Are you tough as nails? You can prove it Wednesday, Nov. 6, in Washington Park when casting producers search for contestants for CBS' new Tough As Nails reality show.
Phil Keoghan, Emmy-winning producer and host of CBS' The Amazing Race, created the competition show searching for people "who consider the calluses on their hands a badge of honor," according to the CBS announcement.
Competitors will be "tested for their strength, endurance, agility and mental toughness in challenges that take place in the real world…. The series will redefine what it means to be tough, proving that it comes in all shapes and sizes, and will celebrate Americans who roll up their sleeves 24/7 and don’t think twice about working long, hard hours and getting their hands dirty," CBS says.
Or as Keoghan puts it: People "who sweat on factory floors instead of gym floors, and those who wear work boots instead of workout shoes," said Keoghan in CBS' Oct. 3 release announcing the show.
Cincinnati is one of six cities for the Tough As Nails audition tour. Auditions will be 9-11:30 a.m. Nov. 6 at the "Washington Park Music Hall Plaza" at Elm Street and 14th Street, CBS announced last week.
Holding auditions here doesn't necessarily mean that a Greater Cincinnati resident will compete on the 10-episode series to air next year. CBS' Big Brother held open auditions here for years without selecting anyone for the popular show.
CBS also will host auditions in St. Louis (Nov. 2), Chicago (Nov. 3), Detroit (Nov. 4), New York (Nov. 5) and Las Vegas at the Professional Bull Riders world finals (Nov. 9 ).
And anyone may apply online at the CBS casting website here. Potential contestants must be 21 and a U.S. citizen or Canadian citizen. The series will be filmed in January and February next year. CBS did not say where.
Keoghan, born in New Zealand, says the show was "inspired by my proud working class family of farmers, gold miners, builders and coalminers. I was lucky enough to spend my school holidays working alongside my grandfather, an A-grade mechanic, World War II aero mechanic, gunsmith and inventor," he said in the CBS announcement.
He will produce Tough As Nails with his wife, Louise, an Australian-born producer who has collaborated with him for more than two decades. She has co-created and produced dozens of primetime entertainment, sports, reality, children’s television, news, specials and natural history programming for National Geographic, Showtime, E!, Amazon, Hulu, Smithsonian, Global, TVNZ, Discovery and Sky.
