and unload on some of the most extreme and dangerous global trucking routes imaginable – all under extreme pressure.
In the planet's wildest places, there are roads only the most skilled drivers can survive. Have they got what it takes?
The Truckers
Derek Martin
He is from Canada and has 16 years of trucking experience. Trucker Derek Martin is a confident friendly guy with a passion for trucks, and a serious habit of keeping his cab in immaculate condition. He comes from a trucking family and just married a fellow trucker.
Jason Johnson
He is from the USA and has 13 years of trucking experience. A man with military discipline and an imposing physique standing 6'10" tall, Jason Johnson sees himself as part trucker and part cowboy.
Mike Thomas-Clark
He is from Scotland and has 27 years of trucking experience. Trucker Mike Thomas-Clark is ex-military and says his days with the army have helped shape his life. He comes from a long trucking heritage and believes it is his destiny to be behind the wheel.
Rodney Johnson
He is from Australia and has 31 years of trucking experience. Trucker Rodney Johnson looks like he should be on a hog instead of driving a truck! But he has a true passion for trucking and a serious mental toughness he developed after being stranded in the outback for three days.
Shane Smart
He is from the USA and has 16 years of trucking experience. A man who is immensely proud of the old US of A, trucker Shane Smart believes he is living the true American trucking dream.
Stuart Barnes
He is from England and has 16 years of trucking experience. Trucker Stuart Barnes is a free-spirited adventurer who has travelled quite a bit in his day. He thinks his journeys give him an advantage over the other truckers - especially if they've only driven in their own country.
William Carlos Weekly
He is from the USA and has 25 years of trucking experience. A proud Alabaman with a gruff southern accent, trucker William Carlos Weekly is also known as the American "Trucking Poet." Look for him to bring some humour to the competition.
Zola Rajapakse
He has 20 years of trucking experience. Zola Rajapakse fell in love with trucking as a kid growing up in Sri Lanka. Today, he rocks a classic trucker look, is a practicing Buddhist and hits the gym at least four times a week.
Episodes
Episode 1
Eight veteran truckers from around the world meet for the first time in Cape York, one of Australia's most remote regions to begin the greatest challenge of their lives. The Truckers find out they'll be working in pairs and learn that their first haul is wild cattle.
Vital to get their load safely to its destination, the newly assembled teams must embark on a three-day route, taking a herd of cattle to pasture before the winter floods cut off this rugged area of Northern Queensland.
Episode 2
The eight truckers face an Outback Australian challenge, hauling sections of a medical centre, 500 miles across hostile desert to the remote Aboriginal community of Kiwirrkurra.
Driving with the same partner as the previous challenge, the team with the fewest points at the end of this three day journey will be eliminated from the competition.
Episode 3
The third round of World's Toughest Trucker begins in a new continent – South America. Only six men remain in the fight to win the title and $150,000.
After the Australian eliminations, the Truckers are in Brazil to take on the infamous BR163 road through Brazil's wild and unruly cattle lands, known locally as the 'Badlands'. Their task is to transport eleven concrete pipes, each weighing 1100lbs to a highway construction site in the state of Para.
These are crucial raw materials, part of a $43-billion governmental scheme to improve the condition of the BR 163, a vital artery through the heart of the country.
Despite being so heavy, the concrete pipes constantly shift with every rut and bump, causing safety concerns to the truckers, and if one falls from the trailer it could spell disaster.
In new driver pairings for the first time, their three-day 340 mile journey becomes a battle between speed and strategy with surprising results.
Episode 4
The Truckers are approaching the half-way point of the competition to find the World's Toughest Trucker. Six remain as they travel deeper into the Amazon, delivering river boats to a fishing community along brutal and unforgiving dirt tracks.
Fuelled by their competitive spirit, two of the teams race aggressively through the jungle, aiming to secure the winning time. Meanwhile, the third team take a steadier and more measured approach.
To win this competition it takes skill, teamwork and a successful strategy.
Episode 5
The truckers are in heart of Canada's logging country, hauling forty ton loads of mighty timber along steep and narrow mountain trails. With an average of eleven fatalities each year, it's dangerous work.
Tensions rise as Rookie and Jason clash over driving styles and Rodney and Mike are left hanging thousands of feet above a valley.
Even favourites Stuart and Derek struggle to learn the ropes of an industry in which the top truckers can earn $100,000 for a single season's work.
Episode 6
The remaining six truckers confront the most sparsely populated country on earth, where horses outnumber people.
In Mongolia the 'roads' are nothing more than dirt tracks improvised by local truckers. Without real paths and with a distinct lack of signs the correct route may appear to be a dead end. In this environment confidence, communication and teamwork are key.
During the challenge, the road gets too tough for Rodney and he threatens to quit, while Mike and Jason's navigational tactics take them to the brink of elimination. Who will make it to the final?
Episode 7
In their penultimate challenge, the six remaining truckers tackle the highways and byways of India, delivering potatoes along some of the most congested roads in the world.
The road they will travel is wild and winding, twisting its way through some of the poorest parts of India. They will encounter all sorts of life on the road and whatever they do they must not kill a sacred cow!
Which truckers will survive the traffic, terrain and temperature to successfully negotiate through the hoards and make it to the final?
Episode 8
The three remaining truckers race over some of the highest and most deadly roads on the planet to deliver a consignment of clay pots to an isolated monastery in the heart of the Himalayas.
As the competition heats up, who will be crowned the World's Toughest Trucker?