Australian Dirty Jobs Fan Ali Schneider Meets Mike & the Dirty Crew Down Under

As a longtime fan of Mike Rowe and Dirty Jobs, I was always hopeful to have them visit my country Australia someday.

So I began a lighthearted campaign titled “Dirty Jobs Down Under – Invitation to Australia”. I thought if I could round up as many Australian dirty jobs as I could find, and send them through to Discovery as a bulk request, along with Australian fan mail, maps, info and more, it may just convince them to come to Australia. The campaign gained support from hundreds of Australian parties, plus received some local media attention.

In the year that followed there were several hints that Dirty Jobs were coming to Australia, but nothing had been confirmed, it had been nearly 2 years since I began the campaign, when I finally received the good news from Dave Barsky himself, “We’re coming to Australia!”.

A few months later I proudly welcomed Barsky and the crew to Australia, greeting them at Adelaide Airport as they arrived.

My family and I were then invited to watch a segment of Dirty Jobs Down Under being filmed. My daughters Jessica (age 5) and Kaitlin (age 9) were two very happy Dirty Jobs fans indeed. Mike was great with them.

We joined Mike and the crew for lunch where Mike kindly obliged to signing many autographs for my family and friends. He also took the time to also pose for some photographs.

But the best was yet to come. It was more than an honor to be asked by Dave to actually appear in a segment on the show. I was quite overwhelmed. The shoot was a lot fun, but I was so camera shy I could hardly get a word out of my mouth! Mike makes it seem all too easy. Not even Mike’s words “What, not how” were enough on this occasion. However, it was an incredible experience and one that I will never forget.

Kriss and I were also able to join Mike, Dave, Ryan and Bettina (South Australian Media Assistant) for a few beers at a pub. It was great engaging in just general conversation for a couple of hours and hearing their stories from the many Dirty Jobs episodes they had filmed over the years. After a few beers too many though, there was an incident between Mike and I that broke his (very expensive looking) sunglasses. Oops! Only recently did a package arrive from Barsky containing this pair of broken sunglasses which Mike had autographed for me. “We’ll always have Adelaide” on one lens, “See you again” on the other, a wonderful keepsake.

My 40th Birthday Party was on when Mike and the crew were filming in Coober Pedy in outback South Australia. Kriss had arranged with the crew a very special surprise. They made me a birthday video which also thanked me for the help I gave the DJ crew in Australia. Kriss played this video on the big screen at the party. Yes, I was surprised and completely blown away. In fact, it moved me to tears!

We caught up with Mike and the crew one last time when they returned from Cooper Pedy. From what I heard they had a fantastic time there.

The DJ crew then left Adelaide for Darwin where they were to continue on their Australian adventure.

It was a little hectic keeping up with the ever changing schedule of a reality TV show but was worth every minute. (By the end of it I basically had Barsky on speed-dial!). I also worked a little behind the scenes on another segment for the show.

Mike Rowe as a person completely exceeded all my expectations. He was very easy to talk to, a great listener and very polite. So passionate about his mrW mission too.

Thanks for such an amazing time, Mike and crew. The next round is on me. Cheers!

Mike Rowe Surprises with a Special Birthday Wish