Photo courtesy: CBC.
‘Must Love Dogs’ will pull in animal lovers, but there are intriguing football storylines in the 10-episode CBC show, which was released on CBC Gem April 20, starring CFL star Brady Oliveira and his girlfriend, Alex Blumberg.
“It gives you a real insight into what dog rescue looks like, the work that we do across northern Manitoba with a bunch of different organizations in Winnipeg. It gives you a glimpse of the football season,” Oliveira told 3DownNation.
“From training camp, the ups and downs, the injury that I dealt with my shoulder last season, the raw emotions of losing that playoff game in Montreal when the camera crew is there documenting everything.”
The Blue Bombers’ starting running back began filming last April and finished shooting in mid-December. ‘Must Love Dogs’ captures the couple’s life in all facets through the 2025 Canadian Football League season. Oliveira admitted there was a learning curve for him becoming a cast member in his own reality broadcast show, while he also had to manage being a professional football player along with his filming commitments.
“I was extremely busy before training camp started. I have an amazing support system, with my family, with my girlfriend. Them being able to take certain things off my plate and understanding that, OK, when it’s football, it’s football — I need to put all my energy and focus into this, which I absolutely did,” he said.
“I was able to perform at a high level every single game while filming a TV show that not many people knew I was doing, a full-time job in its own sense. I owe it to the people around me, I had a great support system. Honestly, my girlfriend, Alex, took so much off my plate, which allowed me to play at a high level while also filming a full reality TV show.”
The three-down league’s 2024 Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian left his team’s 2025 season-opening win over the B.C. Lions in the first quarter after two carries for 49 yards with an upper-body injury. That setback caused him to miss two games while rookie Canadian Matthew Peterson started in his place. In the show, there’s a behind-the-scenes segment where you see Oliveira receiving treatment with needles in his shoulder and talking through his recovery.
“The weeks as they’ve gone on, the percentage that I’m feeling, where my headspace is at. Me trying to rush the injury is definitely what I was trying to do last season. Hearing people around me voice their concerns and opinions about my overall health and longevity. It’s pretty cool that you get a true insight, and ‘Must Love Dogs’ is going to give that to you,” he said.
Alex Blumberg. Photo courtesy: CBC.
“My shoulder feels 100 percent. Definitely spent a lot of time and will continue working on those small muscles around my shoulder so that doesn’t happen again. Even though it was a fluke incident, things like that happen. We play a contact sport.”
The five-foot-1o, 229-pound Winnipeg native was still able to rush for over 1,000 yards — 1,163 to be exact — in 15 regular season outings last year. That gave him his fourth straight season with 1,000 rushing yards since taking over as the Blue Bombers’ primary running back in 2022. His elite production and ability to stay relatively healthy despite playing a bruising position benefited Oliveira in contract extension negotiations with the Blue and Gold.
“As you’ll see in episode one, there’s talks about my contract is up, I have to play out this year, and I have to also have a very good season in hopes to earn another contract with Winnipeg. You’re very much year-to-year in this industry. Performance-based business. If you perform, you get paid. If you don’t perform, you don’t get paid. It’s as simple as that. I talk about that early in the season and then also that uncertainty we chat about,” he said.
‘Must Love Dogs’ features a scene in December with Oliveira, Blumberg and Nic Demski driving to a rescue together. Demski, also a Winnipeg native, had an expiring agreement just like his teammate. Both men were wondering what’s going to happen with their respective football futures. Later on, there’s a scene where Oliveira and Blumberg are walking their dogs and discuss possibly having to move to a different city to continue his playing career.
“That’s all documented. It shows a whirlwind of emotions. It’s a roller coaster, and you get to see every side of it. It gives such real, genuine responses. When we started filming the show, Alex and I very much wanted to be ourselves — I think that’s how you get the most amazing product — you’re going to get the most real side of us,” the 28-year-old said.
“Conversations with my agent on the phone, what he’s hearing, what’s going on, what the negotiation talks are like. Ultimately, the reaction of me finding out that I’m going to sign a three-year contract and the film crew following me to the stadium, I got my dog there with me, Gunnar, signed the contract.”
Oliveira will earn $290,000 in 2026, then $300,000 in 2027 and 2028. He was already the CFL’s highest-paid running back, earning $240,000 in 2025.
