Reality Rumors

Ice Road Truckers’ upcoming second season was apparently forced from filming on the same slippery road as its first season and instead had to find a new location.

While the first season of the History Channel reality series followed truckers hauling diamond mining equipment across frozen lakes just miles from the Arctic Circle, the diamond mines that own those treacherous winter roads outside of Yellowknife, Canada would not allow the show’s upcoming second season to do the same, The New York Post reported Wednesday.

“We’ve had no problems working with the mines; we’ve found them to be very cooperative,” said the History Channel in a statement obtained by The Post, declining to directly comment on the conflict with the mines’ operators.

The drivers featured in Ice Road Truckers’ first season were responsible for supplying the diamond mines just outside of Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territory, which required them to traverse extremely treacherous terrain owned by gem mining companies Diavik Diamonds and BHP.

Officials for both companies were reportedly not pleased with the way the show’s first season portrayed behavior on the ice road, according to The Post, and felt the show presented the six featured drivers as money-hungry, risk-taking “cowboys.” In addition, officials believe the show’s camera crews caused distractions for the drivers and have since issued new rules prohibiting commercial filming on the road, The Post reported.

For Ice Road Truckers’ second season, the truckers will be moving oil exploration machinery on an ice road in the Northwest Territories’ Inuvik Region — an area that’s about 2,500 miles farther north than the first installment’s location, The Post reported.

“To keep the series fresh and intriguing, with the assistance of the Territorial Government, we identified numerous potential roads and the current location was selected because of its character and history,” said History Channel in the statement. “This is a unique ice road that presents a distinctive set of challenges that fans of the show will appreciate.”

Four of the show’s first-season drivers — Hugh Rowland, Alex Debogorski, Rick Yamm and Drew Sherwood — returned for the second edition, according to The Post, which added there will also be a couple of new drivers.

Ice Road Truckers’ second season will premiere Sunday, June 1 at 9PM ET/PT on History Channel.