Deadliest Catch Archives - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

How Much Do Deckhands Make on ‘Deadliest Catch’?

Megan Elliott — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 19:55:00 +0000

Crab fishing is not a job for the weak. But for those willing to take on the risk – like the cast of Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch – the payoff can be substantial. Captains of Alaskan fishing boats can make good money, with Jake Anderson once sharing that he grossed more than $2 million from just 11 days of fishing. But what about the deckhands who work under them?

How much does the average fisherman earn?

‘Deadliest Catch’ | Discovery Channel

Salaries for people who work in commercial fishing can vary widely. A deckhand’s earnings will usually be based on each boat’s total catch, which can be unpredictable from season to season. The median annual wage for fishing and hunting workers is $28,530, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

‘Deadliest Catch’ deckhands can earn as much as $50,000 per season

While the median wage for fishermen is not high, there is potential to earn substantial sums of money in a short amount of time.

“For crab seasons, deckhands can typically make anywhere from $15,000 to $50,000 for a couple months of work,” Deadliest Catch cast member Kenny Ripka told People (via YouTube) in 2016.

“My guys this year, I think for 6 weeks, they made $30,000,” Gary Ripka added.

For captains, the potential earnings are significantly higher. Kenny said there were years when he made $150,000 or more in a season.

Some deckhands earn a daily rate rather than a percentage of catch

People working as part of the crew on a fishing vessel are not subject to minimum wage laws. The more experienced a deckhand, the more they are likely to earn.

“Wages are often based on a share or percentage of harvest earnings,” notes the Alaska Department of Labor. “Newcomer deckhand earnings range from 1.5% to 10% of the adjusted gross catch, depending on location and type of fishery and the skills the worker possesses.”

In some cases, deckhands might be paid a daily rate of $50 to $100 rather than a percentage of the catch.

Tough times for the fishing industry have affected deckhand pay, with some share rates trending downward, according to the state’s Department of Labor. Crew members must also cover some costs themselves, such as paying for a fishing license and providing their own wet weather gear and gloves. They may also have to cover a portion of the ship’s operating costs, including food, fuel, and ice.

Those who sign on to work on a fishing boat won’t just be fishing. “Crew members are expected to perform work on their vessel and its associated gear without additional pay for these activities,” according to the DOL. “The daily rate, a share, or percentage of the catch is considered pay for all work performed. New crew members are advised to obtain a signed work agreement or contract that clearly explains the pay and other entitlements before going to work.”

Deadliest Catch airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel. Episodes also stream on Max.

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‘Deadliest Catch’ Star Sig Hansen Remembers Nick Mavar: ‘More Than a Crew Member’

Megan Elliott — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 23:31:25 +0000

Deadliest Catch cast members are remembering Nick Mavar following his death at age 59.

Mavar died June 13 after experiencing a medical emergency at a boatyard in Alaska. He appeared in almost 100 episodes of the Discovery Channel reality series between 2005 and 2021.

Sig Hansen of ‘Deadliest Catch’ pays tribute to Nick Mavar

During his time on Deadliest Catch, Mavar worked as a deckhand with Captain Sig Hansen on the F/V Northwestern. After Mavar’s death, Hansen paid tribute to him in a Facebook post.

“I have known Nick Mavar for my entire fishing career, he has worked on our family boat for 25 plus years,” Hansen wrote. “He was more than a crew member, he was a very good friend and a right hand man.”

“The passing of Nick Mavar spread through the fishing community like wild fire,” he added. “This is no surprise because of how well known and respected he was by the fishing fleet.”

Fellow Deadliest Catch cast member Captain Keith Colburn echoed Hansen’s praise of Mavar.

“He was one of the best,” Colburn wrote in a comment.

“Nick was a true fisherman through and through,” wrote Captain Wild Bill Wichrowski in a post on his Facebook page. “Was also a true friend. He will be missed by so many. Proud to have known you.”

Jake Anderson remembers his late uncle

Mavar had a particularly close relationship with one Deadliest Catch cast member: his nephew, Captain Jake Anderson. Anderson was a greenhorn on the Northwestern before becoming the captain of his own boat, the F/V Saga. He has credited his uncle for helping him in his battle with substance abuse.

“He’s my uncle and I’m proud. I’ve looked up to him as a meteorologist looks up to the clouds … I love you uncle Nick Mavar you are the embodiment of [a] fisherman,” Anderson wrote on Facebook in 2021. “Thank you for pulling me out of the mire so many years ago.”

After Mavar’s death, Anderson again took to social media to celebrate him. He shared a poetic reflection on his uncle’s legacy and “the amount of love he left this earth in the palm of just one of his hands.”

Discovery Channel also honored Mavar in a post on the official Deadliest Catch Instagram account.

“Nick Mavar was a treasured member of the Deadliest Catch family,” it read. “[W]e extend our deepest condolences to all those who loved him.”

Deadliest Catch Season 20 airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel. Episodes also stream on Max.

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‘Deadliest Catch’: Captain Sophia ‘Bob’ Nielsen Takes the Helm of the F/V Seabrooke

Megan Elliott — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 16:31:00 +0000

Sophia “Bob” Nielsen has a lot to prove on the 20th season of Deadliest Catch. The youngest captain in the fleet has teamed up with Bering Sea vet Captain Greg Wallace on the F/V Seabrooke. But can she handle the bigger vessel and the challenges that come with it?

Sophia ‘Bob’ Nielsen is following in her father’s footsteps on the F/V Seabrooke

Bob made her Deadliest Catch debut in season 19, working with Captain Jake Anderson on the F/V Saga before striking out on her own on the F/V Victory, the boat she inherited from her late father, who died when she was 13.

Now, after “a real doozy” of a year on the Victory, she’s realized she has more to learn.

“It was my rookie year on my boat, the Victory. And I ended up putting in close to 40,000 pounds. But I blew up my big generator and I got in a collision,” she explained in the Deadliest Catch Season 20 premiere. “I’m in debt $200,000 right now. Which is why I’m trying to home in on my skipper skills and become a better captain.”

Enter Greg. He knew Bob’s father and is willing to give his daughter a shot as a skipper-in-training on the 109-foot Seabrooke.

“I met Sophia a few years ago,” he said. “I knew her dad. I had a lot of respect for him when he was alive, and even now. She came at us and wants to learn more, so we’re going to see what we can do to help her out.”

Bob knows that her dad’s legacy was a huge help in landing her current position.

“I think the only reason I had a leg up with Greg was he knew who my dad was,” she said.

Is Bob in over her head on ‘Deadliest Catch’ Season 20?

Greg has taken Bob under his wing, but that decision doesn’t sit well with all of his crew, particularly his daughter Megan, a deckhand on the Seabrooke.

“I had to earn this job,” Megan, who went to school with Bob, said. “I had to work for him for years and really prove myself. She didn’t have to do the same and she’s already up there. So, I don’t know.”

“If she’s not ready, she’s not ready,” Megan added.

Bob understands why Megan might be suspicious of her.

“I would be definitely jealous if it was my dad up here teaching some other young girl how to drive the boat,” Bob admitted.

“I’m super envious of the relationship she has with her father because that’s something I will never get,” she added.

Bob steps up in the ‘Deadliest Catch’ season premiere

While Bob still has plenty to learn when it comes to handling the Seabrooke, a tough situation in the premiere proved she could handle unexpected challenges. While working with the crab pots on deck, Megan slipped and dislocated her hip. Bob stepped up to help Megan, who was in serious pain.

“I’m not even supposed to be out here,” Megan confessed to Bob. She’d injured her hip previously, and doctors told her she needed surgery. But she ignored their advice.

“I basically just put a Band-Aid on and came out here,” she said.

After consulting Google, Bob managed to force Megan’s hip back into its socket. But Megan’s future on Seabrooke is now uncertain.

“I love my daughter, but I don’t know what to do about her,” Greg said.

Meanwhile, Bob knows she will need to step up and show she has what it takes to lead the Seabrooke’s crew.

“I get skittish because it’s not my boat, not my gear, not my crew,” she said.

Greg was willing to take a chance on Bob. But he won’t be going easy on her.

“If you can’t improve you won’t be sitting there long,” he said. “It’s that simple.”

Deadliest Catch Season 20 airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery Channel. Episodes also stream on Max.

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‘Deadliest Catch’ Narrator Mike Rowe Had a ‘Wake Up Call’ While Filming Show’s First Season

Megan Elliott — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 20:31:00 +0000

Deadliest Catch isn’t like other reality shows. Just ask longtime narrator Mike Rowe. He’s admitted that he didn’t know exactly what he was getting into when he agreed to work on the Discovery Channel series. But when a tragic disaster occurred while filming the first season, it brought home exactly how real this reality series was.

Mike Rowe recalled the ‘chaos’ of filming ‘Deadliest Catch’ Season 1

[L-R] Mike Rowe in 2007; The F/V Aleutian Lady | Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images; Discovery Channel

“Twelve years ago, I was in Dutch Harbor, shooting the first season of Deadliest Catch,” Rowe recalled in a 2017 Facebook post. “Originally, I had been asked to host the show, and frankly, I had no idea how to do such a thing.”

“No one really understood what the show was back then, or what it would ultimately become,” he added. “Sometimes it felt like a reality show, sometimes a documentary. Mostly, we were just trying to capture the drama and the difficulty of fishing for Alaskan King Crab.”

Filming “was chaos,” Rowe recalled. “Fascinating, unforgettable chaos.” The days were long and intense, so he was glad when he was finally able to retreat to his hotel room for some much-needed rest. Then, one of his producers woke him up to deliver some terrible news. A boat called had gone down, and its entire crew was missing.

“I can’t begin to tell you what a wake-up call that was,” he wrote.

The tragedy was ‘unreal,’ the ‘Deadliest Catch’ host recalled

Until then, Rowe had built “an invisible wall” to cope with the danger of filming the show. That wall “makes you feel impervious, when you’re really not. It makes you feel safe, when [you] really aren’t,” he shared.

But when the F/V Big Valley sank in the Bering Sea in January 2005, the Dirty Jobs host was forced to confront the dangerous reality of crab fishing.

“I remember how I felt when it finally sunk in that six men had actually gone into the water. ‘Wait – what the hell? That was not in the script!’ I remember how I felt when it became clear that five of those men were lost forever. It felt so unreal,” he wrote.

Years later, Rowe again confronted the risks that crab fishermen take to do their jobs when another boat, the F/V Destination, sank. The February 2017 disaster cost six crewmembers their lives and was addressed on Deadliest Catch.

‘Deadliest Catch’ is more than just a reality show

‘Deadliest Catch’ | Discovery Channel

While no ship on Deadliest Catch has experienced a disaster as devastating as those that befell the Destination and the Big Valley, risk is ever present. Several cast members have been seriously injured. One, Todd Kochutin, died in 2021 after an accident with a crab pot. But to viewers at home, the danger might seem distant or abstract.

“[I]t’s still so easy to forget that Deadliest Catch is not a ‘reality show;’ but rather, a show about reality,” Rowe wrote. “And it’s still a shock to see how rudely ‘reality’ can shake me awake.”

“It also strikes me, that for all our efforts to eliminate risk from our daily lives, there are still places on the planet where risk can never be removed – where life can never be scripted,” he added. “The Bering Sea is one such place – a place where men of great courage show up to work every day, and confront a level of danger that most of us will never encounter.”

Deadliest Catch Season 20 airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery Channel. Episodes also stream on Max.

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‘Deadliest Catch’ Deckhand Nick Mavar Dead at 59

Megan Elliott — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 00:50:50 +0000

Nick Mavar Jr. of Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch has died at age 59.

Mavar experienced a medical emergency on June 13 at a boatyard in Naknek, Alaska, Deadline reported. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead of natural causes.

Nick Mavar left ‘Deadliest Catch’ in 2021

Mavar appeared in 98 episodes of Deadliest Catch between 2005 and 2021. He worked as a deckhand with Captain Sig Hansen on the F/V Northwestern. Mavar left the show after his appendix ruptured during filming. Doctors eventually discovered he had a cancerous tumor.

In 2022, Mavar sued Hansen and the other owners of the Northwestern for $1 million, claiming that there was not an “adequate plan in place” for medical care on the boat during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The delay in competent and adequate examination, testing, and diagnosis caused Mavar’s appendix to rupture resulting in horrendous and chronic infections, surgeries, and cancer treatment that would not have occurred had the appendix been removed prior to rupture,” according to Mavar’s lawsuit (via KTOO).

Hansen’s attorneys pointed the finger at Deadliest Catch’s production company, Original Productions Inc., saying the company was responsible for the COVID-19 protocols during filming.

After leaving Deadliest Catch, Mavar reportedly worked as the captain of a salmon boat.

Mavar’s death is the latest ‘Deadliest Catch’ tragedy

Mavar’s death is just the latest tragedy to strike the Deadliest Catch family. Over the years, several current and former cast members have died.

In 2021, deckhand Todd Kochutin was killed in an accident involving a crab pot on the F/V Patricia Lee.

“I mean, this is a cold hard reminder of what can happen,” Captain Bill Wichrowski said when he learned of Kochutin’s death (via YouTube). “I don’t know how many more of these we can take, man. It seems like every quarter we’re losing somebody.”

Captain Phil Harris appeared on six seasons of the fishing-focused reality series before he suffered a stroke in 2010. His death and the effect it had on his two sons, Josh Harris and Jake Harris, was documented on the show.

In 2020, F/V Summer Bay deck boss Nick McGlashan died of an apparent drug overdose. Earlier that year, Mahlon Reyes, a deckhand on the F/V Seabrooke and F/V Cape Caution, died of a heart attack caused by an overdose of cocaine.

Other Deadliest Catch cast member deaths include Justin Tennison in 2011 and Blake Painter in 2018.

Deadliest Catch Season 20 is currently airing on Discovery Channel.

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‘Deadliest Catch’: What Happened to the F/V Saga?

Megan Elliott — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 00:49:07 +0000

Deadliest Catch is back, but one familiar boat is missing. In the season 20 premiere, Captain Jake Anderson received some devastating news about the F/V Saga that jeopardized his chances at a successful crab fishing season.

The F/V Saga has been repossessed

Crab fishing is a high-risk endeavor at the best of times. But with the Red King Crab fishery open for the first time in years, Anderson was hopeful that he could make some good money this season. However, a successful haul can’t happen if he doesn’t have a boat.

“A couple weeks ago, I got a call from my partner saying that the Saga is possibly running out of money. King Crab’s open, and that was going to get us out of the hole, easily,” Anderson explained in the premiere, which aired June 11 on Discovery Channel. “But I had no idea that things were this bad.”

Anderson, the co-owner of the Saga, has sunk nearly everything he has into the 107-foot vessel, which he’s captained since 2015. But as he headed to the dock, he got wind that something was not right. One of his deckhands informed him that there was a repossession note on the boat, to Anderson’s horror and disbelief.

“I have all my personal money, my kid’s college fund all wrapped up in that. Now there’s a chain on f*cking door,” he said.

The ‘Deadliest Catch’ star felt ‘like such a fool’

Jake Anderson of ‘Deadliest Catch’ on the F/V Titan Explorer | Discovery Channel

With the start of the fishing season just days away, a frantic Anderson desperately tried to figure out what was going on. But his partner Lenny was MIA.

“There’s a repossession note on the boat and I don’t understand why,” he said

Anderson opened up about his situation to his former mentor Captain Sig Hansen of the F/V Northwestern. He learned that there were liens on the boat and the bank now owned the Saga.

“I just feel like such a fool,” he said.

Anderson admitted that he didn’t keep a close eye on the money side of the Saga’s business.

“He didn’t mess with the boat, and I didn’t mess with the finances,” Anderson told Hansen.

That may have been a critical error. In an interview with TV Insider, Anderson said he was still in the dark about exactly what happened with the Saga, and that the legal issues were still being sorted out.

“Just before I was getting to go red crab fishing, I found out my partner, with all due respect with the legal things going on, we don’t know what he did. I lost my boat,” he explained.

For now, the Saga’s time on Deadliest Catch appears to have come to an end. But Anderson isn’t going anywhere. In the premiere, Hansen threw him a lifeline and offered him a spot on the Northwestern. And later it the season, it looks like Anderson might return to the captain’s chair on the F/V Titan Explore. A promotional photo for the new season shows him on the deck of that ship, which also appears briefly in the season 20 teaser.

Deadliest Catch airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel. Episodes also stream on Max.

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Jake Anderson On Intense Season of ‘Deadliest Catch’: ‘There Is Desperation Out There’

Megan Elliott — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 11:55:00 +0000

The stakes are higher than ever on the new season of Deadliest Catch. In the landmark 20th season of the Discovery Channel reality series (which premiered June 11), the Red King Crab fishery has finally reopened. That ignites the first derby-style race in decades.

With a limited, highly competitive timeframe to bring in their haul, both veteran and rookie captains are drawn into cutthroat rivalries that will push everyone to their limit, according to Discovery’s synopsis of the new season. Economic pressures play a role as well, as fishermen lay it all on the line in an attempt to stay afloat for another season. The result? A palpable sense of desperation, Captain Jake Anderson recently said.

Jake Anderson is off to a rough start in ‘Deadliest Catch’ Season 20

Anderson starts off Deadliest Catch Season 20 in a rough spot. Shortly before the start of the season, the longtime cast member lost his boat, the F/V Saga.

“Just before I was getting to go red crab fishing, I found out my partner, with all due respect with the legal things going on, we don’t know what he did. I lost my boat,” Anderson told TV Insider.

In an attempt to salvage the season, Anderson signed on with his former mentor Captain Sig Hansen on the F/V Northwestern. But the dynamic wasn’t the same as it was when Anderson was a young greenhorn struggling with addiction and the loss of his father.

“What people are going to see that I don’t think they’re used to seeing is someone who is confident around somebody I’ve been codependent around … I’ve been so codependent on him, losing my dad. Then getting sober right before right before losing my dad and becoming an adult,” he said. “Then looking up to Sig, it was easy for me to be codependent on him. Now you’ll see a more confident person, yet very humble.”

‘Deadliest Catch’ star says ‘there is no honor among thieves’

‘Deadliest Catch’ | Discovery Channel

The derby-style approach to the latest fishing season also changes the dynamic in the new season of Deadliest Catch. The Red King Crab season was canceled in both 2021 and 2022 due to declining crab populations. The fishery closures were a blow to fishermen, some of whom were struggling to hang on in a difficult industry, noted a report from Alaska Public Media. Once boats get back out on the water, the competition is fierce, according to Anderson.

“It is an honorable profession, but yet there is no honor among thieves,” he said. “If something happens to someone, we all come together. There is honor and camaraderie there. Once we start fishing, especially when King Crab has been closed and people are losing their businesses. You’re going to see people do things out of desperation.”

“And you’re not supposed to make decisions out of desperation, but there is desperation out there,” Anderson went on to say. There hadn’t been money out there for a couple of years. Then when you have all these millions of dollars on the ground and just have to get it, people do what people do. We turn into thieves and then it turns into Deadliest Catch.”

Deadliest Catch airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel. Episodes also stream on Max.

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‘Deadliest Catch’ Season 20: How to Watch

Megan Elliott — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 15:25:00 +0000

Deadliest Catch is back! The landmark 20th season of the fishing-focused reality series premieres June 11. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch the new episodes.

‘Deadliest Catch’ Season 20 premieres June 11

Deadliest Catch Season 20 premieres Tuesday, June 11 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery Channel. The milestone season will kick off with a special two-hour episode.

In videos shared on Facebook, longtime cast members reflect on the show’s impact, both on themselves and the world of TV.

“I grew up watching Deadliest Catch. I was nine years old when it came out. Seeing it on TV inspired me. It’s what I wanted to be,” says Captain Jake Anderson.

“Being part of Deadliest Catch is being part of a legacy. It spawned a whole new generation of television. There was no reality TV before,” says Captain Keith Colburn.

How to stream the new season of ‘Deadliest Catch’

The F/V Aleutian Lady on ‘Deadliest Catch’ | Discovery Channel

In addition to airing on Discovery Channel, Deadliest Catch Season 20 episodes will also be available to stream on Max beginning June 11. Max subscribers can also stream all previous seasons of the show.

In addition to Deadliest Catch, Max is home to shows such as Naked and Afraid, Alaskan Bush People, Hoffman Family Gold, and Gold Rush. Max plans start at $9.99 per month.

‘Deadliest Catch’ Season 20 cast

Captain Sig Hansen and the F/V Northwestern of ‘Deadliest Catch’ | Discovery Channel

Who will be taking to the high seas in Deadliest Catch’s 20th season? The cast includes a mix of long-time vets and newer captains.

Captain Jake Anderson, who loses the F/V Saga, which forces him to return to his mentor Captain Sig Hansen on the F/V Northwestern.
Captain Keith Colburn on the F/V Wizard
Captain Wild Bill Wichrowski of the F/V Summer Bay
Captain Johnathan Hillstrand of the F/V Time Bandit
Captains Steve Harley Davidson and Jack Bunnell of the F/V Pacific Mariner
Captain Sophia “Bob” Nielsen, of the F/V Seabrooke
Jacob Hutchins, who makes a play for the relief captain spot on Captain Rick Shelford’s F/V Aleutian Lady.

Fishing the Bering Sea is never easy, as Deadliest Catch viewers know. But this season, the captains will face special challenges. Alaska’s Red King Crab fishery has finally reopened, igniting the first derby-style race in years. The intense, highly competitive timeframe forces the captains into serious rivalries that will push everyone to their limit. Extreme weather conditions only amplify the tensions.

“El Niño was really rough this last fall,” Hansen said in an interview with People. “We had a man overboard, and for me, that never happened. But it happened this time.”

“Derby [race] is not easy,” he added. “Derby is very dangerous. You don’t stop, and so every minute counts.”

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‘Deadliest Catch’: Which Boats Appear in Season 20?

Megan Elliott — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 21:34:00 +0000

Let the race begin. Deadliest Catch is back for a landmark 20th season. Alaska has opened the lucrative red king crab fishery for the first time, igniting the kind of derby-style race that hasn’t been seen for decades. Tough-as-nails fishermen will have just a short window to bring in a make-or-break haul of crab. But everything from personal health challenges to severe weather threatens their chances of success.

“This is more than just fishing to make money,” says Captain Sig Hansen in a teaser (via YouTube) for the season. “It’s a race against time.”

The F/V Time Bandit and F/V Northwestern return to ‘Deadliest Catch’ for season 20

The F/V Northwestern of ‘Deadliest Catch’ | Discovery Channel

The newest season of Discovery Channel’s enduring reality show will feature several familiar fishing vessels.

Keith Colburn will once again be at the helm of the F/V Wizard, while Captain Wild Bill Wichrowski is navigating the high seas in the F/V Summer Bay. Captain Johnathan Hillstrand of the F/V Time Bandit has been lured out of retirement by the reopening of the red king crab season.

Sophia “Bob” Nielsen, the youngest captain in the fleet, is eager to prove herself aboard the 113-foot F/V Seabrooke. That vessel last appeared on the Deadliest Catch in season 16, when it was captained by Scott Campbell Jr.

The F/V Aleutian Lady and its captain, Rick Shelford, made their Deadliest Catch debut in season 19. They’re back this season along with Jacob Hutchins, who is making a play for the relief captain spot on the boat.

Captain Sig Hansen and the F/V Northwestern of ‘Deadliest Catch’

One boat that fans won’t see much of this season? The F/V Saga. Captain Jake Anderson has lost the boat he’s captained for decades.

“You’re telling me I can’t go on my boat right now,” he says to someone on the phone in the teaser.

Fortunately, Anderson won’t be left out in the cold. Hansen, his former mentor, steps up and offers him a spot on the F/V Northwestern.

“You can come here, if need be,” Hansen tells Anderson.

The F/V Pacific Mariner is new to ‘Deadliest Catch’ this season

Deadliest Catch Season 20 will also introduce a new vessel, the F/V Pacific Mariner. Captains Steve Harley Davidson and Jack Bunnell are risking their reputations and financial future to upgrade to the 126-foot boat in hopes of catching more quota and more crab.

Another new boat that might appear in season 20 is the F/V Titan Explorer. It’s not mentioned in Discovery’s press release about the new season, but a glimpse of it can be seen in the teaser.

Deadliest Catch Season 20 premieres Tuesday, June 11 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery Channel.

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‘Deadliest Catch’: Wild Bill Opens Up About Cancer Diagnosis

Megan Elliott — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 19:42:00 +0000

Deadliest Catch star Wild Bill Wichrowski is opening up about his experience with prostate cancer, in the hopes that sharing his journey will help others in a similar situation.

Season 19 of the Discovery Channel reality series ended with Wichrowski learning that he’d been diagnosed with cancer. The show’s 20th season, which premieres June 11, will follow the crab fisherman as he undergoes treatment for the disease.

The ‘Deadliest Catch’ star got bad news from his doctor

In a clip from the upcoming season (via X), a subdued Wichrowski listens as he gets a sobering update from this doctor.

“You do have prostate cancer,” the doctor says. “And it needs to be treated aggressively.”

Getting such news would be a blow to anyone. But Wichrowski was determined to meet this latest challenge head-on.

“When I heard it, one of the things I thought was, you know, I’m not going to stop. I’m going to keep going until I actually can’t,” he says.

Prostate cancer is the second-most-common cancer in men after skin cancer, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Thirteen out of every 100 people with a prostate will develop prostate cancer at some point in their lives, with the risk of diagnosis increasing as people age. Prostate cancer kills roughly 34,000 people per year. Fortunately, the disease is highly treatable if it is caught early, which is why doctors recommend regular screenings for people over the age of 55 who are at average risk. High-risk individuals may need to start screening earlier.

Will Bill Wichrowski refused to ‘crawl into a shell’ after cancer diagnosis

After learning he had prostate cancer, Wichrowski realized he had a choice when it came to dealing with his health. Ignoring the problem wasn’t the solution, he decided.

“How many people get diagnosed with this and they just shut down?” he says. “They crawl into a shell. And it just makes it worse.”

Doctors warned him that the cancer could be debilitating. He wasn’t having it.

“They’re saying you’re going to have all these symptoms that are going to stop you,” he says. “And I said, there’s no way.”

Why Wichrowski opened up about his cancer experience

Wichrowski hoped that sharing his cancer story might help other people.

“The fact that I allowed the news to be broadcast, I heard from a million people, ‘Oh, I hope you’re all right,’ he says. “I was hoping that the fact that I kept going, it would show people that if you have this, you can keep working. You can keep your life moving. I wasn’t going to stop unless I had to.”

Fortunately for Wichrowski, his treatment seems to be going well.

“My PSA number, which is how they determine the level, is near zero,” he recently told TribLive. “[The doctors] are really excited.”

Deadliest Catch Season 20 premieres Tuesday, June 11 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery Channel. Episodes also stream on Max.

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