Dirty Jobs (2005) s01e19 Episode Script
Alligator Farmer
I'm Mike rowe, and this is my job.
Ohh! I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty What's on the other side of the door? Sewage, raw sewage.
Let's open the door.
hardworking men and women who earn an honest living doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us.
Now, get ready to get dirty.
Coming up on "dirty jobs" We're dumping sugar.
i learn that working in a sugar factory is not so sweet.
Albarado: How would you like that job for 12 hours? Let me think about it.
No.
Then I'm on board with the firefighters of fremont, California.
Let's go! Just stand But the firefighters are not on board with me.
We usually have eight people on it.
Where the hell are the other six? They're outside having a coffee.
Later, I wrangle a penful of alligators Yikes! Not gonna make it! who have a biting sense of humor.
You got bit? Ohh! Captions by vitac captions paid for by discovery communications Sugarcane they've been growing it down here in white castle, Louisiana, for hundreds of years.
Safe to assume, though, that here in the 21st century, getting the cane out of the ground is a little bit easier than it used to be.
Down in Louisiana, there are over 700 farmers who grow sugarcane.
But there are only a few places that process the crop.
And in this region, there's only one The Cora Texas sugar factory.
All of the cane from all of the local fields is brought here to the Cora Texas processing plant.
It's a huge facility, and to be perfectly honest, I can't begin to imagine how they get the sugar out of the cane.
But I'm fairly certain that has something to do with it.
Inside the sugar factory, I met Charlie schudmak, the assistant manager and co-owner of the operation.
Charlie took me to a big, noisy room with some really big machines.
My god.
Here the hell are we? Mike, this is our mill floor.
This is Tracy albarado.
He's our factory manager.
Hey, Tracy.
Nice to meet you.
He's gonna put you to work.
What am I looking at? Everything's green and orange and yellow and blue.
It's like Andy warhol went to hell and took his paintbrush.
Tracy told me these brightly colored machines are the mills that crush the sweet juice out of the cane.
It looked like dirty work, but I figured the machines had it covered.
I was wrong.
I got a good dirty job for you.
Tracy's got a job for me? All right.
We gonna do a little mill arcing down there.
Mill arcing? Mill arcing, that's correct.
All right.
Well, what exactly is the job? First, you need to put this harness on.
Then, we're gonna get down in this little seat.
You're gonna take that welding electrode, and you're gonna rough up those teeth on that roller.
All right.
All right, so, this is a welder.
Right.
Grab your rod out of that bucket.
Okay.
Geez! Mike, watch you don't touch any steel while you Oh, don't touch any steel.
Good to know that.
Put it on a 90-degree Oh, like this.
That's it.
I can't see anything out of this.
Well, you're gonna have to start arcing till you can see something.
All right, I'm going in.
The teeth on these rollers get worn down with constant grinding.
The welder is like the dentist of the sugar mill, adding metal to the teeth so these rollers can chew the cane more effectively.
But unlike a dentist, welders in a sugar mill don't work in a clean, air-conditioned space.
Down by the rollers, it's like a steam bath, with temperatures climbing to 120 degrees.
Gets a little warm down here, Tracy.
It's probably one of the worst jobs we have in the whole factory.
And the professionals who do this job for real They work in this heat 12 hours a day.
How would you like that job for 12 hours? Let me think about it.
No.
Mill arcing.
It's a dirty job.
All of the sugarcane here at the plant is constantly being squashed and separated, and this is the first result of that separation.
It's called bagasse.
Essentially, it's a waste product they use to make particleboard and fiberboard.
But mainly here at the plant they use it for fuel, because making sugar requires a lot of fire.
This is basically the generator for the entire plant.
All of that bagasse we just saw gets dropped into here and burned.
It generates all the energy the plant needs.
Unfortunately, it's got to be constantly raked forward into this holding area down here.
That person's called a bagasse burner.
I swear to god, I'm not making it up.
If you thought welding was hot, you ain't seen nothing.
Bagasse burner.
Cool.
So, the burning bagasse is generating steam, which is called exhaust.
The exhaust is powering the mills, which spin the turbine, which create juice.
This is juice.
Believe it or not, it's on its way to becoming sugar, but right now it's just a lot of sweet, muddy, dirty water.
To clean up this muddy water, calcium carbonate, also called lime, is slowly added.
The resulting mixture is called lime juice, and that's pumped into clarifying tanks, where the lime causes the mud to settle to the bottom of the tank.
So, the first thing you got to do is you got to get all the juice out of the cane.
Then you got to get the mud out of the juice? That's correct.
You're basically dealing with dirt all day long.
Pretty much.
I knew I liked you.
That's why they call it "dirty jobs.
" These are the clarifiers we were talking about.
The lime juice gets pumped into here, and eventually it settles toward the bottom Or the dirt and the muddy part do, anyway.
These are called manways, and each one represents a different level inside the clarifier.
So, the most pure lime juice is up toward the top, and the rank, dirty, muddy crap is all the way at the bottom.
Here at the plant, seasoned professionals can just glance at the fluid and determine what stage it might be in.
Sweet, but not sugar.
Just for the record, this is another ideal place to kill yourself in the sugar plant.
Once the sugarcane juice is purified, it's pumped through a complicated system of valves and pipes to another part of the factory.
Usually this goes smoothly, but today there was a leak in one of the pipes, and now somebody has to clean up the sticky mess.
Who could we get? Tracy, what the hell are we looking at here? This is a 3,000-cubic-foot sugar pan.
Now, what stage are we in the process? This is toward the end of the process, right before it goes into the sugar drives.
All right.
What do we learn? If you pull that stick out This is where they grow the grain.
Pull it real hard Inside this tank, the pure cane syrup is heated to 235 degrees, and in about an hour, sugar crystals start to form.
A technician then takes a sample of the hot liquid and examines the crystals with a magnifying glass.
They grow these crystals to a certain size before they drop them into the receiver.
Somebody just eyeballs this, and it's time to go.
They've been doing it for so long they pretty much know exactly what it has to be.
How's it look to you? Does it look like we're ready? Yes, it does.
Now what do we do? If you come this way, you're gonna see where it's gonna discharge into the receiver.
That's gonna drop down in this area.
That's correct.
It will come out here.
You're gonna have 3,000 cubic feet of sugar, with the molasses still in it, in here.
Whenever you're ready, Mauricio.
There it is, Mike.
Here it comes.
And just like that, there it is 3,000 cubic feet of sugar mixed with molasses, the liquid left over from the crystallizing process.
Now there's only one thing left to do.
The molasses is spun in a huge centrifuge, and the solid crystals are then pulled out of the liquid, giving us raw sugar for your candy bar, your cookie, or your cup of coffee.
Well, all in all, Tracy, an exhausting day, but I learned a lot.
Anything else I can do for you before we split? Actually, Mike, we do have one more job, a pretty dirty job, if you're up to it.
Have I said "no" to you yet? What in the hell are we looking at here, Tracy? Well, Mike, this is one of our gear drives for one of our mills.
This thing looks so big it looks fake.
It's pretty massive, but that's what it takes.
It's a big transmission.
Well, what happened? What broke? We had a bearing failure, Mike.
A bearing failed, and as a result, your entire red mill is shut down.
That's correct.
Before the new gear is put into place by the mechanics, Tracy tells me that somebody will need to go into the gearbox and scoop out the old grease.
So, basically, all these guys behind the glass there, in the nice, air-conditioned control room, are waiting for me to go in here and get all the grease out.
It looks that way.
Great.
Anything for the team.
Ugh.
Ugh.
[ Laughs .]
Mike, you're gonna need this scraper.
Yeah, sure.
Scrapers are good.
And this shovel.
Yeah, sure, love the shovel.
And, of course, the bucket to put it in.
Of course, the bucket.
Basically, just scoop up the grease.
I think I understand the job.
It's normally the way it's done.
Oh, man.
That is some bad grease.
Pretty tough stuff, isn't it, Mike? Yeah, it is.
Ugh.
Come on, man.
There's got to be a better way.
I'm stuck in the bowels of a sugar factory.
Without a doubt, the smelliest, most diabolical work I've ever done.
Mike, it ought to be clean enough for us to get this gear back in place.
You think? Oh, yeah.
That was very thoughtful.
They put down some plastic.
It'd be a shame to make a mess.
Well, the day started off clean enough Hanging out on a sugarcane field.
Then things went downhill fast.
Now I'm covered in grease and unrefined sugar.
All in all, a very weird day, and a very dirty job.
Hey, Mike, I'm Holly from fremont fire department, and I'm inviting you to come do our dirty job.
And it's dirty.
[ Siren wails .]
I accepted Holly's invitation.
You know me Always ready to get dirty.
3811, 3812 responding.
Well, this is the star of our story 3-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, eat-in kitchen.
It's seen better days.
Real-estate professionals would call it a fixer-upper or maybe a tear-her-down.
Professional firefighters, on the other hand, would call it what, kindling? No, we call it fun.
Would call it fun.
Fair enough.
This is Holly.
She knows all about fun.
You're the fire Princess.
Yes, sir.
And today, you've brought me to this lovely part of town for the specific purposes of burning an existing home to the ground.
Yes.
Sort of the opposite of what you guys normally do.
Normally, yes, we don't burn houses down.
All right, but we're gonna do it today why? This is a training burn.
And we're doing this just to help you get experience on how to put out a fire, how to handle the hose, and how to do salvage and overhaul.
And we're gonna get you dirty.
How long does it normally take you to train somebody to get to the point where you're comfortable sending them into a burning structure? It usually takes a professional firefighter about 8 to 10 weeks to train someone well enough to feel confident to go into a burning structure.
You have 8 to 10 minutes.
No problem.
Snapping.
Hey, look at that.
Aren't you sweet? Is that why they call you "Princess?" No.
What do I try to hit? Hit the sign.
Go ahead and turn it to your right a little bit.
Okay.
A little bit more.
Right about there is how we fight fires.
Slowly close it.
You notice how the pressure starts coming up? Yeah.
You're basically dropping your gallonage per minute.
That's all you're doing with that.
That's very powerful, isn't it? Let's go squirt some water in there.
We got to start the fire first, right? Yeah.
How do we do that? You're gonna go see captain mccormick.
And he's gonna show you how.
Just for the record, it might look like Holly was hitting me just then, but what she was really doing was turning off my emergency alarm, something that all firefighters have to wear, even rookies like me.
You must be the captain.
Yes, I am.
How are you? Glad to meet you, Mike.
Pleasure.
Welcome to your first 12 minutes of firefighting.
This is the kitchen Yes, it is.
or was the kitchen, huh? Everything but the kitchen cabinets was taken out.
We're gonna burn this crack house down Yes, we are.
Is what we're gonna do.
Can you explain to me why my alarm constantly goes off? Well, what happens Anytime that you stop moving, the alarm will start activating within 15 to 20 seconds.
Okay.
But it indicates to us that there's somebody not moving.
Then we'll try to find out why that person's not moving.
Right.
All right, well, hopefully, that's not gonna go off when we're in the midst of Right.
'Cause you guys are here, and this is what you call a controlled burn? Controlled.
Okay.
So, we're gonna come into a 200-square-foot area that is burning at roughly what temperature? It'll start off about 500 degrees after we light it.
So this is gonna get real hot real fast.
It will.
Anytime we light a fire inside of a building, we have a charged line in place.
We have our other crews in place.
Only one person controls the fire, which is myself on this one.
Okay.
When we start a fire, we typically build the fuel load so we have an accelerant, which is just hay.
I stick it inside, hay catches on fire, and it starts to catch the pallets on fire.
Can I light this thing on fire? Well, you will with me.
Okay.
You're gonna light this side.
I'm gonna light the other side.
Okay, fire in the hole.
I'm good.
You good? Hold on.
For god sake's, captain, you're a fireman.
I know.
Not supposed to start them.
You want some of mine? Mine's definitely going.
Come back this way some.
Let it burn.
It's gonna take off now.
Yeah.
Wow, that fast.
That's what happens with fire.
This one's gonna go.
See how it's starting flash and take off? [ Glass breaks .]
See how fast this room's changing to where you can't see anything? Can't see a doggone thing.
And you're only two feet away from a door.
Wow.
Oh, yeah, it's all over the ceiling there.
Man, that happens in seconds! Look at that.
Let's go out.
I'm pretty sure that house is on fire.
House fires can double in size every two to three minutes.
Holly and I had no time to waste.
It's yours, guys.
Put it out.
Let's go! You ready? Rowe: Holy [bleep.]
yeah.
Yeah, I'm all right.
All right.
Man.
Hold on.
Man, that was fast.
Yeah? Yep.
Holy [bleep.]
it's hot in here.
But it's not out yet.
Nope.
Oh, that's nice of you.
Okay.
There you go.
That's what I want.
Yeah.
Okay.
No, but I'm sure it's still going somewhere.
All right.
Now what? Turns out that burning down the house is only half the fun.
Next, you get to tear the house apart, looking for smoldering embers that could re-ignite the fire.
Right.
[ Bleep .]
All of this debris needs to go out.
Oh, yeah.
This'll be a snap.
Ugh.
Ugh.
What's this little device you've put together here? It's the litter carrier.
Litter carrier, great.
Usually take a scoop shovel, start shoveling everything out of here, and carry it out.
It's really hot.
That's good.
We'll have to carry that out.
That's heavy enough for us.
Take the front, too.
Carry it outside.
Just like this.
Uh-huh.
That's how we do it.
I'll take it.
Oh, that's Isn't that fun? ingeniously convenient.
We're not gonna finish this job today, are we? No.
And that's okay, isn't it? 'Cause it'll be here tomorrow.
I'll send the mythbusters over, somebody to lend you a hand.
I'll send the "American chopper" boys.
[ Coughs .]
Typically, what happens at this point in the day? We're pretty much After we're done with the salvaging overall, we have to clean all our equipment, clean our hose, re-rack the hose [ Coughs .]
get a glass of water, clean ourselves up, and you're ready for another call.
Is there a beer in my future or maybe a shower? You want a shower.
Be careful what you wish for.
So, this is your idea of taking a shower? Water's fine.
You ready? What happened here? Obviously, we got a broken hydrant, but those are power lines, aren't they? Yeah.
Is that something to worry about? Just be careful.
What am I doing? We're gonna open up that cap, and we're gonna take this wrench right here, and you're gonna close it.
What cap? You see the cap underneath where the water's hitting? No.
You will.
[ Chuckles .]
Oh, god.
I'm gonna block the water so that you don't get killed.
Thanks.
I think I got something.
Good.
Keep going, 30 turns.
That's all it takes.
Aah! Aah, that's cold! Ugh, damn.
Ugh! Ugh! Jesus.
Oh, manischewitz.
Look at this.
A wrench for a wench.
Yeah, thanks, Mike.
I'm going home now.
I got a million of them.
Unbelievable.
How you doing? I'm a little tired.
That was good, clean fun, wasn't it? We didn't get you dirty enough.
I'm dirty enough.
I'm dirty on the inside.
True.
[ Blades whirring .]
Welcome to cut off, Louisiana.
It's called cut off because, well, it's pretty much cut off.
Not a lot going on down there.
In fact, I'm told there's more alligators in cut off, Louisiana, than there are people A lot more.
You can't go any further south without falling into the Gulf.
This is Jerry savoie.
He's the guy who told me that.
How are you? Yep.
Good.
How you doing? I'm doing all right.
You're an alligator farmer.
Right.
And that's your alligator farm.
Yes, sir.
How many alligators you got over there? At some point in time, we have as many as 90,000, 95,000.
How many you got there right now, do you reckon? Probably about 70,000.
70,000 alligators.
And they're in these little buildings here? Where? In these buildings to the side and on this side here.
So, you go out there somewhere.
Right there.
Right? And you come back with alligator eggs, and you hatch them.
Incubate them and hatch them.
How big would an alligator get down in these parts? In Louisiana, your normal wild alligators get up to 10, 12 feet.
Average across the state is seven feet.
What are we gonna be dealing with today? 5-foot.
5-foot? Right.
How big are the teeth on a 5-foot alligator? They can hurt you.
Yeah, good.
Okay.
How can I help you raise some alligators? Well, today, we'll do the first routine after you hatch babies.
We'll wash them, feed them, de-fleshing the hides.
Sure, sure.
After you finish making a big mess doing that, we'll get you cleaning that slop up.
Always got to clean up a mess.
Yeah.
And salting a few skins, and at the end of the day, we have something special for you.
You got something special? Oh, yeah, real special.
What, if you don't mind my asking, happened to your face there? Uh, one of the babies jumped up and grabbed me.
Great.
Great.
An alligator farmer bit by an alligator in the pen.
I'm going in the pen? Yes, sir, except these are a lot bigger than the ones I That's great.
Okay.
What's the first step? Where do we start? We're gonna wash babies first.
Wash babies Let's go wash some babies.
Yeah, he was bit by an alligator.
It's no big deal.
He should be okay.
Well, I've never smelled, really, an alligator up close, and I feel like I'm maybe smelling more than one right now.
Quite a few more.
How many are in this little pen here? This one here? Little guys, big guys, medium guys? Little guys.
These are the little ones? Let's have a look in there.
Oh, yeah.
Ohh! [ Laughs .]
Smells good? Look at that.
Look at that little white guy right in the middle of them.
You got a white alligator in there.
Savoie: He doesn't belong in there.
You're gonna have to get in there and get him out.
Yeah, right, I'm going in there.
I'm administering the morning bath for the alligators here at the savoie alligator farm.
Very civilized.
Oh, yeah, look how dark that water is, going down the drain.
That would explain that these are some dirty animals.
Savoie: Now you need to get in it.
You're serious? Yeah, catch the white one.
Somebody made a mistake, put him in the wrong pen.
What is the significance of a white alligator? How does that happen? What it is It's a recessive gene that both the male and female have to carry.
You get a certain percentage of the clutch, or group of babies, that is albino.
250 alligators, and one of these things is not like the other.
They're everywhere.
Yep.
My god, this stinks! Where the heck is he? I figured I can flush him out with the light.
No, just take your hand, put it on him, and pull them out the way.
I'm not sticking my hand in there, Jerry.
That's just nuts.
Your face is barely healed.
You want me to stick my hand in there.
They won't bite you.
No, no, they won't bite me.
Look, he's behind you.
There he is.
Albino alligators can't survive in the wild because without camouflaged skin, it's nearly impossible for them to hunt for food.
It's kind of creepy.
Every year we hatch from 8 to 15.
8 to 15 white ones? Same nest every year.
I mean, this was job one Get this guy out of the pen.
We're gonna feed him.
What else am I gonna do? Separate some alligators, sort them out.
14% of what we hatch When they reach a maturity level of 48 inches, we return them back to the wild.
You return 14 out of 100 back to the wild.
Whatever we hatch.
Well, out of 100 eggs that are laid in the wild, how many would sort of grow up on their own naturally? They figure at a rate of anywhere from 5% to 8% would survive on a good year.
This year, hurricane Katrina and Rita nothing.
Nothing would have survived.
Everything's dead.
You're returning more alligators to the wild than were in the wild before you started.
We're doubling, probably tripling the population.
What about this guy? What about the white ones? This guy here he'll be on exhibit at different zoos around the United States and also overseas.
How big will he get, do you think? Mm, nine feet.
Really? So this is about the last time I'll be this close to him, ever.
Oh, yeah.
What the hell is this? [ Laughs .]
This is what you call ground nutria.
Nutria's a fancy word for a big rat? Basically, yes it is.
And this is what we're gonna feed your alligators.
We'll grind it up, mix it with a dry supplement, and feed it to the gators.
A lot of protein.
I think we all know what's about to happen.
Alligators only grow about 12 inches a year in the wild, but here at the farm, a protein-enriched diet helps them grow to over four feet in their first year.
Savoie: I'm serious about this.
These big alligators have a real narrow, fine-line temperament about them.
Open up and hook the latch up.
Grr! [Bleep.]
Damn it.
[ Laughs .]
What are you doing? You're sw [bleep.]
He's squatting in the pen with the alligators.
I can only hope you've been waiting in there for an hour and a half for that.
No, not very long.
[ Bleep .]
That boy ain't right.
Pbht! Oh, no, no, no, no.
Rowe: These These are a little bigger.
Savoie: A little.
You think? These are a year old.
We'll see if we can persuade you to get in there and catch a few.
No, look at their heads.
Their heads are big.
They got real teeth, for real.
Real teeth.
Yeah.
Seven scoops.
One.
No, see, they're not even eating.
They want me.
They will.
They will.
Look at their little mouths.
They're not little.
They look like alligators.
Yeah, they look like alligators.
Look at them all.
Look at their little heads here.
They're hungry.
Yeah, that's great.
Get in the pen with the hungry alligator.
What eats alligators? Other alligators.
That's the only predator an alligator has? Basically.
Once they reach a maturity of four foot, yeah, pretty much.
That's why we got to get these things separated.
They're big enough now They're looking at each other.
You don't feed them, they go at one another.
So that's your job today To separate them.
Yeah, you keep saying that.
I'm curious to see how How you're gonna get me in one of these pens, actually.
No problem.
Well, this is Paul, and he's got a great job here at the alligator farm.
I love your You kind of look like an alligator.
Yeah.
[ Laughs .]
Paul's job is to get the meat off of the skin, essentially, and they just stack up here all day long.
And he stands here with this Is this like a pressure hose? Yeah, like a pressure hose.
Uh-huh.
And, yeah, we just blast the meat off.
How hard can that be, right? Well, yeah.
All right, so, what do I do Stretch him out like this? You turn him this way.
And work your way to the head.
All right, well, let's turn the compressor on and have at it.
Okay.
Oh, there it is.
Selling the meat and skin of the alligator is how this farm makes their money.
So, they take this part of the operation very seriously.
So, the trick is to get the meat off without damaging the hide.
Right.
So, how many of these do you do in a day? You know? This is a dirty job, isn't it? Yeah, I do.
What am I looking at right here? [ Bleep .]
[ Laughs .]
I don't even want to say it.
No, no.
Paul's not afraid to say it.
This is what the zoologists refer to as the butt.
Okay.
So, basically, Paul, the journey of the hide goes from here, where we blast the meat off it, into this can, and then from this can into another can, through another window.
Yeah.
They're ready to salt, you know? They're gonna get salted? Yeah, they're gonna get salted.
I'll look forward to doing that.
All right.
Like so.
And there's big Jerry.
You got them done? You know what? I always get nervous when I see you walking around with a bucket.
This is the fun part.
What do you got? I need to get as much of this meat cleaned up as I can.
The meat we just blasted off the hide? Yeah, 'cause we don't want to get any drains plugged up or anything around here.
And what we'll do is we'll get you to put it in the bucket.
And then we'll put it in the freezer and freeze it and grind it up later and mix it with dry feed and feed it back to the alligators, so You really don't waste a thing.
No, not much.
Yeah.
Alligator meat.
Ohh.
Mr.
Paul, this stinks a little.
Yeah, it stinks.
Yeah.
[ Laughs .]
Yeah.
Ohh! I mean, what am I looking at here? How much meat? 400 to 500.
400 to 500 Gator skins.
Savoie: You get it cleaned up? I think I got the worst of it, or the best of it, depending on your point of view.
Yeah, you're right.
Kind of looks like oatmeal, maybe crab.
First time I've carried 25 pounds of alligator meat to an undisclosed location.
[ Laughs .]
So, Jerry is in the process of convincing me right now that it's actually okay to go into this pen to do some kind of crazy work.
This is Lance.
Apparently he lives in the pen.
Look, don't Don't [bleep.]
me here, really.
This is okay? You'll be fine.
I mean, come on, they're alligators.
They're five feet long.
Lance doesn't seem to be bothered by them.
What do you want us to do? What's the actual job? The job here today is We have 125 alligators in this pen.
Catch each one of them, sex them.
And then we're gonna determine which ones are gonna go back to the wild and which ones are not.
And how will that determination be made? We're gonna try to get today a strong random of females.
All right, now, the reason I'm agreeing to do this is because it's got kind of a happy ending.
We're gonna turn some alligators loose.
Right.
Right.
And that's something you do all the time here.
And I'm gonna risk my toes and fingers to make that a reality.
How's it gonna work? He's gonna throw them to you across the table.
You're gonna grab them.
Any tips on handling these things? Just grab them? If you grab them, don't hesitate and do that little stuttered step and grab them twice.
Go in with purpose.
Yep.
If you let the head go, he'll turn around and bite you.
[ Sighs .]
You know what's nice? The water's over the boot.
Savoie: Oh, yeah.
Yeah, you could have told me that, too.
[ Laughs .]
That's good.
Oh.
Savoie: Grab him.
Grab him.
He's gonna bite you.
Yeah.
Don't let him go.
Don't let him go.
I don't want to let him go.
What the hell are you doing? I'm gonna check him, see if he's a male or female.
He's a male.
You shoved your thumb up his what? Up his rectum.
What'd you learn from that? I learned whether he was a male or female.
Male, you can feel his penis.
Female, nothing.
Not so much of a penis.
Right.
You're right.
Don't do the stutter thing, right? Crazy.
Crazy, stupid job this one is.
Female.
[ Laughs .]
How many alligator [bleep.]
Do you reckon you've had your fingers in? Oh, a few thousand.
[ Laughs .]
Rowe: I'm ready.
Yikes! Not ready.
Thought I was ready.
Wasn't ready.
Not as ready as I had hoped to be.
There's an alligator on my foot.
Yikes! Yikes! If you give him time to think about it, he's gonna bite you.
You just got done telling me his brain was the size of a walnut.
How much thinking can he do? Oh! Enough to almost bite me.
I thought the ostrich guys were sick in the head.
You got major issues.
We're setting alligators free, basically.
We're gonna return them to the wild.
We're doing important work.
Oh, that's big.
Yikes! Not gonna make it! Every logical thing, every synapse in my brain that's still working is saying, "don't grab the alligator.
" They got time to react, they're gonna bite you.
Yeah.
Powerful son of a guns.
They're strong.
Yeah, they're strong.
Ohh! Let him go.
Let him go.
You'll get me bit.
Sorry about that.
Damn it.
See, that's how I want to grab them, on the top like that.
But I'm never I'm always Sex him up.
Gosh, I'd love to finish my thought, but I have to push my finger inside the alligator's bottom.
There you go.
Oh, that's a woman.
Oh, yeah.
Aah! Hooey! Ohh! Oh-ho! [ Chuckles .]
Phew.
You got bit? Bad? Aw.
Oh, man.
Come on.
Get out of here.
You got to get that thing fixed.
That's all right.
What the hell you talking about? We get bit all the time.
That happens in the movies, dude.
That doesn't hap You just got half your arm bitten off.
It'll be all right.
All right, let's just get Let's just bring me another alligator, I'll shove my finger up its [bleep.]
We can all go home.
Yikes! Yikes! God One just shot out from under my feet.
Savoie: He won't bite you.
[ Grunts .]
Boy? Girl? Boy.
Well, it was bound to be one or the other, huh? Whoa! Funny funny guy.
[ Sings an upbeat tune .]
I've only got the two hands, so I'm not gonna be able to violate this one.
Boy.
Boy.
So long, boy.
You're going home to freedom.
Well, Lance and alligators have been very close now for a long time.
There he took one in the side.
And today here, look at this.
Man, are you okay? Yep.
No, you're not.
Look at that.
You got bit.
See, I told you.
I was telling Jerry they bite.
He didn't believe me.
But you believe me, don't you? Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Not the first time you've been bit.
Are you gonna be okay? I mean, what's gonna happen to this? I'll be all right, just clean it with a little peroxide.
What's it gonna look like tomorrow? Not too bad might be a little swollen up a little bit.
Bull crap.
It's gonna be this big.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's about all.
Alligator ranchers, alligator farmers What they do is they understate everything.
I dodged a bullet today.
So, if you're home watching and thinking about getting into a pen with alligators because somebody named Jerry tells you it's a good idea Don't do it.
After a day of wrangling gators down on the farm, it was time for a blast on the bayou.
Well, it's official.
The U.
S.
military, along with the entire country, is now our research department.
If you have a dirty job or know of somebody who does, drop us a line Discovery.
Com/dirtyjobs.
If it's dirty or at least really cool, I'll come out and do it.
Thanks.
Man: 10-minute warning.
That's it.
I'm covered with grease at the moment and walking down a giant mountain of unrefined sugar.
I got a lot of sugar in my ear.
Hmm.
Is this dirty enough for you? Yeah, I think so.
[ Horn blares .]
Aw, I just [bleep.]
myself a little bit there.
That was dirty.
That was dirty.
"Dirty jobs," Tuesdays at 9:00.
My name's Mike rowe, and I've put a pig on a pedestal.
Why? Because even though he works in the dirt, this noble creature is the embodiment of hard work, self-sacrifice, and a good-natured willingness to get the job done, no matter how dirty.
Day after day, he goes about his business without complaint.
And night after night, he brings home the bacon.
[ Pig snorts .]
I am sorry I said that.
What's on your pedestal?
Ohh! I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty What's on the other side of the door? Sewage, raw sewage.
Let's open the door.
hardworking men and women who earn an honest living doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us.
Now, get ready to get dirty.
Coming up on "dirty jobs" We're dumping sugar.
i learn that working in a sugar factory is not so sweet.
Albarado: How would you like that job for 12 hours? Let me think about it.
No.
Then I'm on board with the firefighters of fremont, California.
Let's go! Just stand But the firefighters are not on board with me.
We usually have eight people on it.
Where the hell are the other six? They're outside having a coffee.
Later, I wrangle a penful of alligators Yikes! Not gonna make it! who have a biting sense of humor.
You got bit? Ohh! Captions by vitac captions paid for by discovery communications Sugarcane they've been growing it down here in white castle, Louisiana, for hundreds of years.
Safe to assume, though, that here in the 21st century, getting the cane out of the ground is a little bit easier than it used to be.
Down in Louisiana, there are over 700 farmers who grow sugarcane.
But there are only a few places that process the crop.
And in this region, there's only one The Cora Texas sugar factory.
All of the cane from all of the local fields is brought here to the Cora Texas processing plant.
It's a huge facility, and to be perfectly honest, I can't begin to imagine how they get the sugar out of the cane.
But I'm fairly certain that has something to do with it.
Inside the sugar factory, I met Charlie schudmak, the assistant manager and co-owner of the operation.
Charlie took me to a big, noisy room with some really big machines.
My god.
Here the hell are we? Mike, this is our mill floor.
This is Tracy albarado.
He's our factory manager.
Hey, Tracy.
Nice to meet you.
He's gonna put you to work.
What am I looking at? Everything's green and orange and yellow and blue.
It's like Andy warhol went to hell and took his paintbrush.
Tracy told me these brightly colored machines are the mills that crush the sweet juice out of the cane.
It looked like dirty work, but I figured the machines had it covered.
I was wrong.
I got a good dirty job for you.
Tracy's got a job for me? All right.
We gonna do a little mill arcing down there.
Mill arcing? Mill arcing, that's correct.
All right.
Well, what exactly is the job? First, you need to put this harness on.
Then, we're gonna get down in this little seat.
You're gonna take that welding electrode, and you're gonna rough up those teeth on that roller.
All right.
All right, so, this is a welder.
Right.
Grab your rod out of that bucket.
Okay.
Geez! Mike, watch you don't touch any steel while you Oh, don't touch any steel.
Good to know that.
Put it on a 90-degree Oh, like this.
That's it.
I can't see anything out of this.
Well, you're gonna have to start arcing till you can see something.
All right, I'm going in.
The teeth on these rollers get worn down with constant grinding.
The welder is like the dentist of the sugar mill, adding metal to the teeth so these rollers can chew the cane more effectively.
But unlike a dentist, welders in a sugar mill don't work in a clean, air-conditioned space.
Down by the rollers, it's like a steam bath, with temperatures climbing to 120 degrees.
Gets a little warm down here, Tracy.
It's probably one of the worst jobs we have in the whole factory.
And the professionals who do this job for real They work in this heat 12 hours a day.
How would you like that job for 12 hours? Let me think about it.
No.
Mill arcing.
It's a dirty job.
All of the sugarcane here at the plant is constantly being squashed and separated, and this is the first result of that separation.
It's called bagasse.
Essentially, it's a waste product they use to make particleboard and fiberboard.
But mainly here at the plant they use it for fuel, because making sugar requires a lot of fire.
This is basically the generator for the entire plant.
All of that bagasse we just saw gets dropped into here and burned.
It generates all the energy the plant needs.
Unfortunately, it's got to be constantly raked forward into this holding area down here.
That person's called a bagasse burner.
I swear to god, I'm not making it up.
If you thought welding was hot, you ain't seen nothing.
Bagasse burner.
Cool.
So, the burning bagasse is generating steam, which is called exhaust.
The exhaust is powering the mills, which spin the turbine, which create juice.
This is juice.
Believe it or not, it's on its way to becoming sugar, but right now it's just a lot of sweet, muddy, dirty water.
To clean up this muddy water, calcium carbonate, also called lime, is slowly added.
The resulting mixture is called lime juice, and that's pumped into clarifying tanks, where the lime causes the mud to settle to the bottom of the tank.
So, the first thing you got to do is you got to get all the juice out of the cane.
Then you got to get the mud out of the juice? That's correct.
You're basically dealing with dirt all day long.
Pretty much.
I knew I liked you.
That's why they call it "dirty jobs.
" These are the clarifiers we were talking about.
The lime juice gets pumped into here, and eventually it settles toward the bottom Or the dirt and the muddy part do, anyway.
These are called manways, and each one represents a different level inside the clarifier.
So, the most pure lime juice is up toward the top, and the rank, dirty, muddy crap is all the way at the bottom.
Here at the plant, seasoned professionals can just glance at the fluid and determine what stage it might be in.
Sweet, but not sugar.
Just for the record, this is another ideal place to kill yourself in the sugar plant.
Once the sugarcane juice is purified, it's pumped through a complicated system of valves and pipes to another part of the factory.
Usually this goes smoothly, but today there was a leak in one of the pipes, and now somebody has to clean up the sticky mess.
Who could we get? Tracy, what the hell are we looking at here? This is a 3,000-cubic-foot sugar pan.
Now, what stage are we in the process? This is toward the end of the process, right before it goes into the sugar drives.
All right.
What do we learn? If you pull that stick out This is where they grow the grain.
Pull it real hard Inside this tank, the pure cane syrup is heated to 235 degrees, and in about an hour, sugar crystals start to form.
A technician then takes a sample of the hot liquid and examines the crystals with a magnifying glass.
They grow these crystals to a certain size before they drop them into the receiver.
Somebody just eyeballs this, and it's time to go.
They've been doing it for so long they pretty much know exactly what it has to be.
How's it look to you? Does it look like we're ready? Yes, it does.
Now what do we do? If you come this way, you're gonna see where it's gonna discharge into the receiver.
That's gonna drop down in this area.
That's correct.
It will come out here.
You're gonna have 3,000 cubic feet of sugar, with the molasses still in it, in here.
Whenever you're ready, Mauricio.
There it is, Mike.
Here it comes.
And just like that, there it is 3,000 cubic feet of sugar mixed with molasses, the liquid left over from the crystallizing process.
Now there's only one thing left to do.
The molasses is spun in a huge centrifuge, and the solid crystals are then pulled out of the liquid, giving us raw sugar for your candy bar, your cookie, or your cup of coffee.
Well, all in all, Tracy, an exhausting day, but I learned a lot.
Anything else I can do for you before we split? Actually, Mike, we do have one more job, a pretty dirty job, if you're up to it.
Have I said "no" to you yet? What in the hell are we looking at here, Tracy? Well, Mike, this is one of our gear drives for one of our mills.
This thing looks so big it looks fake.
It's pretty massive, but that's what it takes.
It's a big transmission.
Well, what happened? What broke? We had a bearing failure, Mike.
A bearing failed, and as a result, your entire red mill is shut down.
That's correct.
Before the new gear is put into place by the mechanics, Tracy tells me that somebody will need to go into the gearbox and scoop out the old grease.
So, basically, all these guys behind the glass there, in the nice, air-conditioned control room, are waiting for me to go in here and get all the grease out.
It looks that way.
Great.
Anything for the team.
Ugh.
Ugh.
[ Laughs .]
Mike, you're gonna need this scraper.
Yeah, sure.
Scrapers are good.
And this shovel.
Yeah, sure, love the shovel.
And, of course, the bucket to put it in.
Of course, the bucket.
Basically, just scoop up the grease.
I think I understand the job.
It's normally the way it's done.
Oh, man.
That is some bad grease.
Pretty tough stuff, isn't it, Mike? Yeah, it is.
Ugh.
Come on, man.
There's got to be a better way.
I'm stuck in the bowels of a sugar factory.
Without a doubt, the smelliest, most diabolical work I've ever done.
Mike, it ought to be clean enough for us to get this gear back in place.
You think? Oh, yeah.
That was very thoughtful.
They put down some plastic.
It'd be a shame to make a mess.
Well, the day started off clean enough Hanging out on a sugarcane field.
Then things went downhill fast.
Now I'm covered in grease and unrefined sugar.
All in all, a very weird day, and a very dirty job.
Hey, Mike, I'm Holly from fremont fire department, and I'm inviting you to come do our dirty job.
And it's dirty.
[ Siren wails .]
I accepted Holly's invitation.
You know me Always ready to get dirty.
3811, 3812 responding.
Well, this is the star of our story 3-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, eat-in kitchen.
It's seen better days.
Real-estate professionals would call it a fixer-upper or maybe a tear-her-down.
Professional firefighters, on the other hand, would call it what, kindling? No, we call it fun.
Would call it fun.
Fair enough.
This is Holly.
She knows all about fun.
You're the fire Princess.
Yes, sir.
And today, you've brought me to this lovely part of town for the specific purposes of burning an existing home to the ground.
Yes.
Sort of the opposite of what you guys normally do.
Normally, yes, we don't burn houses down.
All right, but we're gonna do it today why? This is a training burn.
And we're doing this just to help you get experience on how to put out a fire, how to handle the hose, and how to do salvage and overhaul.
And we're gonna get you dirty.
How long does it normally take you to train somebody to get to the point where you're comfortable sending them into a burning structure? It usually takes a professional firefighter about 8 to 10 weeks to train someone well enough to feel confident to go into a burning structure.
You have 8 to 10 minutes.
No problem.
Snapping.
Hey, look at that.
Aren't you sweet? Is that why they call you "Princess?" No.
What do I try to hit? Hit the sign.
Go ahead and turn it to your right a little bit.
Okay.
A little bit more.
Right about there is how we fight fires.
Slowly close it.
You notice how the pressure starts coming up? Yeah.
You're basically dropping your gallonage per minute.
That's all you're doing with that.
That's very powerful, isn't it? Let's go squirt some water in there.
We got to start the fire first, right? Yeah.
How do we do that? You're gonna go see captain mccormick.
And he's gonna show you how.
Just for the record, it might look like Holly was hitting me just then, but what she was really doing was turning off my emergency alarm, something that all firefighters have to wear, even rookies like me.
You must be the captain.
Yes, I am.
How are you? Glad to meet you, Mike.
Pleasure.
Welcome to your first 12 minutes of firefighting.
This is the kitchen Yes, it is.
or was the kitchen, huh? Everything but the kitchen cabinets was taken out.
We're gonna burn this crack house down Yes, we are.
Is what we're gonna do.
Can you explain to me why my alarm constantly goes off? Well, what happens Anytime that you stop moving, the alarm will start activating within 15 to 20 seconds.
Okay.
But it indicates to us that there's somebody not moving.
Then we'll try to find out why that person's not moving.
Right.
All right, well, hopefully, that's not gonna go off when we're in the midst of Right.
'Cause you guys are here, and this is what you call a controlled burn? Controlled.
Okay.
So, we're gonna come into a 200-square-foot area that is burning at roughly what temperature? It'll start off about 500 degrees after we light it.
So this is gonna get real hot real fast.
It will.
Anytime we light a fire inside of a building, we have a charged line in place.
We have our other crews in place.
Only one person controls the fire, which is myself on this one.
Okay.
When we start a fire, we typically build the fuel load so we have an accelerant, which is just hay.
I stick it inside, hay catches on fire, and it starts to catch the pallets on fire.
Can I light this thing on fire? Well, you will with me.
Okay.
You're gonna light this side.
I'm gonna light the other side.
Okay, fire in the hole.
I'm good.
You good? Hold on.
For god sake's, captain, you're a fireman.
I know.
Not supposed to start them.
You want some of mine? Mine's definitely going.
Come back this way some.
Let it burn.
It's gonna take off now.
Yeah.
Wow, that fast.
That's what happens with fire.
This one's gonna go.
See how it's starting flash and take off? [ Glass breaks .]
See how fast this room's changing to where you can't see anything? Can't see a doggone thing.
And you're only two feet away from a door.
Wow.
Oh, yeah, it's all over the ceiling there.
Man, that happens in seconds! Look at that.
Let's go out.
I'm pretty sure that house is on fire.
House fires can double in size every two to three minutes.
Holly and I had no time to waste.
It's yours, guys.
Put it out.
Let's go! You ready? Rowe: Holy [bleep.]
yeah.
Yeah, I'm all right.
All right.
Man.
Hold on.
Man, that was fast.
Yeah? Yep.
Holy [bleep.]
it's hot in here.
But it's not out yet.
Nope.
Oh, that's nice of you.
Okay.
There you go.
That's what I want.
Yeah.
Okay.
No, but I'm sure it's still going somewhere.
All right.
Now what? Turns out that burning down the house is only half the fun.
Next, you get to tear the house apart, looking for smoldering embers that could re-ignite the fire.
Right.
[ Bleep .]
All of this debris needs to go out.
Oh, yeah.
This'll be a snap.
Ugh.
Ugh.
What's this little device you've put together here? It's the litter carrier.
Litter carrier, great.
Usually take a scoop shovel, start shoveling everything out of here, and carry it out.
It's really hot.
That's good.
We'll have to carry that out.
That's heavy enough for us.
Take the front, too.
Carry it outside.
Just like this.
Uh-huh.
That's how we do it.
I'll take it.
Oh, that's Isn't that fun? ingeniously convenient.
We're not gonna finish this job today, are we? No.
And that's okay, isn't it? 'Cause it'll be here tomorrow.
I'll send the mythbusters over, somebody to lend you a hand.
I'll send the "American chopper" boys.
[ Coughs .]
Typically, what happens at this point in the day? We're pretty much After we're done with the salvaging overall, we have to clean all our equipment, clean our hose, re-rack the hose [ Coughs .]
get a glass of water, clean ourselves up, and you're ready for another call.
Is there a beer in my future or maybe a shower? You want a shower.
Be careful what you wish for.
So, this is your idea of taking a shower? Water's fine.
You ready? What happened here? Obviously, we got a broken hydrant, but those are power lines, aren't they? Yeah.
Is that something to worry about? Just be careful.
What am I doing? We're gonna open up that cap, and we're gonna take this wrench right here, and you're gonna close it.
What cap? You see the cap underneath where the water's hitting? No.
You will.
[ Chuckles .]
Oh, god.
I'm gonna block the water so that you don't get killed.
Thanks.
I think I got something.
Good.
Keep going, 30 turns.
That's all it takes.
Aah! Aah, that's cold! Ugh, damn.
Ugh! Ugh! Jesus.
Oh, manischewitz.
Look at this.
A wrench for a wench.
Yeah, thanks, Mike.
I'm going home now.
I got a million of them.
Unbelievable.
How you doing? I'm a little tired.
That was good, clean fun, wasn't it? We didn't get you dirty enough.
I'm dirty enough.
I'm dirty on the inside.
True.
[ Blades whirring .]
Welcome to cut off, Louisiana.
It's called cut off because, well, it's pretty much cut off.
Not a lot going on down there.
In fact, I'm told there's more alligators in cut off, Louisiana, than there are people A lot more.
You can't go any further south without falling into the Gulf.
This is Jerry savoie.
He's the guy who told me that.
How are you? Yep.
Good.
How you doing? I'm doing all right.
You're an alligator farmer.
Right.
And that's your alligator farm.
Yes, sir.
How many alligators you got over there? At some point in time, we have as many as 90,000, 95,000.
How many you got there right now, do you reckon? Probably about 70,000.
70,000 alligators.
And they're in these little buildings here? Where? In these buildings to the side and on this side here.
So, you go out there somewhere.
Right there.
Right? And you come back with alligator eggs, and you hatch them.
Incubate them and hatch them.
How big would an alligator get down in these parts? In Louisiana, your normal wild alligators get up to 10, 12 feet.
Average across the state is seven feet.
What are we gonna be dealing with today? 5-foot.
5-foot? Right.
How big are the teeth on a 5-foot alligator? They can hurt you.
Yeah, good.
Okay.
How can I help you raise some alligators? Well, today, we'll do the first routine after you hatch babies.
We'll wash them, feed them, de-fleshing the hides.
Sure, sure.
After you finish making a big mess doing that, we'll get you cleaning that slop up.
Always got to clean up a mess.
Yeah.
And salting a few skins, and at the end of the day, we have something special for you.
You got something special? Oh, yeah, real special.
What, if you don't mind my asking, happened to your face there? Uh, one of the babies jumped up and grabbed me.
Great.
Great.
An alligator farmer bit by an alligator in the pen.
I'm going in the pen? Yes, sir, except these are a lot bigger than the ones I That's great.
Okay.
What's the first step? Where do we start? We're gonna wash babies first.
Wash babies Let's go wash some babies.
Yeah, he was bit by an alligator.
It's no big deal.
He should be okay.
Well, I've never smelled, really, an alligator up close, and I feel like I'm maybe smelling more than one right now.
Quite a few more.
How many are in this little pen here? This one here? Little guys, big guys, medium guys? Little guys.
These are the little ones? Let's have a look in there.
Oh, yeah.
Ohh! [ Laughs .]
Smells good? Look at that.
Look at that little white guy right in the middle of them.
You got a white alligator in there.
Savoie: He doesn't belong in there.
You're gonna have to get in there and get him out.
Yeah, right, I'm going in there.
I'm administering the morning bath for the alligators here at the savoie alligator farm.
Very civilized.
Oh, yeah, look how dark that water is, going down the drain.
That would explain that these are some dirty animals.
Savoie: Now you need to get in it.
You're serious? Yeah, catch the white one.
Somebody made a mistake, put him in the wrong pen.
What is the significance of a white alligator? How does that happen? What it is It's a recessive gene that both the male and female have to carry.
You get a certain percentage of the clutch, or group of babies, that is albino.
250 alligators, and one of these things is not like the other.
They're everywhere.
Yep.
My god, this stinks! Where the heck is he? I figured I can flush him out with the light.
No, just take your hand, put it on him, and pull them out the way.
I'm not sticking my hand in there, Jerry.
That's just nuts.
Your face is barely healed.
You want me to stick my hand in there.
They won't bite you.
No, no, they won't bite me.
Look, he's behind you.
There he is.
Albino alligators can't survive in the wild because without camouflaged skin, it's nearly impossible for them to hunt for food.
It's kind of creepy.
Every year we hatch from 8 to 15.
8 to 15 white ones? Same nest every year.
I mean, this was job one Get this guy out of the pen.
We're gonna feed him.
What else am I gonna do? Separate some alligators, sort them out.
14% of what we hatch When they reach a maturity level of 48 inches, we return them back to the wild.
You return 14 out of 100 back to the wild.
Whatever we hatch.
Well, out of 100 eggs that are laid in the wild, how many would sort of grow up on their own naturally? They figure at a rate of anywhere from 5% to 8% would survive on a good year.
This year, hurricane Katrina and Rita nothing.
Nothing would have survived.
Everything's dead.
You're returning more alligators to the wild than were in the wild before you started.
We're doubling, probably tripling the population.
What about this guy? What about the white ones? This guy here he'll be on exhibit at different zoos around the United States and also overseas.
How big will he get, do you think? Mm, nine feet.
Really? So this is about the last time I'll be this close to him, ever.
Oh, yeah.
What the hell is this? [ Laughs .]
This is what you call ground nutria.
Nutria's a fancy word for a big rat? Basically, yes it is.
And this is what we're gonna feed your alligators.
We'll grind it up, mix it with a dry supplement, and feed it to the gators.
A lot of protein.
I think we all know what's about to happen.
Alligators only grow about 12 inches a year in the wild, but here at the farm, a protein-enriched diet helps them grow to over four feet in their first year.
Savoie: I'm serious about this.
These big alligators have a real narrow, fine-line temperament about them.
Open up and hook the latch up.
Grr! [Bleep.]
Damn it.
[ Laughs .]
What are you doing? You're sw [bleep.]
He's squatting in the pen with the alligators.
I can only hope you've been waiting in there for an hour and a half for that.
No, not very long.
[ Bleep .]
That boy ain't right.
Pbht! Oh, no, no, no, no.
Rowe: These These are a little bigger.
Savoie: A little.
You think? These are a year old.
We'll see if we can persuade you to get in there and catch a few.
No, look at their heads.
Their heads are big.
They got real teeth, for real.
Real teeth.
Yeah.
Seven scoops.
One.
No, see, they're not even eating.
They want me.
They will.
They will.
Look at their little mouths.
They're not little.
They look like alligators.
Yeah, they look like alligators.
Look at them all.
Look at their little heads here.
They're hungry.
Yeah, that's great.
Get in the pen with the hungry alligator.
What eats alligators? Other alligators.
That's the only predator an alligator has? Basically.
Once they reach a maturity of four foot, yeah, pretty much.
That's why we got to get these things separated.
They're big enough now They're looking at each other.
You don't feed them, they go at one another.
So that's your job today To separate them.
Yeah, you keep saying that.
I'm curious to see how How you're gonna get me in one of these pens, actually.
No problem.
Well, this is Paul, and he's got a great job here at the alligator farm.
I love your You kind of look like an alligator.
Yeah.
[ Laughs .]
Paul's job is to get the meat off of the skin, essentially, and they just stack up here all day long.
And he stands here with this Is this like a pressure hose? Yeah, like a pressure hose.
Uh-huh.
And, yeah, we just blast the meat off.
How hard can that be, right? Well, yeah.
All right, so, what do I do Stretch him out like this? You turn him this way.
And work your way to the head.
All right, well, let's turn the compressor on and have at it.
Okay.
Oh, there it is.
Selling the meat and skin of the alligator is how this farm makes their money.
So, they take this part of the operation very seriously.
So, the trick is to get the meat off without damaging the hide.
Right.
So, how many of these do you do in a day? You know? This is a dirty job, isn't it? Yeah, I do.
What am I looking at right here? [ Bleep .]
[ Laughs .]
I don't even want to say it.
No, no.
Paul's not afraid to say it.
This is what the zoologists refer to as the butt.
Okay.
So, basically, Paul, the journey of the hide goes from here, where we blast the meat off it, into this can, and then from this can into another can, through another window.
Yeah.
They're ready to salt, you know? They're gonna get salted? Yeah, they're gonna get salted.
I'll look forward to doing that.
All right.
Like so.
And there's big Jerry.
You got them done? You know what? I always get nervous when I see you walking around with a bucket.
This is the fun part.
What do you got? I need to get as much of this meat cleaned up as I can.
The meat we just blasted off the hide? Yeah, 'cause we don't want to get any drains plugged up or anything around here.
And what we'll do is we'll get you to put it in the bucket.
And then we'll put it in the freezer and freeze it and grind it up later and mix it with dry feed and feed it back to the alligators, so You really don't waste a thing.
No, not much.
Yeah.
Alligator meat.
Ohh.
Mr.
Paul, this stinks a little.
Yeah, it stinks.
Yeah.
[ Laughs .]
Yeah.
Ohh! I mean, what am I looking at here? How much meat? 400 to 500.
400 to 500 Gator skins.
Savoie: You get it cleaned up? I think I got the worst of it, or the best of it, depending on your point of view.
Yeah, you're right.
Kind of looks like oatmeal, maybe crab.
First time I've carried 25 pounds of alligator meat to an undisclosed location.
[ Laughs .]
So, Jerry is in the process of convincing me right now that it's actually okay to go into this pen to do some kind of crazy work.
This is Lance.
Apparently he lives in the pen.
Look, don't Don't [bleep.]
me here, really.
This is okay? You'll be fine.
I mean, come on, they're alligators.
They're five feet long.
Lance doesn't seem to be bothered by them.
What do you want us to do? What's the actual job? The job here today is We have 125 alligators in this pen.
Catch each one of them, sex them.
And then we're gonna determine which ones are gonna go back to the wild and which ones are not.
And how will that determination be made? We're gonna try to get today a strong random of females.
All right, now, the reason I'm agreeing to do this is because it's got kind of a happy ending.
We're gonna turn some alligators loose.
Right.
Right.
And that's something you do all the time here.
And I'm gonna risk my toes and fingers to make that a reality.
How's it gonna work? He's gonna throw them to you across the table.
You're gonna grab them.
Any tips on handling these things? Just grab them? If you grab them, don't hesitate and do that little stuttered step and grab them twice.
Go in with purpose.
Yep.
If you let the head go, he'll turn around and bite you.
[ Sighs .]
You know what's nice? The water's over the boot.
Savoie: Oh, yeah.
Yeah, you could have told me that, too.
[ Laughs .]
That's good.
Oh.
Savoie: Grab him.
Grab him.
He's gonna bite you.
Yeah.
Don't let him go.
Don't let him go.
I don't want to let him go.
What the hell are you doing? I'm gonna check him, see if he's a male or female.
He's a male.
You shoved your thumb up his what? Up his rectum.
What'd you learn from that? I learned whether he was a male or female.
Male, you can feel his penis.
Female, nothing.
Not so much of a penis.
Right.
You're right.
Don't do the stutter thing, right? Crazy.
Crazy, stupid job this one is.
Female.
[ Laughs .]
How many alligator [bleep.]
Do you reckon you've had your fingers in? Oh, a few thousand.
[ Laughs .]
Rowe: I'm ready.
Yikes! Not ready.
Thought I was ready.
Wasn't ready.
Not as ready as I had hoped to be.
There's an alligator on my foot.
Yikes! Yikes! If you give him time to think about it, he's gonna bite you.
You just got done telling me his brain was the size of a walnut.
How much thinking can he do? Oh! Enough to almost bite me.
I thought the ostrich guys were sick in the head.
You got major issues.
We're setting alligators free, basically.
We're gonna return them to the wild.
We're doing important work.
Oh, that's big.
Yikes! Not gonna make it! Every logical thing, every synapse in my brain that's still working is saying, "don't grab the alligator.
" They got time to react, they're gonna bite you.
Yeah.
Powerful son of a guns.
They're strong.
Yeah, they're strong.
Ohh! Let him go.
Let him go.
You'll get me bit.
Sorry about that.
Damn it.
See, that's how I want to grab them, on the top like that.
But I'm never I'm always Sex him up.
Gosh, I'd love to finish my thought, but I have to push my finger inside the alligator's bottom.
There you go.
Oh, that's a woman.
Oh, yeah.
Aah! Hooey! Ohh! Oh-ho! [ Chuckles .]
Phew.
You got bit? Bad? Aw.
Oh, man.
Come on.
Get out of here.
You got to get that thing fixed.
That's all right.
What the hell you talking about? We get bit all the time.
That happens in the movies, dude.
That doesn't hap You just got half your arm bitten off.
It'll be all right.
All right, let's just get Let's just bring me another alligator, I'll shove my finger up its [bleep.]
We can all go home.
Yikes! Yikes! God One just shot out from under my feet.
Savoie: He won't bite you.
[ Grunts .]
Boy? Girl? Boy.
Well, it was bound to be one or the other, huh? Whoa! Funny funny guy.
[ Sings an upbeat tune .]
I've only got the two hands, so I'm not gonna be able to violate this one.
Boy.
Boy.
So long, boy.
You're going home to freedom.
Well, Lance and alligators have been very close now for a long time.
There he took one in the side.
And today here, look at this.
Man, are you okay? Yep.
No, you're not.
Look at that.
You got bit.
See, I told you.
I was telling Jerry they bite.
He didn't believe me.
But you believe me, don't you? Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Not the first time you've been bit.
Are you gonna be okay? I mean, what's gonna happen to this? I'll be all right, just clean it with a little peroxide.
What's it gonna look like tomorrow? Not too bad might be a little swollen up a little bit.
Bull crap.
It's gonna be this big.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's about all.
Alligator ranchers, alligator farmers What they do is they understate everything.
I dodged a bullet today.
So, if you're home watching and thinking about getting into a pen with alligators because somebody named Jerry tells you it's a good idea Don't do it.
After a day of wrangling gators down on the farm, it was time for a blast on the bayou.
Well, it's official.
The U.
S.
military, along with the entire country, is now our research department.
If you have a dirty job or know of somebody who does, drop us a line Discovery.
Com/dirtyjobs.
If it's dirty or at least really cool, I'll come out and do it.
Thanks.
Man: 10-minute warning.
That's it.
I'm covered with grease at the moment and walking down a giant mountain of unrefined sugar.
I got a lot of sugar in my ear.
Hmm.
Is this dirty enough for you? Yeah, I think so.
[ Horn blares .]
Aw, I just [bleep.]
myself a little bit there.
That was dirty.
That was dirty.
"Dirty jobs," Tuesdays at 9:00.
My name's Mike rowe, and I've put a pig on a pedestal.
Why? Because even though he works in the dirt, this noble creature is the embodiment of hard work, self-sacrifice, and a good-natured willingness to get the job done, no matter how dirty.
Day after day, he goes about his business without complaint.
And night after night, he brings home the bacon.
[ Pig snorts .]
I am sorry I said that.
What's on your pedestal?