40 Behind-The-Scenes Secrets From The Deadliest Catch That May Change How You See The Show

This might come as something of a surprise, but the ventures into the Bering Sea on the show aren’t as deadly as the title suggests. Because there are no less than three types of angling that are more hazardous. East coast groundfish, Atlantic scallop and Washington and Oregon Dungeness crab topped the list between 2000 and 2014, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Sig Hansen has been a regular on Deadliest Catch since it first started in 2005. But in 2017 he found himself in trouble with the law. Yes, Hansen was accused of spitting at an Uber employee, as well as attacking their vehicle. He released an official apology after the police picked him up, though, according to the Screen Rant website.

Cast your minds back to a Deadliest Catch episode from 2008. We’re referring to the one where the Wizard was seen battling a treacherous storm, while her occupants attempted to plug a worrying leak on board. It was wild stuff. But as it turns out, The Hollywood Reporter noted that those were two separate incidents stitched together in the editing suite. They were weeks apart!

Blake Painter’s time on Deadliest Catch was...interesting to say the least. Because he seemingly walked away from the program in the second season due to the “politics” and “workload” on the Maverick boat. That didn’t happen, though. Screen Rant reports, in fact, that Painter remained on the boat after he supposedly left. We just didn’t see him! 

“Wild” Bill Wichrowski first appeared on Deadliest Catch back in 2010, and has since been in over 140 episodes. Yet if you thought that was impressive, wait until you see this. Wichrowski has quite the resume to his name outside the show. Yes, he’s a former United States Navy man, boasting experience as an engineer and technician, too.

During a 2013 episode, David “Beaver” Zielinski suffered a hand injury on board the Time Bandit thanks to a firework. He believed that it exploded earlier than it should have, so the fisherman set his sights on the vessel’s owners – his captains. Yep, Beaver sued Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand, walking away with $1.35 million in the end, reported Screen Rant.

Deadliest Catch has been all-action since its small screen debut, but don’t let that fool you. The Travel website reports that there’s actually loads of downtime on the ships. This far outweighs the crazy drama that we see throughout the episodes. The program wouldn’t be as entertaining focused on those periods, though!

Thought that the Deadliest Catch narrator was out on the water with the rest of the stars? Well think again! Mike Row is nowhere near the boats when he records his stuff. Plus there are numerous other talents lending their voices as the program airs overseas. Nasir Bilal Khan covers the Malaysian broadcast, while Bill Petrie is the United Kingdom’s main man, for instance. 

What’s that old saying? Oh yes. “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.” That’s certainly been the case with the Deadliest Catch team. Their success has come at a cost – they’ve provoked the ire of some local fishermen in Alaska. Quite simply, the latter have found it next-to-impossible to work in the areas that those ships cover, according to the website Science 101.

To shed some light on this next secret, Bill Wichrowski spoke to The AV Club website. He revealed, “It’s hard enough on deck without a camera. You see our guys getting bounced around and they have their full peripheral vision. Then you put these film crew guys on there and they’re stumbling around looking through a viewfinder. It’s amazing that these guys don’t get banged up more.”

If Deadliest Catch is anything to go by, earning the title of professional fisherman is extremely difficult. Scratch that – it’s depicted to be nigh-on impossible. That’s not the case at all, though. Because experience isn’t necessary for those looking to make it as anglers in Alaska, reported The Travel website. They only need a commercial fishing license worth $200 to get started.

The show may be a lot of things, but documentary filmmaking isn’t one of them! Because once the camera operators get all their stuff on the boats, it’s subsequently poured over by the editors. From there, The Travel website claims that they fabricate “storylines” by arranging the film in a certain order for the episodes.

Have you ever wondered how much the captains are worth on Deadliest Catch? According to eCelebrityFacts, Sig Hansen had $4 million to his name in 2020, while Bill Wichrowski was just behind him with $3 million. Jake Anderson is said to have around $1.8 million in the bank. You can’t say they’re struggling!

Given the hazards that they face in the water, it should come as no surprise that the Deadliest Catch team have some anxieties. But something tells us you won’t be able to guess one near the top of the list. Science 101 notes that full moons hold that title. Why? The orb of night is known to hamper conditions at sea.

Is reality TV scripted? It’s a debate that’s lingered for years, and Deadliest Catch has only thrown more fuel on the fire. Yes, an unnamed star on the program told The Travel website that they were constantly handed lines of dialogue to drum up the action. You’re going to take extra notice of it now, aren’t you?

When we’re at work, conversations with our colleagues can drift into some random topics. The people on board the Wizard vessel could attest to that, as Joshua Tel Warner apparently broached the subject of bank robberies. Specifically, those he committed himself. The authorities had linked Warner to no less than three major crimes in 2007. And it culminated in him being jailed for over nine years in 2010. Oops!

How about this for a shocker... Back in 2010 Deadliest Catch’s production manager found himself in big trouble with the law. His name is Matthew Schneider, and, according to Screen Rant, he was caught in a sting operation for using and selling illegal substances. Yikes! No one else from the program was involved, though.

Given the conditions they deal with, it’s no surprise that injuries crop up on the boats featured in Deadliest Catch. Yet some of those ailments are made to look more serious and dramatic than they actually are during the episodes, The Travel website claims. “Minor accidents” aren’t sexy enough, we guess.

To say that Elliott Neese had a tense relationship with the Deadliest Catch fan base would be a massive understatement. Screen Rant reported that he spent lengthy periods running people down on social media – regardless if they liked him or not. It eventually culminated in 2015, as some viewers started an online appeal urging the program to dump Neese.

It’s fair to say that Deadliest Catch experienced one of its hardest periods in 2010. Because both Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand strongly hinted that they’d be abandoning the show, along with Sig Hansen. Why? The Discovery network sued the siblings for $3 million after they reportedly didn’t deliver on some show obligations. The two parties soon resolved their differences, but it was a close call.

Away from the cameras, it’s not always rosy in the garden for Deadliest Catch’s stars. You only need to look at Jake Harris. He got into a real spot of bother in the past, according to Science 101. Yes, Harris apparently took possession of his girlfriend’s vehicle without her permission. Oh, and on top of that she already had a husband.

In the world of film and television, reshoots come with the territory. But did you know that Deadliest Catch has its own list of redo shots as well? We’re serious! The stars devote large chunks of their schedules to get these sequences done, says The Travel. So much for off-the-cuff reactions, right?

Here’s a question for you – have you followed your parents down a certain career path? Well, you’re in good company. Because Mandy Hansen, daughter of Deadliest Catch’s Sig, started crab fishing a few years ago, Science 101 reported. So now she’s a solid hand out at sea, just like her old man!

If you’ve ever wondered what kind of relationship the boat crews share with the camera operators on Deadliest Catch, Bill Wichrowski has an answer. He told The AV Club, “They basically participate with us. They eat with us. They sleep with us.” And Wichrowski noted that he’s formed bonds with some of them, too.

Should you need reminding of how dangerous the Bering Sea really is, this will surely open your eyes. In the area that Deadliest Catch is usually shot, a boat named the Destination disappeared in February 2017. And its remains were recovered that summer, tragically, with KUCB revealing that a huge chunk of ice had turned it over. Six people lost their lives.

Much like other programs on the air today, Deadliest Catch has its own unique rogue’s gallery. But are they really bad guys? Not according to The Travel. That’s all determined by the people putting the episodes together. The editors are tasked with forming the “villains” via the available film. Sounds almost like Wild West storytelling to some extent. 

Feleti “Freddy” Maugatai was one of the more imposing figures on Deadliest Catch, making his debut in 2008. Yet some three years on from that, the fisherman got into a bit of legal trouble. TMZ reported that Maugatai was drawn into an unpleasant scuffle with a married couple that December, which led to a court date in January 2012.

An executive producer on Deadliest Catch made a startling point in 2017. R. Decker Watson Jr. informed the Daily Mail, “The waters off Alaska warmed by a dramatic four degrees in one year. The cold water-loving crab is depleted in the traditional fishing areas, so some of the boats strike out for new territory that’s more dangerous because of fiercer storms.”

Even though the stars of Deadliest Catch spend a lot of time around crabs, they don’t actually consume them for meals. That’s not too surprising – after all, the crustaceans are meant to be taken back to shore when the trips conclude. Yet in the opinion of Sig Hansen, they’re “too messy” anyway.

When you sit down to watch an episode of Deadliest Catch, you’d be forgiven for thinking that only a few vessels were out on the water. But that’s not quite the case. The Travel website noted that “hundreds” of other boats roam those fishing areas – we just don’t see them on camera!

Jerod Sechrist briefly featured in Deadliest Catch back in 2016. But there’s a chance that you might know him better for something else. Because Sechrist was apprehended by Tampa authorities in Florida in the winter of 2019, according to People magazine. He was accused of “stealing over $1,000-worth of merchandise” when visiting an IKEA store. Oh boy.

Crabs play an integral role on Deadliest Catch. They’re the main target for the crew, but that nearly led to a catastrophic problem. Their repeated trips caused the crustaceans’ numbers to go down in Alaska, to the point where the trade came close to collapsing, claimed Science 101. That’s crazy, right?

In crab fishing, caught crabs that are too young and small – dubbed “undersized catches” – are against the law. If you bring one in, you’ve got to put it back. Elliott Neese didn’t do that, though. Screen Rant reported that he picked up 13 of them in 2015, bringing the crustaceans to shore. So the Alaska Department of Fish and Game hit Neese with a $6,000 sanction, which was eventually lowered when he admitted his guilt.

Would you risk life and limb to get the perfect camera shot? Well, you’d fit right in with Deadliest Catch’s film team! They’ve been known to do some crazy things on the program’s shoot, like capturing the ships with equipment below the watery surface. Given the unpredictable conditions, that takes an awful lot of guts!

If you’re left wanting extra when the latest episode ends, fret not. There’s a Deadliest Catch book collection available for fans as well! Subtitled Desperate Hours, these publications are penned by various people on the show’s vessels, covering tales that didn’t make the cut. It’s essentially like deleted scenes in book form.

The timeline in Deadliest Catch episodes are more than a little misleading. The ships appear to head into the sea, catch their crabs and get back fairly quickly. It’s not accurate, though. The fishermen are actually away for large swathes of time, according to The Travel. Because the camera guys need to capture enough action to cover an entire season.

The Deadliest Catch teams don’t have the freedom of the ocean. They need to stay away from certain places. But Monte Colburn ignored that when the program was being shot in November 2016. And he traveled into a forbidden spot and picked up some Opilio crab, claimed the website TMZ. They’re a protected species, so Colburn got a $750 sanction.

Curious how much money the Deadliest Catch’s captains can bring in over a certain period? Well, brace yourselves. Fox Business spoke to Josh Harris in the spring of 2018 when he made the following claim. Harris stated that jobs lasting a couple of days can fetch him $2 million. Picked up your jaws from the floor yet?

For those of you who can name all of the vessels on Deadliest Catch, we’ve got some news for you. You’re missing loads! Back in 2010 a mix of production people and skippers explained that other ships were filmed by the program’s camera crew. This was done so as much action as possible reached the editing bay. Yet they don’t make the final cut.

Unlike their fellow anglers searching for crab, the Deadliest Catch crew don’t have to worry about hitting massive quotas. The Travel website reported, in fact, that they’re given a smaller target to reach, which makes the hauls appear a lot more impressive on camera. Bet you didn’t see that coming, eh?!