Dirty Jobs — Season 5

Jan 20091h

Mike heads to Pennsylvania and tries his hand at making bologna and then goes to Alaska to repair a very special toilet.

Jan 20091h

Mike travels to Ohio to check on the Common Tern population and then he finds himself in Northern California plugging an abandoned mineshaft.

Jan 20091h

Mike takes a trip to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles to find out about the important work being done in Pit 91. Then Mike travels north where he learns about rendering and discovers how much of a farm animal can be recycled.

Jan 20091h

Mike heads to Meridian, California to find out what it takes to harvest walnuts. Then he spends some time in Tulelake where he learns how to make goose down pillows and comforters.

Feb 20091h

Mike journeys to Queen Creek, Arizona to press olives into oil and then heads to Sacramento, California to clean dirty diapers.

Feb 20091h

Mike ventures to Payette, Idaho to learn how to make high quality bird food. Then he heads to Yarnell, Arizona to collect spiders from the desert to milk them for their venom.

Feb 20091h

Mike heads to MotivePower in Boise, Idaho to build and restore locomotives for his 200th dirty job.

Feb 20091h

Mike takes a look back at his previous jobs, toughest co-workers, and his ongoing encounters with dirt and poo. With additional footage from "Skull Cleaner" and "Turkey Inseminator"

Mar 20091h

Mike takes the day off to get a physical examination, leaving Executive Producers Eddie Barbini and Craig Piligian to host the show: servicing porta-potties and making custom-fabricated alloy wheels for Boyd Coddington Wheels

Apr 20091h

Breeding and training Alaskan Huskies as sled dogs with Martin Buser; revisit of dirty jobs in Alaska: Bird ringing common terns and Canadian geese ("Abandoned Mine Plugger"), fishing and processing of fish ("Floating Fish Factory"), cleaning up diesel spill in Dutch Harbor, Alaska ("Ice Salvage Crew"), incinerating toilet cleaner ("Bologna Maker"). The mail bag portion was taped at the Soo Locks on the floor of the MacArthur Lock in front of the upstream bulkheads.

Oct 20091h

Mike finds out what happens to old mattresses after people throw them out.

Oct 20091h

High-rise window washer, viewer mail: brine tank cleaner (Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay)

Oct 20091h

Toilet Crusher & alligator snapping turtle researcher

Oct 20091h

Mike works at the country's only Dromedary camel dairy.

Nov 20091h

Mike recycles computers before heading to Hawaii to make tofu.

Nov 20091h

Mike goes to Jonesboro, Arkansas to perform dung beetle research. Then he heads to Williamstown, West Virginia to try his hand at making glass art.

Nov 20091h

Mike journeys to Wenatchee, Washington to help maintain a hydroelectric dam. Then he explores a fish bypass system where he catches and tags fish and winds up wading through a pool of fish poop.

Nov 20091h

Mike reflects back on his more hazardous apprenticeships and makes a case for safety.

Dec 20091h

Mike goes to Kentucky to try his hand at shrink-wrapping a houseboat. Then he heads off to Palmer, Alaska to spend a day working at a reindeer farm.

Dec 20091h

Mike goes to Hawaii to learn how to make dirt shirts at The Original Dirt Shirt Company. Then he heads off to Reno, Ohio to learn how to make marbles.

Dec 20091h

Mike becomes a specialty fireworks technician in Addison, Pa. and then helps examine a cow with a hole in its stomach at Arkansas State University.

Dec 20091h

Mike goes to Florida to harvest clams at the Alligator Harbor Aquatic Preserve and later attempt to worm-grunt in the Apalachicola National Forest.

Dec 20091h

Mike travels to San Francisco to participate in the messy process of paint bulking. Then he heads to Wagner's Sugar Camp in Pennsylvania to spend the day making delicious maple syrup the old-fashioned way.