After ten years, folks are ready to get dirty again. That’s right, Mike Rowe has stepped up to confirm he is rebooting the hit show, Dirty Jobs. The news comes to us from TMZ.

“The short answer was COVID,” said Rowe in an interview with TMZ. “We locked down for a year and a half, and essential work became news again. I started getting letters from fans of the old show, and I think the network heard a lot of them as well. Dirty Jobs was the grand-daddy of essential working shows, and since that was back in the headlines it seemed like a good idea to go out and remind people who was keeping the lights on and doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life work for the rest of us.”

Dirty Jobs got its footing as a full show on the Discovery Channel in 2005. Produced by Pilgrim Films and Television, the series followed host Mike Rowe as he followed the daily lives of folks that did messy but necessary jobs. Garbage collectors, sewage maintenance, fish breeders, chimney sweepers, if you can name it, Rowe probably did an episode on them. The show went on to run for eight seasons before finishing off in 2012. The final season was titled Dirty Jobs: Down Under, which focused on jobs in Australia. Only four episodes were shot for the final season. The series was nominated for five Primetime Emmys, three of which were for Outstanding Reality Program. In 2020, Rowe returned with a spinoff mini series called Dirty Jobs: Rowe’d Trip. Like Down Under, this spinoff only had four episodes.

On Discovery’s own website, they had this to say about the return of the show (as well as the subject for the season premier): "Mike apprentices with the rod busters, who work under brutal conditions and sweltering temperatures, as they twist, mold, and fabricate the iron framework to secure our nation’s superstructures. Mike travels outside Tampa, Florida, to meet with rod busters tasked with completing a bridge in just 1 day. Their work is both artistic and critical, but the results of their labor are always covered with concrete – out of sight and out of mind. Mike is ready to correct that. But will he be able to keep up with the high-pressure conditions and timeline?"

Fans of the original series are sure to get a kick out of the return of their favorite spokesperson for the unsung worker, and newcomers are more than welcome to watch the inner workings of the unseen lives of these underappreciated career men and women. Judging from how fan mail seemed to have played a part in the decision for the reboot, it seems as if the current conditions of the world has brought new focus and appreciation to these particular workers.

Dirty Jobs is set to premiere on January 2, 2022 at 8 PM ET/PT and will be available on Discovery Channel and Discovery+.