EPISODE GUIDE

Goldminers
In the middle of the outback lies the mining town of Kalgoorlie. Men have been drawn here for over 100 years; risking their lives blasting, tunnelling and shifting tonnes of rock in their pursuit of gold.

The Super Pit in Kalgoorlie is the mother of all mines. At 1.5km (1 mile) wide, 360m (1180ft) deep, and 3.5km (2.2 miles) long, this mammoth open-cast pit is quarried 24 hours a day by teams of blasters and truckies. Australian goldminers endure 12-hour shifts, 40 degree heat, and show little respect for outsiders. To have any hope of becoming part of the crew, Ben will have to prove he can pull his weight, learn to handle a loaded 400 tonne haul truck, and then match his workmates drink for drink in the 'skimpy [topless] bars in town.

Loggers
Logging in northern Canada is one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet. Nearly every part of the logging process can prove fatal and in 2006, 44 workers were killed on the job.

The trees are sometimes hundreds of feet tall, hundreds of years old, and so riddled with imperfections that even an experienced tree feller cannot 'read' the way they will fall. Meanwhile, the long-lines used to pull huge logs out of the forest can break and snag, injuring the buckies who work them, and the loaders. The locations can be so remote it can be hundreds of miles to the nearest hospital.

Ben discovers that to control their world these loggers enforce a strict hierarchy. The buckies who work the long-lines are kept separate from the men who take down the trees. These fellers take years to train, and the best are spoken of with an almost mystic reverence by their teams. And little wonder, if the feller gets it wrong, his whole team could die.