Phil Keoghan Previews the 'Tough as Nails' Season 5 Cast

When Tough as Nails Season 5 was announced with a July 2 premiere, the suddenly shortened amount of wait time surprised everybody. Perhaps most surprised of all was host, executive producer and showrunner Phil Keoghan.

"I didn't see this coming," he admits during an interview with Parade when asked about the show's schedule for Season 5. The happiest part of the announcement for him was the permanent time slot of 8 p.m., a departure from the 10 p.m. slot of the past couple of seasons.

What makes him more nervous is the new days Tough as Nails will air. CBS has opted for two airings of the show per week. After the two-hour premiere on July 2, the series will air on Friday and Sunday nights through the season's conclusion. "Will people know that it's going to be doubling up?" he wonders aloud. "Will they get into it and follow it twice a week? I don't know; I can't predict how the world works anymore. But I do know we made a really great show, and I'm really proud of it. I feel like if people find it and see it, they'll get into it."

Though Keoghan claims he can't predict how the world works, Tough as Nails has grown more global in Season 5. This marks the first time Canadian contestants were eligible to apply for the show, and four were cast in the process. Most markedly, the series moved up north to film, the first time the series has filmed outside of California and the Los Angeles area.

"We've been wanting to do that way earlier than Season 5," Keoghan responds when asked about the change in location. He goes on to say that Tough as Nails chiefly stayed in California due to filming during the pandemic, not wanting to deal with the pressures of running a new show while also picking everything up, moving and following stringent COVID protocols. When restrictions lifted, Keoghan and company began to scout in cities all around the United States that would lend themselves well to the wide swath of Tough as Nails challenges. Then they were pitched Canada.

"When we scouted it, we're like, 'Hell yeah!'" Keoghan recalls. "There's iron; there's quarries, dry docks, beautiful farmland. Even a town that's known as 'The Hammer,' where a lot of working-class men and women live. Let's go there."

Keoghan was thrilled to cast the net 30 million people wider in opening the show up to Canadian contestants as well, citing their connection to their land and "pioneering spirit." But even when Tough as Nails can get its most competitive and high stakes, he affirms that the trademark camaraderie that has made the show so popular will transcend borders.

"Our show is about respect and honor," he explains. "I feel like we've had some extremely competitive people on the show. But at the end of the day, people are respectful. Americans and Canadians were mixed together in the picking of the teams. And so that mix in advance, the drive time, and the bonding that took place between them was really, really cool. That mutual respect and understanding the different cultures and different backgrounds, but having so much in common. Tough as Nails is about, 'I'm seeing myself in these people. I have empathy for this person. I want to see them do well.' There's a connection and authenticity."

That doesn't mean, however, that there won't be some friendly competition between countries. In fact, Keoghan compares the dynamic between the American and Canadian contestants to New Zealand's (his country of origin) relationship with Australia. "There's no doubt that when you're going against somebody from a different country and there's a competition, that patriotism kicks in, and you definitely want to represent. [In New Zealand,] we have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder, a sense of being the 'little brother' that's wanting to prove themselves to the big brother. There's definitely a bit of that with Canadians. It's like, 'Hey, hold on a second. We can compete here too.'"

Check out the 12 American and Canadian competitors on Tough as Nails Season 5 below, as well as Keoghan's thoughts on each one. Tough as Nails premieres with a special two-hour episode on Sunday, July 2, on CBS.

Related: Everything You Need to Know About Tough as Nails Season 5

Akeela Al-Hammed – Firefighter

Akeela is the strongest one out of all of the competitors. This is a woman who has been through some tough times in her life. She has been a black belt in jujitsu and come through the firefighting training. She's definitely got that edge to her. Extremely competent and has a very strong presence. When she comes into the room, there's no doubt Akeela was there. We wanted tough women. Women are a minority group in the trades. So it's very important for us to find people like Akeela who represent that real elite of the elite and will turn up and have everybody shaking in their boots a little bit. She's intense, strong, means business, and is here to win.

Ben Dempsey – Tile setter

Ben's like a gentle giant; he's a big softie. But then he's also just one of those guys that can knuckle down and do the grind and get the work done. Do you remember The Perfect Storm movie from a few years ago? He was out there on the high seas during storms like that. This is a guy who is a survivor. He's worked as a deckhand before. There's pretty much nothing that he hasn't done before. He's played hockey. He has a very impressive, intimidating build. He's a presence. And of course, being big and strong isn't necessarily all you need on Tough as Nails. But a very powerful guy. And I just love that he's been through some challenging times in his life; he opens up about that, on the show. I think people are going to find him very relatable from that point of view because he's very candid and honest about some of the challenges that he's been through. And people I think are going to fall in love with him because of that. Just to see a big, burly guy like that be vulnerable. He's keeping it real. And again, that relatability that was so important to us on the show.

Carly Steiman – Electrician

Carly is bubbly. She's super positive, extremely competent. Smart, quick. Carly's somebody on your team you want to be around because she just makes you laugh and have fun. And yet when she turns and gets focused on the job at hand, you can see why she's so good at what she does. A very, very good teammate. If one person has the kind of energy that Carly has, it can dramatically change the mood, tone, and outlook. She's definitely somebody who is all about what's right as opposed to what's wrong. Somebody who they just want to be around they want to hang with because he's so fun and sharp.

Carolina Paredes – Motorcycle builder

Carolina's just got that cool factor. I mean, if you see the photographs of her, she's got the tattoos. She's got the look. You kind of might look at her the first time, and you think, "Wow, this woman could be in the arts or something," because she's got this really cool sense of style. But this is somebody who loves motorbikes. She loves welding, and she loves doing detailed work. Extremely meticulous. We were captivated by her the first time we ever met her in casting because she represents something very different that we haven't had before on Tough as Nails. She's really very different in terms of outlook, and I love that.

Cheryl Lieteau – Carpenter

Cheryl's someone that we've been looking at for a while. We looked at her way back in Season 3. And for one reason or another, she didn't quite fit into the mix of cast of characters that we had. She becomes a real superstar that season. There are moments that happen with her, and you will see her leadership qualities come out immediately. Everybody gravitates towards her. There's a scene in drive time with Cheryl, which is one of my favorite moments of the whole season. She has this incredible wisdom and is incredibly articulate when we want to in terms of describing challenges. And her recall is amazing. So when we're looking for like soundbites to describe what happened or how a challenge works, Cheryl is just dialed in.

She's a boss, and it's because of her age. She's come through to face a lot of adversity in her life out on the job site. You got back 20 to 25 years, and she's dealt with a lot of, "What the hell are you doing out here?" So she's dealt with all of that. And she tells some fun stories about turning up and being like, "You know what? Before you judge me for being a woman, why don't you just give me a second and let me do the job. And then you can judge me whether you think I'm a good carpenter or not." So she just had some really great moments of reflection and wisdom. A really strong character.

Dustin Bradford – Firefighter

We're talking about a guy who likes to curl the ends of the mustache. I mean when you first look at him, they're like, "Oh my God." I think he's been on a few firefighting calendars. One of our fitter and leaner contestants. But, if you want to talk about Tough as Nails, just say, "Firefighter." He and Akeela are representing the two different countries. But they have this thing in common where they both understand that they are prepared to risk their lives to save the lives of others. You've got to have a special mindset to do that. I mean, thank God for people like Dustin and Akeela who literally will run in to save you. You've got to be a special human being. That's a real thing. You go to work, and you do not know that on a given day you're going to be saving somebody's life. So immediately you realize that Dustin has that edge.

Jessica Hayes – Remodeling contractor

Some of our biggest moments of the season come from Jessica. She went into the military quite young. And there is a drive in her, a gear that kicks in. You're gonna see there's a challenge where she really feels like she has something to prove because of something that happened leading up to this individual challenge. And she almost becomes possessed by the idea of winning this challenge. She has the killer instinct that you get from a competitor like Michael Jordan or Serena Williams. One of the challenges, she literally yells out, "I will not stop; I will not quit." And she's in a tremendous amount of physical pain at the time because of the exertion that she's going through. But you really see that she has that instinct of like, "Nothing is gonna stop me now." She's definitely one that you want to have on your team. We'll see that she's a very serious competitor.

Kenji Ngo – "Jack of all trades"

Kenji weighs maybe 145. He's really super lean and not that tall. But he literally has done everything. I mean he really is a version of [Season 3 winner] Lia. And we knew eventually we'd end up with somebody that has those similar qualities. He's bubbly. He's got an amazing story about how he came to America, didn't speak the language, didn't know how to fit in with the culture, and went through a really tough time. But thank God had some role models early on in his life who really helped steer him straight and get him on the right track. He's very open and heartfelt about it.

But there are some moments during the season where he really surprises people. When people do underestimate him because he's such a fun-loving, bubbly personality. And because he's sort of slight and smaller, he is definitely underestimated. But there are some amazing moments on this show where he proves he should be taken seriously. Kenji has quite a journey on this show in terms of his personality, his competence, how people seem at the beginning, and then how they see him at the end. I love that.

Marcus Jones – CO2 technician

Everybody needs a good can of CO2! (Laughs.) Marcus is moving these 300-pound canisters around. This is a guy who's like 6'4" or 6'5". He's been an athlete. And this is what he does. He moves big things. It became a fun joke on set where he said he would say his name is Marcus Jones. And then I would occasionally say, "I'm sorry, who are you?" And you'd look at me, "I'm Marcus Jones." And then I got the whole cast at one point saying, "Oh, I'm sorry. Who is this over here?" And then everybody would say, "That's Marcus Jones!" (Laughs.) Just to warn you, there are some pretty bad jokes this season. But Marcus Jones brings a lot of presence. He's very fun-loving, almost not what you would imagine. With his build, you'd imagine maybe a little bit more of an aggressive and competitive kind of mindset, but he's really not. He's probably the most gentle out of everybody in the whole season. At one point, he leads his team as the crew boss. And he's been a coach. It's just great to see him in that role where he just takes over, and you see another side of him where they trust him to be the coach.

Paul Hamilton – Maintenance supervisor

Well, I just found out that Paul had a whole Tough as Nails logo tattooed on his forearm. Paul is a badass. He's a cancer survivor and proudly Canadian. When he got cancer, and he couldn't work, they had to replace him. He looks after a warehouse, and he basically does everything. He's like a maintenance manager at this warehouse. They had to replace him with three people, no joke. Because of his skill level in terms of all the different things that he did at the warehouse, and how much work he got done, they literally had to hire three people. That peaks to the level of competence that he has in everything. So he turns his hand at everything.

There's a really funny moment actually, where he's trying to be helpful because he really does know how to do a lot of things. He definitely has that sort of Lia quality as far as being a jack of all trades. And at one point, he's trying to help Carly with something. And Carly who's super, super competent, jokingly says, "Well, I got this, so leave me alone. Let me do this." And then he realizes, "Oh, [expletive], okay. I am trying to be overly helpful here." And Carla is like, "Listen, Mr. I-Know-How-to-Do-Everything, I also know how to do different things. Let me finish it." He's old school. He's definitely of that generation where he's catching up with a few things as far as some of the changes that are taking place. He'll say openly, "Well, I'm just learning what we're meant to say now and how to say things."

Todd Anderson – Toolmaker

Todd is gonna stand out as one of the key characters that we've ever featured on Tough as Nails. He's all about positivity. He's got a saying for everything. He could write a book with all his "Toddisms," as he calls them. He has t-shirts of them and walks around with his favorite sayings printed out. He's like Carly. He's super positive, a guy you want to have on your team. He's encouraging and all that. But he's a man about precision. He works as a toolmaker, works as somebody who's very, very focused on precision. And not to be underestimated. This is another situation where you've got an older person where maybe some of the younger ones are like, "We'll get the old guy." Yeah, not so much.

You're gonna see Todd excel on Tough as Nails. He's in the middle of the bell curve when it comes to fitness. But as far as the skill level, he's on the far, far end. This is a guy who is very, very smart. We have this really cool challenge this season, where we gave everybody the same tools and the same building materials to put something together. And it was it true test of ingenuity and being able to think on your feet. And he excelled in it, and he jokingly said, "Well, I'm not very proud of how you know how this thing looks. But it's functional, and it does the job." And that's Todd Todd is very self-deprecating and pretty tough on himself, but a very good team member.

Yesi Reyes – Ironworker

Yesi is one of those people who is looking for approval. I think the reason she and Cheryl connected. Because she's the new generation that hasn't had to deal with this with the same amount of judgment that Cheryl's had going on to a job site. But also because she's very small in stature, she's definitely being judged. But she's a cowboy of the sky; that's a term that's used for iron workers. And this is somebody who was promoted into a supervising role on a big job, the big job site at LAX, which is a real honor. You have to be the best of the best to get invited to those big jobs. She's proven she's on that elite level.

I think part of the reason why she came onto Tough as Nails is to prove something to her family. Because let's face it, not all families necessarily see what the kids want, or maybe even acknowledge them. Maybe your family doesn't really have a measure of where you're at compared to everybody else, or admire what you do. So I think there's a big part of her being on the show is to show her family that she belongs in what she's doing, but also that she is at an equal level with the other people that we have on the show.

Next, Everything You Need to Know About the Upcoming Season of Big Brother 25