<Tr> <Th> Original network </Th> <Td> History </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Original release </Th> <Td> June 22, 2015 (2015 - 06 - 22)--present </Td> </Tr> <P> Forged in Fire is an American competition series that airs on the History channel, and is produced by Outpost Entertainment, a Leftfield Entertainment company . In each episode, four bladesmiths compete in a three - round elimination contest to forge bladed weapons, with the overall winner receiving $10,000 and the day's championship title . The series is hosted by Wil Willis, with a three - judge panel consisting of J. Neilson (Jason Knight during portions of season 3 and 4; Ben Abbott during portions of season 4), David Baker, and Doug Marcaida, experts in weapon history and use . History ordered an initial eight episodes of the series with the first program premiering on Monday, June 22, 2015, at 10pm ET . Season two premiered on February 16, 2016 . The third season premiered with a "champion of champions" match on August 23, 2016, and was announced as having 16 episodes . The fourth season premiered on April 11, 2017, with a "Judges' Pick" episode in which the four judges (Neilson, Knight, Baker, Marcaida) each selected one smith from past seasons to compete again . The fifth season premiered on March 7, 2018 . </P> <P> On April 17, 2018, a spin - off series titled Forged in Fire: Knife or Death premiered on History . This series is hosted by Bill Goldberg and co-hosted by Tu Lam, a martial arts expert and retired member of the Green Berets . </P>

When does season 5 forged in fire start