Melissa Burns, a Union County resident and farmer, performs a brick-laying challenge as a contestant on the show “Tough as Nails” which premieres tonight at 8 p.m. on CBS. (Photo submitted)
Union County residents tuning into CBS tonight might see a familiar face in the primetime programming lineup.
Marysville resident and third generation farmer, Melissa Burns, will be appearing as a contestant on the new CBS show, “Tough as Nails.”
Burns, originally from Ostrander and a 2010 graduate of Buckeye Valley High School in Delaware, said the show was an amazing experience but, for her, its great strength is in showcasing the hard work of everyday people.
“You learn so much about what other people do and see the importance of the jobs of so many people across the country,” she said. “The people on this show are really the people that keep us going every day.”
The chance of a lifetime
Burns works as a full-time farmer outside of Marysville, raising conventional and organic row crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans and raising beef and pork with her husband, Ron, also a lifelong farmer and 2007 graduate of Fairbanks High School.
“We both grew up around farming and it has really been our whole lives,” Burns said. “I’ve always been interested in agriculture and education. I also think about things in terms of nutrition. Food, farming and fitness is really what I’m focused on.”
Burns runs a social media account that highlights and chronicles those farming and fitness interests which caught the attention of CBS producer, Phil Keoghan.
“I just got a message one day from Phil Keoghan from The Amazing Race. He reached out to me after he saw my posts and workout routines,” Burns said. “He reached out and said I should try out for this show he was working on.”
She said Keoghan had been developing the show for a decade and was researching farm related topics on social media when he found her account. After some communication and a video call via Skype last fall, Burns was asked to go to an audition.
“Me and Ron went to Cincinnati in November,” she said. “I just went in my regular work attire. I got on stage, talked about myself and was asked a few things. Then asked about my mental toughness.”
Part of the audition, Burns said, was an 8-minute physical challenge.
“They asked us to do burpees. I got to 89 before I was done,” she said. Burpees are strength and aerobic exercises that start with a person standing straight up, going into a squat position, then into a plank or push-up position, returning to the squat, rising into a jump and then repeating.
“I got a phone call a week and a half later and was told I was one of 40 people that would be sent to Los Angeles for a final audition,” Burns said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Tough as nails
“I went back home for Christmas and right after the first of the year, I was backing up a semi when I got the call and they said I made the cast,” Burns said.
She was brought to Los Angeles again where she eventually became part of the final 12-person cast made up of six men and six women all from varying professional backgrounds—many in trades such as welding, construction or ironwork.
Burns said she was intrigued by the premise of highlighting these kinds of jobs on the show.
“So many people look down on the trades and I don’t know why,” she said. “The whole concept of the show to me is eye-opening. These are important jobs that people do and aren’t easy.”
The show consists of contestants performing actual “jobs,” not “challenges” like other reality game shows, and jobs related to the fields contestants work in, Burns added. She said the work was difficult to perform but exciting to learn.
“These are jobs people do every day and it really makes you think about what goes into getting hard work done,” she said. “The show is as much about teamwork as it is the individual and how tough people have to be to do those jobs every day.”
Burns spent 29 days shooting the show in cities around California and came back to Ohio in February of this year. Contestants on the show competed for a $200,000 prize and a 2020 Ford pickup truck.
Work ethic
While in school, Burns was actively involved in many agriculture related organizations. She was part of 4-H for 14 years and did FFA all four years of high school.
“I grew up on a dairy farm and I’ve always been involved in ag. I’m still involved in 4-H. I was always involved in everything to do with agriculture,” said Burns. “The things you learn in those groups you take with you for the rest of your life. I know I did and in a lot of ways my work ethic comes from the things I learned in 4-H or FFA.”
After high school, Burns pursued a degree in teaching which she eventually received but found herself using it less in school and more in farm life.
“I’ve always been interested in education and my husband and I both try our best to educate the people we work with, whether its buyers or people at farm markets, on the things we do and the things we grow,” she said. “Knowing where food comes from and about the things we put in our bodies and what goes into getting it to people is so important.”
Burns is still involved in ag as a member of the Union County Farm Bureau May through October, the Ohio Farm Bureau and Ohio Ayrshire Breeders Association.
“Being on the show was an awesome experience and I hope people enjoy watching it,” she said. “But it is good being back doing what we do.”
Burns and her husband are expecting a baby boy due in November. “Tough as Nails” airs Wednesday, July 8 at 8p.m. on CBS.