Who Is Tim Kennedy? Discovery’s New Badass in “Hard To Kill”

Discovery Channel

If you had to pick one guy to go into battle with you, whatever the situation, Tim Kennedy would top your list. An active, Ranger-qualified, Green Beret Special Forces sniper and top MMA fighter, Kennedy’s grit and dedication to hard work and humanity are admirable. In Discovery Channel’s new Hard to Kill (Tuesdays at 10/9c), Kennedy shines the spotlight on some of America’s most hardworking people, giving viewers a glimpse at these unsung heroes and what it truly takes to do their jobs. Here he takes on a few of our random questions.

So did any of the jobs you tried interest you in terms of a future occupation?
No. Nope. No. Not a single one of them. I almost get burned alive inside of a plane. And then I almost freeze to death in a helicopter in the Arctic Ocean. Then I almost get run over and murdered by a bull. Then I almost get blown up on the side of a building when I’m playing with a bomb. So no, Barb, there’s not a single one of these jobs that I would survive a month doing. … I can’t even scratch the surface of how painfully difficult it is to do these jobs.

How did you decide what occupations you would be willing to attempt?
It had nothing to do with me picking which jobs I was going to do. I’m too dumb to change and too stupid to realize I’m probably going to die. It wasn’t like a diamond in the rough. It was like millions and millions of diamonds and you just had to pick which one you wanted to wear for the day. … I can’t even scratch the surface of how painfully difficult it is to do these jobs. I got like the million dollar tour of these jobs, they are making sure I don’t get hurt.

So what are some of the occupations we’re going to see this first season?
You’ll see an experimental test pilot, bomb techs (guys who diffuse bombs and dispose of them on military bases). We go and do commercial fishing, which was a pretty surprisingly difficult job. I was like, “Ah, fisherman — super easy. Anyone can fish.” The whole entire crew — every single person holding a microphone, camera, etc. — everyone was throwing up on everything within 10 feet of them and we had just gone out of the harbor and were going to be fishing for 12 hours.

How humbling was it to be educated on what it actually takes to do some of these jobs?
I’m one of the baddest mother@#$%ers on the planet. I’ve been to combat a dozen times. I’m a Special Forces Sniper, Ranger-qualified Green Beret, and I fought in the UFC for 15 years, and every single day I would show up to work, I would be humiliated by this everyday commonplace person doing this job.

How scared were you?
I’m not unique in any way, but I started jumping out of airplanes when I was 16. I got blown up the first time I was in combat when I was 24. So when it comes to the fear thing, we actually have someone on the show physically present that does have some form of common sense and looks at what we’re going to do and says [with reason and objectivity], “OK, Tim’s probably going to die here.”

Think you have a job Tim couldn’t handle? Let’s hear about it below!