Portland cement mason hopes competing on ‘Tough As Nails’ will help celebrate manual labor

"Tough As Nails" returns for Season 2 on Wednesday, with a cast including Liz "Knuckles" Nichols, a Portland cement mason. (Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS) CBS

Liz "Knuckles"Nichols never had a goal of being on TV. But she says that after watching the first season of the show, "Tough As Nails," she thought, "I could do this. It looked like so much fun."

Not everybody might view the CBS reality show -- in which people from such fields as roofing, welding and ironworking compete in demanding physical and mental challenges – as a good time. But Nichols, a cement mason from Portland, says she loves competing, and "also I love manual labor."

Nichols is one of the 12 workers who will be competing in Season 2 of "Tough As Nails" when the show returns on Wednesday, Feb. 10. The CBS series, created and hosted by Phil Keoghan ("The Amazing Race"), did well when it premiered over the summer with a cast that included another Oregon contestant, Callie Nichols, a commercial fisherman who lived in Sisters.

(How to stream "Tough As Nails": The series is streaming on fuboTV and CBS All Access)

The new season features Nichols and fellow competitors including a steelworker, pipe welder, travel nurse, UPS delivery driver, a retired Air Force Colonel, and more.

This season, the competitors will take on challenges that take place in such actual job sites as farms, construction areas, high-rise buildings, and more. While contestants may lose individual competitions, they will get to stay on the show and have the opportunity to win additional cash prizes in the team competition that lasts all season.

In press materials, Keoghan describes "Tough As Nails" as "a celebration of the hard-working men and women who are not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty to do a hard day's work." Season 2 is also intended to honor the essential workers whose labors to keep the economy running have become even more apparent during the pandemic.

Liz "Knuckles" Nichols welcomed the chance to use her love of competition as a cast member on "Tough As Nails" Season 2. (Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS) CBS

Nichols, 37, says she got cast on "Tough As Nails" Season 2 after seeing a social media notice seeking recruits for the show. Nichols applied, made it through different stages of the process, and wound up filming the show this fall, in the Los Angeles area.

For Nichols, a key motivation for going on "Tough As Nails" was to increase "visibility of the trades," a goal that she says is "hugely important to me." The Waltham, Massachusetts native recalls attending Hampshire College, and earning a liberal arts degree.

It was during college when people gave her the nickname, "Knuckles," she says. "I played Ultimate Frisbee in college," and getting nicknames was part of that world. "Knuckles" was a play on her last name, Nichols.

Nichols says her liberal arts degree didn't give her what she needed. "I just was never able to translate that into a living wage career, with benefits, where I could live comfortably."

Getting into the trades made all the difference, Nichols says. "I was 29 when I joined my union, and I wish I had known about these jobs when I was 18. Going to college wasn't the right path for me, but it's pushed so hard these days."

Nichols and her now-husband moved from Massachusetts to Portland about 10 years ago. "We wanted to be near the mountains, near the ocean, we’re into bike commuting, so Portland checked all the boxes."

In Portland, Nichols got into the trades through the Oregon Tradeswomen organization. "I did an apprenticeship program with them. I can't sing their praises high enough."

Filming "Tough As Nails," Nichols says, "was just a blast, getting to experience different trades, and try stuff out. It was hard, and it was challenging, too."

In Portland, Nichols has been busy working as a cement mason. Her job includes pouring and finishing concrete, and projects include working on high-rise buildings, sidewalks, and more.

"It's very satisfying work, because at the end of the day, there's a finished product," Nichols says. If you’re pouring concrete, you’re putting in a floor where there wasn't a floor, or creating a sidewalk or set of stairs that weren't that before.

"It's very unpredictable, because the weather affects how fast or slow the concrete sets," Nichols says. "Construction in Portland is booming. I get a workout."

"Tough As Nails" Season 2 premieres at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10 on CBS.

-- Kristi Turnquist

[email protected] 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist

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