Scrounging Around on a New Job

Karyn Bryant’s new job is pure rubbish.

Bryant’s distinctively curly hair and accessible glamour have been key points of her appeal in various gigs ranging from her stints as host of VH1’s “Name That Video” and a love interest on the UPN comedy “Malcolm and Eddie.” But Bryant will be getting her hands--and more--dirty as she joins Tyler Harcott in hosting TLC’s “Junkyard Wars.”

The series, returning Wednesday at 9 p.m. for its fourth season, concerns two teams competing to create contraptions with parts they scrounge out of a junkyard.

“I probably now have the dirtiest job in television,” Bryant said during a break in filming last week. “We get pretty grimy. But we try as best as we can to stay fresh, and there are lots of body wipes on the set.”

The show is filmed in a junkyard in the San Fernando Valley. In the first installment, the two teams attempt to build mud buggies. In future shows, the competitors construct racing submarines, railroad racers, and paddlewheel boats.

Bryant says the show has already had an effect on her home life: “I’m now a little more reluctant to throw things away.”