ian zimmerman
Dr. Mackall,
Good morning! I hope your day is going well so far! I wanted to email and tell you that I am now allowed to promote the show! The airing date is this Wednesday, Nov 2nd at 10pm. It will be airing on the History Channel. I am not allowed to say very much regarding the show or what happens on it still but I can at least provide some background info as well as the process I went through thankfully. So the show is about blacksmithing; they take four contestants each week, and put them through three rounds of challenges. After each round, a contestant is eliminated, and then by the end of the third round, there is a Forged In Fire Champion. These challenges range in difficultly and vary from episode to episode.
I started blacksmithing in April of 2020 due to lack of things to do in the quarantine. It’s been what I have done for a job throughout the past two and a half years. I also have been working as an intern jeweler at MarBills Jewelry in Belle Vernon some on the weekends to further my trade in that. I also have been taking some Jewelry courses offered here at Cal. I applied for the show last fall, sitting in Gold Rush one morning, after being called by one of the casting crew. They encouraged me to reapply for this season (season 9) as I had previously applied for season 8. I went through a pretty thorough interview and background check process, as well as an evaluation of my previous work and skill set. They liked that i am a young and upcoming blade smith thankfully. I didn’t believe I would get to do it though, as I was in season for cross country and track. A few months went by and didn’t hear much, and then out of the blue, I got a call. They asked if I could be 7 hours North in two weeks. I was ecstatic. After praying about it and talking with my Coach, fiancée, and professors, I gave them an answer: YES! I found myself driving to where they film the show two weeks later. This was during April of last semester. It was directly in the middle of track season, which made it difficult to choose between two things I was both passionate about. My coach encouraged me to go give it a shot, as I wouldn’t get this opportunity everyday. I was and still an incredibly grateful for all the support I recieved to go give it my best efforts. Although I cannot reveal any information on what happened while I was up there last Spring, I can say that the mindset and perseverance Coach Caulfield and my high school coach, Coach Sherlock help to create in me played a massive role in how I approached the challenges I faced up there. It was all in all just a wonderful experience and I am very blessed to have been able to compete on the show. My Faith in the Lord was also a big reason as to why I went; I knew throughout the process that anything could happen, so I just chose to trust God and know that His plan would work out for His glory. There is a verse from the Bible: Isaiah 54:16-17, that talks about how God created the blacksmith, and with that He promises that no weapon forged against me with prevail. This gave me a much needed piece when embarking on this adventure; to know that I would be able to overcome any challenge allowed me to be free of the pressures that are usually felt at such a surreal opportunity. My hometown supported me just as much as well, which is a real blessing to know anytime you have something that you feel like you’re representing not only yourself, but also your community and school/team. My blacksmithing and jewelry work can be seen on my instagram or Facebook pages at Ian Z Knives.
I sincerely thank you for taking an interest in this, I am very proud to have been able to go and represent the school in a way that is not common or how I usually would with my distance running endeavors. If there’s any questions I can answer or anything please let me know. Again thank you so much for your time and care, God bless – Ian Z ??