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Twiggy Tallant's trek from “The Nerdy Stripper” to rat-rod grease monkey to reality-TV star is one of the most fascinating I've heard.

First things first, the Toronto native is part of the new series Vegas Rat Rods, which debuts Thursday, April 17 on Discovery. In the show, Twiggy serves as an apprentice at a Las Vegas rat-rod shop called Welder Up, run by acclaimed fabricator Steve Darnell.

“I actually had no intentions of ever being on television, nor did I think anybody ever would put me on television,” Twiggy said. “How wrong I was.”

So here's the odd chronology of Twiggy's involvement:

Twiggy has an alter-ego, “The Nerdy Stripper.” You can find her on various social-media sites and she has performed internationally at shows and conventions. But about five years ago she was modelling at a car show in Toronto and she eyeballed her first “rat rod,” which are custom-made hot rods based upon, and utilizing, cars from bygone eras.

“It was a very love-at-first-sight situation, and I'm not a love-at-first-sight kind of girl,” Twiggy recalled. “I just completely stopped caring about my job and wanted to know everything about the car.”

Twiggy was hooked on rat rods, but she didn't want to own them, she wanted to build them. She took an automotive technology course. Then, through a friend, she became an apprentice at Welder Up.

“(Steve Darnell) told me after I got down there, 'A TV show might be in the works,' and I was like, 'Well, cool, good luck with that,' never thinking it would happen,” Twiggy said. “And even if it did happen,

Vegas Rat Rods&#; Twiggy Tallant is the one female among men at Welder Up&#;s automotive shop in Las Vegas, but that isn&#;t the only reason this tattooed vixen stands out&#; Twiggy is better known in many circles as the &#;Nerdy Stripper.&#;

The path that led Twiggy from stripping to another kind of body work was, as you&#;d expect, a bit unusual: She was working full-time at shows and conventions in her native Canada when she encountered her first &#;rat rod.&#;

&#;It was a very love-at-first-sight situation, and I&#;m not a love-at-first-sight kind of girl,&#; Twiggy told Toronto Sun. “I just completely stopped caring about my job and wanted to know everything about the car.”

Eager to learn while still making some money, Twiggy first dipped her toes in the water by taking an automotive technology class. Then she met Welder Up&#;s Steve Darnell and scored a spot as an apprentice in Las Vegas his shop &#; with all male coworkers.

&#;Most strippers have pretty tough skin, and you also need a tough skin to be a woman in this industry,” Twiggy said of building rat rods. “I&#;m definitely not ashamed of (stripping), and they were pretty understanding about the whole thing. I mean, some of them are Vegas locals, so they&#;re pretty used to people making money on their looks. That&#;s a big part of Vegas.&#;

Twiggy recently wrapped up her training with the Vegas shop and headed back to Canada&#; Although it&#;s apparent her heart belongs to rat rods.

&#;Thank you so much to Welder Up for having me for the last month while I completed hours for school,&#; she said on Friday. &#;Had a serious blast, learned tones, and can&#;t wait to start filming season 2 of Vegas Rat Rods. (Fingers crossed.)&#;

To help Twiggy&#;s dream come true, tune into Vegas Rat Rods on Discovery tonight at /c.

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The newest member of the Vegas Rat Rods cast is also the show&#;s youngest–and, relative to her age, is possibly the most experienced as well. year-old Cheyenne Ruether has been tinkering in the garage since she was just six years old, but has been working with cars and hot rods specifically since getting an apprenticeship in a Fort Saskatchewan SK body shop at just

Despite her years of experience, being a woman in a field dominated by men means Cheyenne has still had to deal with more than her fair share of disbelief and incredulity. She recently told Autotrader that, whether it&#;s the men running the shop or the ones whose cars she&#;s working on, Cheyenne has &#;dealt with that [her] whole career.&#; Fortunately, she&#;s now at the point where the job she does is more than enough justification–a position that Vegas Rat Rods is sure to solidify:

Honestly, for most women it’s scary for them to go into a shop dominated by men. But it’s something I’ve been used to my entire life. The first shop I walked into was the same thing – all guys. At 16 it was hard. As years progressed I learned more and I got an insane amount of hands-on experience and I got used to it&#;.I walk into a shop and don’t even say anything anymore. I let my work speak for itself. That goes a lot farther than talking about what you’re going to do. People sit there and think here’s this pretty girl walking into the shop and she doesn’t know what she’s doing and then I get in there and within a day their tune changes pretty damn quick.

Indeed, as Cheyenne explained for the Fort Saskatchewan Record, part of the reason she auditioned for Vegas Rat Rods was to defy expectations on a bigger stage. &#;I looked forward to being on a show I already enjoyed watching with my daughter and applying a background in autobody to switch over and begin working on an entire new class of automotives,&#; she said, &#;[but] most of all I wanted to prove a like-minded woman could step foot in a sho