Loggers and timber and bears, oh my.
Discovery Channel is venturing to the Siberian tundra for its next reality series, following American loggers braving extreme conditions in Russia for a chance to make it big.
“Siberian Wood” (working title), from the producers of “Gold Rush,” follows Sean Van, an American logger who has been working in the Russian timber industry for 15 years as he decides to assemble an American team and strike out on his own.
“The logs they have there are incredibly valuable but incredibly hard to get to,” says Christo Doyle, VP and executive producer at Discovery Channel. “It’s high risk, high reward.”
Van’s team of recruits from his home state of Montana may think they’re tough and burly, but they’re quickly taken to task by Siberia’s brutal conditions (temperatures reached -35 degrees on a recent filming day).
A Cold War rivalry also resurfaces as the American guys — down-on-their-luck loggers trying to save themselves — must work alongside the Russians, including Col. Yuri Pauchauk, who are trying to save their village.
“This is definitely not a logging show,” Doyle says. “The logs are essentially our gold, our currency. But this show is about the struggle of a group of Americans that are really down risking it all, heading to Siberia, a truly exotic, unbelievable place. It’s man vs. machine, it’s man vs. nature, it’s Russian vs. American.”
“Siberia” will premiere on Discovery Channel this spring.