Andy DehnartThe History Channel’s ratings record-breaking initial contribution to the dangerous jobs genre, Ice Road Truckers, debuts its second season next Sunday, but an episode that airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET and later this week will preview the new season and recap last season. (On both sides of the Sunday preview, the network will air episodes of Ax Men, a show that tries hard to be the next Ice Road Truckers or Discovery’s Deadliest Catch but, for me, fails. Better to spend time watching the Ice Road Truckers first-season DVD.)
For their second season, which is previewed in a series of videos, “the truckers will be driving on unknown river and ocean ice roads, which have different hazards, constraints and conditions than the lake ice roads that they are well accustomed to,” according to The History Channel. That’s because they’re moving to “the remote communities of Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, over 100 [miles?] north of the Arctic Circle” and switching to transporting things for oil operations, not diamond mines.
In a completely unsourced report–not even anonymous sources are cited–The New York Post says those new roads are the result of producers being “forced to move the show 2,500 miles farther north for its new season after the diamond mines that own the treacherous winter roads outside of Yellowknife, Canada wouldn’t let it return.”
But in a statement released to the paper, The History Channel says that’s not true. “We’ve had no problems working with the mines; we’ve found them to be very cooperative. However, to keep the series fresh and intriguing, with the assistance of the Territorial Government, we identified numerous potential roads and the current location was selected because of its character and history. This is a unique ice road that presents a distinctive set of challenges that fans of the show will appreciate,” the network said.