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Innkeeper Jimmie LeFresne lost half of his staff when The Week the Women Went came to his small Nova Scotia village last fall.

Sure, hiring his buddies to scrub bathtubs and feed guests was nerve-racking, but the thing that's really got LeFresne worked up before the reality show's premiere tomorrow is what might have slipped out during filming.

"Oh, my land! I had a mike on me from 8 in the morning till 9 at night. What did I say?" LeFresne, 53, said with a laugh from Tatamagouche, where the show's second season was shot.

"When they do put a mike on you in the morning, your guard goes up and you try to do things right, but you quickly lose that."

Produced by Vancouver-based Paperny Films Inc., and set to air on CBC Television, the latest instalment of the eight-part reality series follows LeFresne and other men in the picturesque community as they cook, clean, take care of their kids and go to work - all without the help of the women in their lives.

The women of Tatamagouche - about a two hours' drive north of Halifax - are also part of the series, albeit living it up at a luxury spa in St. Andrews by the Sea, N.B.

There's excitement among the women at the thought of leaving it all behind, but they fear the 300-year-old village might collapse into utter chaos in their absence.

Based on a successful BBC series of the same name, the Canadian series made its debut last year in the central Alberta town of Hardisty.

This season has a different, East Coast feel and offers viewers a different slice of life, executive producer David Paperny said.

Still, the overall theme of survival is the same.

"A lot of these men were very cocky, were very naive, were very self-confident when the week started, and by day one, they were telling a different story," Paperny said. "They were completely out of their comfort zone within hours."

Tomorrow's one-hour premiere features plenty of laughs thanks to kids' quips, kitchen mishaps - a dish towel barely survives a run-in with a hot burner - and novice diaper changers.

"Me and diapers don't get along at all. If I have to change a diaper, I usually have to have a bucket beside me," moans one man, who is later shown gagging while changing his cooing infant daughter.

At the start of the social experiment, some mothers express hope they will be shown a little more appreciation upon their return.

One woman just wants her husband to repair a leaky kitchen ceiling that has been dripping onto the stove for two years.

Micah Stewart, who was among the many husbands whose wives left them behind for a week, said he was able to spend more time with his two young children, which had become a sore spot for the couple.

"Once she left and the kids were here looking at me, reality hit home," said Stewart, 28, a carpenter. "It was challenging, but I felt good about it. And the kids seemed to have fun."

Though he's nervous about his small-screen debut, LeFresne, who is married with two grown children, said the overall experience was "absolutely wonderful."

There were also no complaints from his inn's guests, who had no idea they would be cast in a reality show when they booked a Nova Scotia getaway.

"The men that I got to come down to the inn [to work] I said, 'Look, let's do this for fun. We can't do what the women do, so let's do it our way and have fun at it,' " LeFresne said.

"We'll have the same attitude when we're watching it. ... I think once we get the first show over with, everyone will be really comfortable, and everyone'll be talking about."

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