Central Ohio resident featured on CBS reality show 'Tough As Nails'
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Central Ohio resident Kenji Ngo has been doing handiwork since the age of 14, starting as a bike mechanic before venturing into food service, camp counseling, sailing, mountain biking, and even instructing ropes courses — all before the age of 20.
This summer, he will flex his muscles as the "jack of all trades" alongside other manual workers from the United States and Canada in the CBS reality competition show “Tough As Nails," created and hosted by Phil Keoghan of "The Amazing Race" fame.
Viewers can spot Ngo, of Delaware, in the show’s fifth season, premiering at 8 p.m. July 2 on CBS, and streaming on Paramount+. The 39-year-old will compete alongside others who “consider the calluses on their hands a badge of honor” in a series of real-world scenarios testing their strength, endurance, life skills, and mental toughness.
Reality TV Show: Meet the Columbus resident competing on 'Survivor' this season
After briefly serving in the U.S. Navy as a diesel mechanic — one of the few people to climb the ranks from apprentice to petty officer in just three years, he said — Ngo expanded his skill set yet again. In 2012, he obtained his associate degree in computer technology from Southern Maine Community College and opened his own computer repair shop before moving to Delaware in 2021. When he watched the first season of "Tough As Nails" in 2020, he felt inspired seeing people like him, fellow "jacks of all trades."
Ngo recalled feeling particularly inspired by Danny Moody (season one runner-up) and Lia "Jill-of-All-Trades" Mort (season three winner).
"When I saw what (Lia) could do, I said, 'That's it. I'm going all the way if I get the opportunity,'" Ngo said.
The father of two applied to the series that same year and will appear in the newest season this summer — a challenge he learned he had been inadvertently training for since his first job at 14.
"Everything that I've done throughout all of (my) life was like my stepping stone. It's like I was meant to be on this show for this very season," he said.
During the show, contestants will be eliminated one by one from the individual challenges while still competing in a team competition for the rest of the season. At the end of the show, those victorious in proving they’re "tough as nails" will be awarded cash prizes.
While he says being away from his family during the five to six weeks of filming was the hardest part, he knows his wife, 4-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter are proud of him.
Being on the show, he said, "was the biggest love letter and message that I could give to my kids, basically telling my wife that I love her so much and (telling) my kids that they need to apply themselves and ... if they believe in themselves, they can go far and wide."
Ngo says viewers can expect to be wowed by this latest season.
"This has to be the toughest, 'Tough As Nails' that I've ever seen. The challenges were the toughest that I've ever seen, and the cast has to be the most fit cast that I've ever met. It truly is going to be an exciting ... jaw-dropping (season)."
Phil Keoghan: BROADCAST BITS
@tucker0527
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Central Ohio resident Kenji Ngo to compete on 'Tough As Nails' on CBS
