Tim Kennedy on new adrenaline-inducing series Hard to Kill, his nonstop lifestyle, and more

Tim Kennedy recently took the time to speak with us about his non-stop lifestyle, and new adrenaline-inducing show, Hard To Kill, on Discovery.

Tim Kennedy is an active duty U.S. Special Forces Ranger qualified Green Beret sniper and a top five MMA fighter — basically, a really tough guy. But according to him, he would actually face some of his fiercest challenges on his new show on Discovery, Hard To Kill. The series follows Kennedy as he attempts to take on some of the most dangerous jobs in America — jobs in which failure can be fatal. Will he be ready?

Check out the trailer for his new show, and our exclusive interview, below…

HR: I’d like to open up by asking about Sheepdog Response, because what you’re doing there is incredible — giving civilians and first responders the tools they need to go out and protect others and themselves. The coolest thing about it, for me, is that this isn’t a business for you, it’s a passion. I mean you even have a Sheepdog fund for people who can’t afford the training. Could you just tell me a little bit about how things are going there and how you see it impacting the world?

Kennedy: Yeah, so as special forces guys, we’re force multipliers, ya know? That’s our job. You take us, you drop us into a country and we show people how to be free, and we train them and get them ready to fight for themselves. Looking at everything that’s been happening in this country, it’s scaring the crap out of me realizing that I can’t be everywhere, right? Like, you’re not gonna have a Tim Kennedy, you’re not gonna have a Kyle Lamb, a Jim Smith, a Chris Kyle — we’re not gonna [have those guys at the ready] in a movie theater or in that nightclub or at that Christmas party when somebody comes in and wants to hurt innocents.

Kennedy: So what’s the best way to get somebody to be there? To train as many [people] as you possibly can. So I’m trying to be a force multiplier. I’m trying to make Americans be badasses again so that when some little prick walks into a school,  you’ll be like, ‘Not today man. Every one of these kids are going home and you’re gonna go in the dirt.’

HR: That’s awesome. Do you plan to expand its reach in the future?

Kennedy: Yeah, so every month we’re expanding; we’re adding classes. We were doing one or two a year, now we’re doing one or two a month. And we had four instructors, now we have twenty. So we have a mission, we have a purpose, we have a goal and that’s to save human life; and we’re not gonna be thwarted in any way.

HR: Well thank you so much for what you’re doing there — seriously. So what inspired you to take on this show, Hard To Kill?

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Kennedy: I’ve been to so many places, I’ve done so many things — I’ve had an opportunity to get a glimpse into people’s world’s that normal Americans don’t get to see. And it’s humbling to go to the border in Loretto and see the roughnecks that are pumping oil, putting gas into the every-day American’s car [who] we never think about, ya know? Like, we get on a plane and we don’t think about the guys and gals that died making it possible for us to fly. You’re somewhere in Alaska and you hurt your leg, and you never think about the pilot that comes and picks you up, or you don’t think about when you’re skiing down the slope that there’s somebody out there that made sure that this avalanche doesn’t come and crush you and murder you. I mean there’s people that do that, and I’ve seen these people and I get glimpses at their lives. And they’re unappreciated, they’re not recognized, but they’re the most courageous, selfless group of people in the world. 

HR:  So you’re a special forces operator, a Green Beret, you’re an extremely gifted MMA fighter, and you’ve been battle-tested in high-stress environments that many of us can’t imagine. What’s unique about the challenges you face in Hard To Kill? [Was] there anything that was just like — ‘Wow, this threw me off,’ ya know?

Kennedy:  Yeah, freakin every single one of them was humiliating. I wasn’t good at any of them.

HR: I don’t believe you, but okay (laughs).

Kennedy: I mean, every day I went there, every day I showed up to work, it was with people that had been doing whatever that job was [for] their whole entire lives — sometimes for generation after generation after generation. They grew up doing it. Ya know, they’re two years old walking on the boat with their dad, or their dad’s dad was a pilot, and their dad was a pilot, and now they’re a pilot. And so it’s genetically ingrained in them. So even though I might be like an extraordinary person, I’m not extraordinary at that job. [So] every day I showed up, it was just like a gut punch realizing how remarkable and extraordinary exceptional and amazing these people are.

HR: That’s awesome. How do you feel, though, that your training and experience helped you in your journey? Do you feel like going through what you’ve been through helped you in any way in certain scenarios either mentally or physically?

Kennedy: Um, I mean it definitely helped, but it didn’t give me any advantages, ya know? I still got hurt, I still needed ice packs, I still had to get fixed. It’s physically brutal to do those jobs.

HR: Do you have any stories that you can share with us about your time during the show, either on or off camera, that had a special impact on your life either personally or professionally?

Kennedy: Yeah, like I think I’m a badass, ya know. I’m not gonna say I’m not scared or anything, but [when] cold creeps into your bones, [it doesn’t] matter how tough you are, [or] how great you are at things — you get buried in snow and it’s black and it’s thirty degrees — it gets to ya. You have a helicopter plunge into the ocean and that thirty-three-degree water hits your chest and hits your face — it gets to ya. No matter how tough you are, it gets ya. I mean that was the surprising thing, [that] you really get to understand and recognize that you’re never invincible, you’re never tough; you’re just trying to survive.

HR: So I have to ask just out of pure curiosity, because I feel like we need a badass actor in Hollywood, would you ever consider really going hard after acting [for] movies or TV shows?

Kennedy: No, it’s a hard pass. It’s a hard pass, man. Honestly, I don’t even like doing TV. The reason I’m doing this show is because I get to see these people that nobody appreciates and I get to do their job and I get to walk a day in their shoes and I get to taste the salt; I get to smell the cigarette the tobacco and the chew in these dudes’ mouths that have been on this boat for three months not sleeping for the past five days. And it just helps me appreciate and respect and maybe have a little bit more gratitude.

Ya know… everybody thinks about all the sacrifice that people have made [in] World War I World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, the war on terror, but what about the food that’s just been set on your table? Where’d that steak come from? There’s a cowboy somewhere that’s been working on a ranch since he was born that has made it possible. You hop in your truck, you drive to your next thing — how did that gas get in your car? There’s somebody that does something to make it happen, and it’s dangerous! There’s somebody underwater with a cutting torch that’s fixing a rig at two hundred feet underwater, and if they make a cut too deep, they’re going to get sucked into this tube — [all that] just so you can drive your car.

HR: So for you, this is [only] about bringing those people to light?

Kennedy: Yeah, this is a chance to appreciate [them].

HR: So no acting for you. I’m a little bummed, but that’s cool. I respect it. (laughs) So what’s next for you? What do you have on the horizon after this?

Kennedy: I got this show, I just got back from Africa; I’m going to be leaving here to go overseas for the military in a second. So I’m going to disappear for the month of August and some of September and then and then I’ll hit the ground running when I get back in October.

Hard to Kill premieres on Discovery on Tuesday, July 31, at 10 p.m.