Listen: Scott Yuill becomes an Ice Road Trucker

“I lost my temper a few times. I actually was going to give up at one point. But I’m glad I did it for the experience and to show viewers: this is real out here.”

Scott Yuill is an Ice Road Trucker now. You can see how the Yellowknife resident gets on in the reality show’s 12th season, which launches on October 1 in the United States and October 30 in Canada.

Ahead of his debut on the show, Yuill spoke with Cabin Radio’s Ollie Williams about joining the cast and the rude awakening he received on the ice roads of northern Manitoba and northern Ontario.

“We went on some pretty gnarly roads. I did go in kind-of complacent,” Yuill confessed.

“It was not like our roads we have up here. I saw millions, and I mean millions of dollars of equipment sunk in the muskeg, buried everywhere.

“Here, we drive in convoys and teams. A lot of times [on the roads in the show] you’re on your own and you’ve got to think your own. And it could be a whole day waiting for someone to come along for a rescue.”

Ice Road Truckers is returning after an eight-year absence. Up till now, the show’s main NWT connection was legendary driver Alex Debogorski, who does not return for the new season.

Producers also filmed the first and second seasons in the NWT, but the winter road to the territory’s diamond mines banned the production team after one season, alleging the show was making the road seem more dangerous than it really was.

Yuill, referred to by the nickname Scooter in the show, says he signed on for season 12 because a Canadian production company is now involved and he trusted them to place the focus on the reality of ice road trucking.

In the event, he discovered operating on ice roads in the provinces is nothing like his experience in the North. Soon, he was in just the kind of trouble the cameras are there to capture.

“I’ve always had bad luck and for once, my bad luck was good for TV. Let’s put it that way,” he said, noting he can’t reveal any plot spoilers.

“I had an incident 20 minutes away from the terminal. I can’t tell you what it is. You’ll see. A lot of these places I went into, I was not as prepared as I should have been,” he admitted.

Another incident involves the truck backsliding down a hill, to the terror of the camera operator.

So far, all viewers have seen is one brief clip of Yuill in a promotional video for the new season.

However, there are some tantalizing hints.

For example, a description of the season’s second episode reads: “Lisa’s truck loses all heat as temperatures plummet toward -40, forcing her to seek help from Scooter; when the two competitive drivers meet for the first time, they make a bet that changes the course of the season.”

Yuill said he hasn’t seen a single frame of the finished episodes yet. When the first episode airs, his Yellowknife bar – Harley’s Hardrock Saloon – will air it on a big screen for customers to watch.

The US launch on October 1 takes place on the American version of The History Channel. The Canadian launch on October 30 takes place at 10pm ET on the Corus-owned Canadian version of The History Channel with streaming via StackTV.

Yuill is “nervous” about watching, describing a season-long effort to try not to look like an idiot.

He also wants to return, saying one road defeated him and he wants a rematch.

“That one particular road still bothers me to this day. It beat me,” he said.

“I need another challenge on this road. I need to be able to go in and out of this road without any assistance or anything going wrong.”