Plot Synopsis

Mike Rowe travels the country to find American laborers who make their living doing the most unthinkable jobs. With his hand-on- approach, Rowe becomes their apprentice, working alongside rat exterminators, bug breeders, sewer cleaners, cattle hide tanners and other professionals earning and honest but dirty living.

In a special season of the series, called DIRTY JOBS GOES DOWN UNDER, debuted on Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at 10pm ET/PT on Discovery Channel. In this new season, Rowe travels to Australia to experience Oz-like dirty jobs, such as: working with Aboriginals who have lived off the land for more than 40,000 years on Australia's northern coast; capturing, without killing, the Eastern Brown snake, a reptile with no known anti-venom; and warring against Cane Toads in the Western Australia town of Darwin, where these animals are destroying the local ecosystem.

An all-new season of DIRTY JOBS premiered on Sunday, January 2, 2022 early in the day on discovery+ and at 8pm ET/PT on Discovery Channel. The return of DIRTY JOBS allows Mike to come back for another chance to take on jobs he didn't get to do before. Mike has completed dozens of construction jobs. However, this season he will tackle the most grueling one of all. Whether it's a water tower cleaner, escalator maintainer, combat surgeon or epoxy installer, each episode showcases the unsung heroes and the communities that rely on these essential jobs. Mike will also lend a hand to those on the frontlines protecting the nation from invasions, even if it involves glowing scorpions or destructive iguanas. In the season opener, "Rodbuster; Galvanizer," Mike joins the hard workers responsible for building America's infrastructure. Every day, millions of people drive over bridges and along our vast highway system. But what exactly does it take to build these complex and vital structures? Mike apprentices with the rod busters, who work under brutal conditions and sweltering temperatures, as they twist, mold and fabricate the iron framework to secure our nation's superstructures. Mike travels outside Tampa, Florida, to meet with rod busters tasked with completing a bridge in just 1 day. Their work is both artistic and critical, but the results of their labor are always covered with concrete - out of sight and out of mind. Mike is ready to correct that. But will he be able to keep up with the high-pressure conditions and timeline? Then, Mike attempts to combat rust by galvanizing infrastructural steel in an 850-degree zinc bath.
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On Sunday, December 11, 2022 at 8pm ET/PT, Discovery Channel premiered the 10th season of DIRTY JOBS. In the season opener, "Pool Fixer; Hotel Soap Recycler," Mike travels to West Palm Beach, FL, to take on the job of Pool Liner Fixer with second-generation pool fixers Dan Duecker, Dave Duecker, and Juan Pablo, who lead Mike into the dirtiest pool in America to clean 17 years of accumulated filth. Later, in Orlando, Mike takes on the job of Hotel Soap Recycler and meets with Shawn Seipler and "Soap Whisperer" Carlos Anderson to recycle dirty hotel soap to donate to people in need. Additional 'dirty' jobs Mike takes on this season, among others, include:

- Beaver Relocator: Mike travels to Utah and helps save municipal infrastructures while positively impacting the local ecosystems as he traps, treats, and relocates urban nuisance beavers

- Deer Urine Farmer: In Illinois, Mike collects and bottles the freshest farm-raised deer urine on the market sold to hunters, he discovers feces from a new species of deer

- Manhole Rehabilitator: Mike descends into an aging manhole in Tennessee to stops the sewage and provide sewer maintenance

- Feral Cat Fixer: Mike herds cats with some truly memorable Texas cat-ladies with a mission: control local feral cat populations by capturing, neutering, and releasing these feral furballs

- Aquatic Necropsy: Mike assists in performing a necropsy by diving elbow-deep into a recently deceased bottlenose dolphin to determine the cause of the animal's death which will help biologists further understand the species in the wild

- Pile Jacketer: Mike travels to Pensacola, FL to work waist-deep in a river to reinforce the crumbling infrastructure of a dilapidated bridge

- Spice Maker: Mike returns to his hometown Baltimore to rectify an OLD mistake and learns the recipe for Maryland's most popular crab seasoning.