tough yarns.
"the conversations aotearoa's tradies actually have. on a building site, on the bench, with a cold one."
the show
the show format.
tough yarns is a long-running social tv show built for spark nz. eight-minute episodes, three tradies, one yarn that escalates. the brand is in the room, never in front of the camera.
the format is simple: pick a topic that splits a building site (which power tool brand, who picks up the bill, the worst ute), put three real tradies in chairs, give them a cold one, run the camera until something honest comes out.
spark briefed us in 2023 to make 'something a tradie would watch on their lunch break'. tough yarns has been the unbroken answer to that brief for three seasons.
the trailer.
recent episodes.
which brand of drill is actually worth it.
three sparkies, one carpenter, one civil engineer, twelve drills. things get heated.
the ute debate · ranger vs hilux vs amarok.
opinions are strong. evidence is weak. one of them owns three at once.
who picks up the bill at smoko.
the unwritten rules of who pays for what on site, with a side debate on pies.
the worst apprentice you ever had.
three war stories, all true, names redacted. one ends with a hammer through a wall.
diy or pay a tradie · what's actually worth it.
the chart they argue over for forty-two minutes. we cut it down to seven.
tools you'd never lend out.
turns out everyone has the same one item, and it's not what you'd expect.