MINDEMOYA—One of the contestants on the television show ‘Tough as Nails’ should be familiar to many people on Manitoulin, especially in the Central Manitoulin area.
“The thing I love most about the show is it showcases everyday people and how hard people work to keep the economy going,” stated Carly Steiman. “It’s important to showcase the ‘tough’ workers of the world in a positive light.”
“Overall, I’ve been a summer resident here in Mindemoya my whole life. My Nona and Poppa (Violet and James Fraser Mitchell) were from Falconbridge and had place in Mindemoya for about 50 years,” said Ms. Steiman, who is currently on vacation in Mindemoya. “I grew up in Oakville and spent all the summers here in Mindemoya. I worked at my first job at the snack shack at the Government Dock. Now I live in North Vancouver and my non-negotiable thing about living there is that I come to Manitoulin for a few weeks every summer.”
Ms. Steiman, who is an electrician said, “I became a contestant in Tough as Nails because my Aunt Christine was watching Global News one night and they announced they were looking for capable Canadians to try out. My aunt thought I would be a good fit as a licenced electrician and handyperson for our camp.”
“I got into the electrical trade when I was 17 and was licenced by 24,” said Ms. Steiman. “I incorporated a business by 25 as I joined the film union IATSE and worked in the Toronto local 973 for six years. I went to Ryerson University for Architectural Lighting Design and then moved to Vancouver where I’ve been the last seven years.” While she is not married and has no children she has, “a very active Auntie CC who keeps me busy, happy and loved.”
Ms. Steiman explained, “Tough as Nails is a show that showcases 12 competitors going head-to-head in challenges that encompass different skills with different tools. The neat thing about this show is you have the chance of winning two aspects in the competition. The first is in the individual challenge that you can win $200,000 and a brand-new Ford Lightning. Then the second aspect is the team challenge where there are nine team challenges and you have the opportunity to win $12,000 each challenge for your team, either Dirty Hands or Team Savage.”
“The first four seasons of the show were more popular in the US and now that they’ve opened it to Canadians it’s going to light up as it’s the age-old competition of US versus Canada,” said Ms. Steiman. “There were four Canadians, and I was the only Canadian female chosen,” she continued. “We filmed the show almost exactly a year ago and it was so hot filming in Hamilton. Working manual labour outside and filming in 45 degrees Celsius, which was part of the reason for moving out west,” she quipped.
“We got to sleep-in-air-conditioning rooms and that was everything. I also became a Dutch Blitz pro, which is one of the best card games going,” said Ms. Steiman. “It’s like solitaire meets speed (the card game).”
The first episode aired Sunday, July 2 at 8 pm ET on Global or you can stream it on Stack TV. The show will continue to air Fridays and Sundays at 8 pm.
