EPISODE GUIDE 

Cowboys
The vaqueros are the barefoot Amerindian cowboys whose toughness and riding skills have earned them near-mythical status. Back in the wild west, it was men from these ancient tribes who taught the American cowboy everything he needed to know. Ben will join a team of vaqueros at Dadanawa. Across 5,180 sq km (2,000 sq miles) of savannah, their job is to protect a herd of 7,000 cattle from the jaguars and pumas that endanger them. Ben will start out as a humble ranch-hand but he will soon be thrown in at the deep end: the 'round-up'.

When spring comes, the vaqueros head out into the wild country, miles from the ranch. Every head of cattle must be hunted and chased, lassoed, and driven as a herd into the nearest corral; then they must be branded, tattooed or castrated. Only a handful of white men have ever had the privilege of riding alongside the vaqueros of Dadanawa. With days in the saddle and nights under the stars, Ben will have to earn their respect, as well as his spurs.

Tunnellers
They call themselves Tunnel Miners; if there is a big hole to be dug anywhere in the USA they will be running it. Their latest project is in San Diego, mining a huge new pipeline through the desert. This 18km (11 miles) long, 2.7m (8.8ft) wide and 183m (600ft) deep pipeline will provide an essential supply of water if an earthquake strikes. The work is so dangerous that it attracts only the toughest tunnellers from around the country. Their unspoken code is 'a man a mile' - a daunting formula which means that roughly one man dies for each mile of tunnel constructed.

To understand the tunnellers world, Ben will start out as a 'grunt' in the piss ditch, a swamp of water and urine left at the bottom of the tunnel. Then he'll work in the bowels of the massive tunnel boring machines which drill through the ground, and he will hope to graduate to blasting with dynamite. Becoming accepted will not be easy in this fiercely competitive world where 'new blood' is treated with contempt.