About this season
World's Toughest Fixes is an American reality series that premiered on the National Geographic Channel on September 28, 2008. It features Sean Riley participating in various "tough fixes"; repairs and renovations done on equipment that is very large or dangerous. Riley is an expert in heavy duty rigging and load bearing, and works with other specialized engineers to tackle these uniquely difficult jobs. A first season aired 8 episodes beginning on September 26, 2008. A second season aired 8 episodes beginning on June 4, 2009. A third season of 7 episodes aired beginning May 6, 2010. A fourth season aired beginning September 30, 2010. The first season DVD contains 10 episodes, 2 of which aired in season 2. The second season DVD contains 11 episodes, 5 of which aired in season 3.
Episodes (8)
1. Nuclear Turbine
Aired 28 September 2008 • 50 min
Sean Riley puts on his radiation suit and heads into the radiation zone for his next tough fix, replacing a steam turbine in a nuclear power plant to boost its energy-producing capacity.
2. Boeing 767
Aired 28 September 2008 • 50 min
Sean Riley joins a team of engineers and mechanics as they attempt to fix a damaged Boeing 767 jet. This is a crucial fix—taking a jet apart and putting it back together is a complex, three-week operation, and the smallest mistake could have huge consequences. As the new guy on the project, Riley is given an unpleasant task to prove his mettle—disconnecting a lavatory tube
3. High-Voltage Power Lines
Aired 1 October 2008 • 50 min
Sean Riley joins an elite corps of engineers who dangle from a helicopter and work with live power lines carrying a shocking 500,000 volts of electricity.
4. Thirty-Eight Ton Engine
Aired 8 October 2008 • 50 min
Sean Riley helps swap out a 38-ton engine on one of the largest ships in the Gulf of Mexico. The fix must be done in the middle of the gulf—and with swells, wind and rain, things can get complicated.
5. Giant Telescope
Aired 15 October 2008 • 50 min
For this tough job, Sean Riley joins a team of engineers to move and clean a 27-foot, 23-ton, $15 million telescope mirror. Here, three telescopes are used together to form the largest combined telescope in the world.
6. 2,000 Foot Tower
Aired 26 November 2008 • 55 min
Sean Riley works to fix a faulty TV antenna nearly half a mile in the air. This extreme fix takes strength, teamwork and guts.
7. Cruise Ship Engine
Aired 3 December 2008 • 50 min
Go on a cruise. They said: In the Bahamas. It'll be a lot of fun, they promised. Mid ocean in the Caribbean, its a race against time. This may be Paradise, but Riley's not on vacation. He's on his way to a titanic fix. An enormous 90,000 ton cruise ship is steaming towards one of the worlds largest dry docks. They need to install a new power plant an enormous diesel generator, but first they have to land this ship. That's when the fun starts Then things get a whole lot tougher Its all hands on deck as a huge crew opens the hull pulls out the piping, makes room for a two story addition and struggles to cram a massive new 320 ton generator inside the ship then puts it all back together And in record time! In just twenty days this liner is taking on its next bunch of customers and if the ship is not ship shape there's likely to be a lot of harsh words spoken on board.
8. 50-Ton Rudder
Aired 25 May 2009 • 55 min
Riley joins a team of industrial divers on the Caribbean island of Curacao to salvage and repair the 50-ton rudder of a ship carrying $3 million worth of iron ore.