The BEST episodes of Dirty Jobs

Every episode of Dirty Jobs ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Dirty Jobs!

DIRTY JOBS profiles the unsung American laborers who make their living in the most unthinkable -- yet vital -- ways. Our brave host and apprentice Mike Rowe will introduce you to a hardworking group of men and women who overcome fear, danger and sometimes stench and overall ickiness to accomplish their daily tasks.

Last Updated: 3/12/2024Network: DiscoveryStatus: Continuing
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Poo Pot Maker
star
9.00
56 votes

#1 - Poo Pot Maker

Season 2 - Episode 38 - Aired 1/16/2007

Mike first goes to northern California to count dead salmon. Mike opens up the mail bag and answers a viewer's question about the snake researcher segment. Just when Mike thought he had seen it all, he visits a cow farm in Connecticut that specializes in making gardening pots out of cow manure.

Penguin Keeper
star
9.00
56 votes

#2 - Penguin Keeper

Season 2 - Episode 34 - Aired 12/5/2006

Even though Mike has worked with concrete before in Dallas, he visits concrete workers in California today to learn the art of concrete stamping. Then he goes to New Orleans to care for penguins. Finally, he gets in the mud to hunt bloodworms in Maine.

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Snake Wrangler
star
8.90
61 votes

#3 - Snake Wrangler

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 7/10/2007

Reptile handler

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
200 Jobs Look-Back
star
8.83
107 votes

#4 - 200 Jobs Look-Back

Season 4 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/24/2009

Mike takes a look back at his previous jobs, toughest co-workers, and his ongoing encounters with dirt and poo. With additional footage from "Skull Cleaner" and "Turkey Inseminator"

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
High-Rise Window Washer
star
8.78
49 votes

#5 - High-Rise Window Washer

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/13/2009

High-rise window washer, viewer mail: brine tank cleaner (Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay)

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Cedar Log Peeler
star
8.76
67 votes

#6 - Cedar Log Peeler

Season 6 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/22/2011

Mike works on a fish processing boat in the Bering Sea and cleans out the fish grinder. Then he heads to the Rapid River Rustic Mill to lend a hand with debarking, peeling and processing wood for a cedar log cabin.

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Turkey Inseminator
star
8.70
84 votes

#7 - Turkey Inseminator

Season 3 - Episode 29 - Aired 5/12/2008

Making a home energy efficient by improving insulation, turkey artificial insemination, viewer mail, car crusher

Greenland Shark Quest
star
8.67
57 votes

#8 - Greenland Shark Quest

Season 3 - Episode 34 - Aired 7/29/2008

In this special episode of Dirty Jobs Mike heads to the edge of the Arctic Circle, on the northeast side of Canada's Baffin Island in search of one of the most mysterious sharks known to man: the Greenland shark.

Watch Now:Amazon
Dirty Conversation
star
8.64
76 votes

#9 - Dirty Conversation

Season 6 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/21/2010

Mike Rowe takes a look at never-before-seen footage featuring unusual, skewed and quirky conversations Mike has had with a colorful array of characters.

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Sheep Castrator
star
8.60
90 votes

#10 - Sheep Castrator

Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/21/2008

Mike helps saw down a giant concrete wall at an auto dealership in order to make way for a new wash bay. Then he heads to a sheep farm where he tries shearing and castrating a sheep and is treated to a pate of Rocky Mountain Oysters.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Snake Researcher
star
8.50
56 votes

#11 - Snake Researcher

Season 2 - Episode 33 - Aired 11/28/2006

Mike Rowe wrangles some water snakes, steps into the shoes of hard working bait and lobster fishermen in Maine, and opens the viewer mail bag which results in some seaweed trimming.

Wine Maker
star
8.50
56 votes

#12 - Wine Maker

Season 2 - Episode 43 - Aired 3/6/2007

Mike first heads off to Napa Valley to learn how to make wine. Mike then gets dirty at a Kansas Cattle Ranch learning about the cattle business.

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Creepy Critters
star
8.48
62 votes

#13 - Creepy Critters

Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/27/2005

Mike Rowe steps into the world of creepy critters and gets up close and personal with some small creatures. Mike talks about some of the behind the scenes moments from when he was an exterminator, a crab fisherman, a bee keeper/exterminator, worn farmer, and finally a bat biologist.

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Locomotive Builder
star
8.47
107 votes

#14 - Locomotive Builder

Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/17/2009

Mike heads to MotivePower in Boise, Idaho to build and restore locomotives for his 200th dirty job.

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Dirty Presidents
star
8.46
61 votes

#15 - Dirty Presidents

Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/4/2008

Mike takes a look at what dirty jobs past presidents once performed. This Dirty Jobs Extravaganza will leave us all looking at the country in a new way.

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Bio-Diesel Man
star
8.45
101 votes

#16 - Bio-Diesel Man

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/25/2005

Mike goes to Washington and helps build a house out of cob, which is basically a combination of sand, clay, and straw.Mike then heads to California and works alongside Dave the bee man to get rid of some bee's infesting a church.Finally, Mike goes back to Washington and helps clean out the old oil from a deep fryer at a Mexican restaurant and then recycle the oil into fuel or bio-diesel.

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Dirtiest Water Jobs
star
8.41
61 votes

#17 - Dirtiest Water Jobs

Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/20/2005

Revisit of dirty jobs involving water: shark catcher/tagger ("Chinatown Garbage Collector"), golf ball diver ("Roadkill Cleaner"), oyster harvester ("Chick Sexer"), crawfish catcher ("Shrimper"), catfish noodler ("Worm Dung Farmer"), shrimper ("Shrimper")

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Concrete Finisher
star
8.38
68 votes

#18 - Concrete Finisher

Season 5 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/2/2010

Mike creates some concrete counter-tops and fire pits in Moss Landing, California and then reminisces about the scariest job he's ever done.

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Exotic Animal Keeper
star
8.38
76 votes

#19 - Exotic Animal Keeper

Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/13/2007

Mike Rowe rolls up his sleeves and gets dirty at a recycling center in San Francisco that requires their dump truck drivers to clean out the back of their dirty trucks after each shift. It's a dirty job that even Mike has a hard time completing.

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Steel Mill Worker
star
8.35
72 votes

#20 - Steel Mill Worker

Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/15/2008

Mike Rowe gets dirty in St. Louis as he works with a river barge demolition team and then melts down the scrap steel into molten metal.

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Salt Miner
star
8.30
84 votes

#21 - Salt Miner

Season 2 - Episode 42 - Aired 2/27/2007

Mike goes underground in Hutchinson, Kansas to learn about mining rock salt. This episode also focuses on the behind the scenes action in filming the show.

Watch Now:Amazon
Dairy Cow Midwife
star
8.30
84 votes

#22 - Dairy Cow Midwife

Season 3 - Episode 27 - Aired 4/28/2008

Inside an Indiana dairy farm, Mike learns how to milk a cow and use a blow torch to clean her udders. Then, Mike gets the inside scoop on how to inseminate a cow. Finally, he gets an up-close look at fatherhood as he helps deliver baby calves.

Sponge Diver
star
8.21
125 votes

#23 - Sponge Diver

Season 6 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/15/2011

Mike heads to Tarpon Springs, Florida to help collect sponges off the sea floor. Then he answers viewer mail and recounts his struggle with a metal fence post at an abandoned mine.

Watch Now:Amazon
Termite Researcher
star
8.17
99 votes

#24 - Termite Researcher

Season 6 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/1/2011

Mike visits with long-time fans Marilyn and Carolyn Maedel to look at never-before-seen footage at a crawfish factory in Louisiana. Then, he experiences the many hands-on duties that come with being a termite researcher on Sapolo Island in Georgia.

Watch Now:Amazon
Ostrich Farmer
star
8.11
159 votes

#25 - Ostrich Farmer

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/4/2005

Mike visits a coffee plantation in Hawaii and learns about the long process in how to make coffee, from picking the beans to roasting them. Mike then goes to Sausalito, CA to be a marine mammal rescuer and help rehabilitate some injured seals.Finally, Mike learns about ostrich farming, from their daily upkeep to collecting their eggs.

Watch Now:Apple TV