Ice Road Truckers: The New Phase of Reality Television

The History channel has stuck it's foot into the reality TV realm with it's new TV series, Ice Road Truckers. The show, premiering June 17th, and shown Sunday nights at 10 p.m., shows average Joe truckers trying to make a living on the treacherous "ice road". Well seasoned truckers, as well as a few rookies, make their debut showing America just what it's like to be a trucker making dangerous deliveries daily.

The show starts out telling the story of the "ice road" which is built annually to bring much needed supplies to the DeBeers Diamond mine in Canada. As the temperatures drop, the cameras follow the crews as the road is built for the massive semi's to deliver a whopping 10,000 loads of materials over a two month period. Also included in the footage is the amount of work and preparation that each of the truckers goes through to ready not only themselves but their equipment for the journey.

As the crews wrap up construction of the road, truckers vying to earn a years salary over a two month period flock to Yellowknife, a seemingly desolate part of Canada. Drawn by the excitement of the ice road and the draw of fast cash. They undergo drug testing which is mandatory since the use of amphetamines to stay awake is a common practice. Seasoned veteran trucker, Alex, gets the go ahead to be the first trucker to try the ice road.

It is harrowing to watch, and it's hard to imagine what is going through these men's mind as the road cracks, pops, and cajoles under the weight of their trucks. The show follows likeable characters throughout the season, including 25 year old Jay, who started trucking at 16 and now supports his fiance and one year old daughter by trucking on the ice roads.

Within the first episode, one rookie ends up in a ditch, while another experiences a "white out". Unable to see the road ahead he drives forward with his load because stopping and sitting on the ice at -40 degrees is a death sentence. If you don't die from exposure and hypothermia, then the idling truck on a bed of ice will slowly begin to sink and finally crash through the ice into a certain death.