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“We get back to where we started, to where our roots are,” Davis says. “I know we’re talking about Season 5, but I’m actually excited to be back in the trucks again and not managing people as much. I’m excited to get onto Season 6, believe it or not.”

We believe it. Getting through Season 5 will be an emotional journey. The appeal of Highway Thru Hell has always been two-fold. Watching the day-to-day drama of keeping Canada’s most hazardous trucking routes clear and operational, whether it be 63 and 881 in Alberta or the Coquihalla in B.C.’s interior, has always provided viewers the visceral thrill of watching big trucks and heavy equipment in action, not to mention the bad weather and spectacular crashes that precedes that action. But in the past few seasons, there has also been an interest in watching Davis and his crew deal with the growing pains of the business as the company expanded and split operations between the two provinces. That sort of behind-the-scenes, business-side drama takes centre stage this season and it isn’t pretty.

“I’ll tell you, episode No. 1 for me is a very emotional episode,” Davis says. “I’m not going to give away what happens in that episode, but you will see me having tears. There’s some emotional stuff that happens and it’s all real and it’s all a derivative of me trying to survive in business.”

Which is saying something when it comes to the seemingly unflappable Davis, the self-described “steady-Eddie” of reality TV. But one gets the distinct impression that he is a little relieved that Alberta is in his rear-view mirror, at least when it comes to his business dealings. Less is more has become Davis’s mantra, he says.