Production on season 7 of Deadliest Catch is expected to begin next week in Alaska’s Dutch Harbor despite the news that stars Sig Hansen and Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand have left the show because of a legal dispute. Discovery sued the Hillstrands for failing to finish work on a Catch spin-off; the brothers countersued that the lawsuit would force them to sell their boats, so they quit the show. (Though he wasn’t involved in the lawsuit, Hansen backed the Hillstrands and left too.) The network isn’t commenting, but there may be an 11th hour attempt to woo the captains back. Until then, Catch will still follow boats The Wizard, The Kodiak, and the sons of the late Phil Harris who will continue on the Cornelia Marie. The show may find replacements for the Hillstrands’ Time Bandit and Hansen’s Northwestern.
Oct 5
2010
08:54 AM ET
Discovery to woo 'Deadliest Catch' stars back?
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I hope they find replacements and use them from this point on. Leave these spoiled cry babies out of the show. The Hillstrands signed a contract and did not fill their requirement. Settle this in court and banish them from our TVs. These reality stars want all the $$ and publicity doing basically nothing. Heck I bet Levi could join the show. He isn’t doing much of anything these days.
These aren’t “reality stars” you idiot. Crab fishing is actually their job and Discovery films it. I’m sure Discovery makes a hell of a lot more money than the fisherman do and it’s disgraceful for Discovery to sue hard working people. That p*ssy Levi wouldn’t last one hour on one of these boats.
I’m going to bypass my emotional response and just give some facts to show what a fool you are. Discovery makes about $400 Million in advertising from Deadliest Catch annually. I heard that the guys are at about $2000/show. May not be exact, but it’s got to be close. They have a camera CONSTANTLY in their face while they’re trying to pilot a boat and their crew’s lives often on no sleep for over 24 hour periods. I’ve worked with A list actors as well as Sig and Phil (RIP). Actors they are not. Discovery has been exploiting them, and I hope that they got a bigger piece of the pie out of the whole deal. They deserve it.
Right on SLB! Discovery is sueing for what??? Thats right MONEY! You can’t blame anyone person or side…it always takes two!
Are you a complete idiot? Have you even WATCHED the show? Doing nothing????? These guys do more in an hour than you do in a year you imbecile. Watch the show before you judge.
What kind of idiot remark is “wanting publicity and doing basically nothing”? Your total lack of intelligence is showing for all to see. Have you ever watched the show? They are not reality stars, they are commercial fishermen who allowed the cameras to be on their boats. Again, you are an idiot
please, like they don’t get paid a pretty penny for allowing these cameras on their boat!! Who are they kidding, do you think the hillstrands, with their 4 retired captains, who STILL sit next to the captin, would still want to be on the boat, if the cameras weren’t there!! Please, do not give in, these captains will come running back, to ensure the cameras are on their boat!!
I bet your idea of hard work is bending over to pick up the pen you used to stab someone in the back with in your nice, cushy, bank job, the same pen you just used to sign 10,000 foreclosure orders without bothering to read them and put real hard-working people out of their homes, isn’t it? And your idea of a tough journey to work is the two minutes it takes for you to walk from your car through the parking deck to the elevator after you dropped your snotty kids off at their posh little private school where they learn how to marry doctors and lawyers and how to spy on the ‘help’. Do us a favor–go work a crab boat in the Bering Sea for a season before you talk out of your backside again.
Are you kidding me??? Those captains didn’t want those cameras on their boats. You could tell at times that they were in the way of what they were really trying to do, which is make a living like they had for 20 years before the Discovery channel came aboard. You really think those crab fishers are taking advantage of an entire network? Maybe you need to turn your tv off and go back to school.
You know nothing about the case so sit back and shut up.
They do NOTHING? Are you kidding me. These guys work their butts off including the Captains that have the responsibility of everyone’s life (including discovery cameramen) in their hands! As for the money they get they have to pay for additional, food & insurance because Discovery is there. They also have to spend most of their “off” time promoting the show & pay someone else to captain & run their boats for the other fishing seasons while they make all these appearances. Just a note they signed a 2 year contract last year & Discovery is trying to renegotiate that & using they lawsuit as a bullying tactic. So get your facts straight before you spew off again & go watch Keeping up with the Kardashians because that seems more your style & that’s the “reality” TV you are use to!
The Deadliest Catch will NOT be the same without the legends who are Siig Hansen and the Hillstrands. Without the NW, we’ll miss out on seeing young Jake rocking the boat and annoying Sig! That was TV gold, i’m begging Discovery to cast negative feelings overboard and try to get them all back on board, I was truly elated to know i’ll be watching the trials upon the Bering Sea again yet I WILL NOT watch without those heroes. RIP Phil Harris x
The Kodiak? Really?? Losing the Time Bandit and the Northwestern is bad enough, but keeping Wild Bill, aka The Screamer…the show is going to be pretty much unwatchable.
I know…I couldn’t stand the Kodiak. Such whining and drama!
not to mention the totally personality-less Keith on the Wiz. I can’t stand to watch him. Phil should have let Jonathan take him out that night around the fire barrell…
I’ve met Wild Bill a couple of times, and he is NOT what they portray on tv. On the boat he is boss….do what the boss says or suffer the consequences!
Wild Bill is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. He runs his boat like a business because that’s what it is!
I’ll miss what happens with the Harris boys taking over the Cornelia Marie; but without the Northwestern and Time Bandit, I won’t watch. Those are a bunch of greedy pigs at Discovery.
exactly! AND there is not possible way they could ever replace the Hansens or the Hillstrands. That would be like saying they could “replace Capt. Phil” yet another IDIOT remark. Basically Discovery has screwed themselves. going from the hightest rated show to zip…all in the same year. Will they ever learn?
I agree completely. I love Jake and Josh, but my loyalty is Northwestern all the way. These guys have been through a lot this year, and it was bound to take a toll on filming and things like that. The guys at Discovery need to be a bit more understanding. It’s amazing TV, and letting a little legal spat ruin it would be a shame.
Well Discovery do have a point, i’ve missed the prog since Phils departure in S6 and Discovery would have been set to make millions just from one short in betweeny series thing. So they did lose money but my goodness – I hope nobody watches S7 and they either have to give in to reason or the series slips into the depths of TV history. Massive shame yet there is no DC without Sig, Johnathan and Andy. Love you guys..
They gotta have Sig. After Phil, Sig is the most interesting of the captains. Hope this can get resolved.
Yeah, if nothing else I wanted to see if Edgar was serious about quitting and how Sig was going to react if he really did.
My first thought when I read Sig threw in with the Hillstrands was that Edgar DID quit. He just looked so tired at the end of the season. And Sig would not be Sig without Edgar.
Sig has not quit, he leaves for Dutch tomorrow.
whoops…EDGAR has not quit…my bad! sorry
I spoke to Edgar a few weeks ago he’s not quitting fishing, just smoking
Such is life. RIP Phil, Deadliest Catch will probably go on without you, but it just won’t be the same.
Unless one of those boats is back, I won’t be watching either. What a shame, its one of the best shows on
Please work something out, the show want be the same with out, Sig and Hillstrands brothers. It is bad enough with out Phil, but at least we have the Harris boys coming back. I love this show, it want be the same, if they loose two of the best boats. peace out.
Without Phil, the show is going to be less interesting to me.. BUT with out Sig, forget I’ll watch Josh and Jake spread Phil’s ashes but beyond that .. NOPE.
Sig should have let the Hillstrands sink on their own. They signed a contract and obviously didn’t hold up their end of the bargin. Its just a shame that Sig is aligning himself with people who can’t back a contract and then cry about getting sued welcome to the real world Hillstrands. I used to look at Sig as one of the stand up guys on the show but I guess I was wrong.
I don’t suppose it has occurred to you that there may have been a good reason for the Hillstrands to walk away. I freely admit that I don’t know what went on behind the scenes, but I do know that Discovery makes millions upon millions of dollars off this show and that the captains and crews see very little of that. Something doesn’t smell right here.
Really, you know how much the captains make off the show, because it isn’t published anywhere!?! I find it so amazing that so many people have come to an immediate conclusion that Discovery is at fault, when NO facts have been made public about this. Sure hope you people don’t sit on any juries! I, for one, prefer to reserve judgment about everyone involved until the facts are known. Just because the captains and crew are the faces you see every episode doesn’t auotmatically put them on the right side of the issue, and the boats are a business, just like the Discovery Channel, and everyone is looking to make a buck.
I heard through a reliable source that the boats only made $100,000 from each season they were filmed compared to the millions Discovery made. So when people say it’s all about money….that 100,000 probably just pays for gas!
I happen to know for a fact (it’s common knowledge in Alaska, actually) that the boat owners – usually the captains, but not necessarily – are paid between $75,000 and $100,000 per season. I was simply trying to reason with someone who had jumped to the opposite conclusion you are complaining about. So chill.
I thought the show was Sig’s and maybe Johnathon’s idea in the first place. I can’t believe they didn’t think of it first and reaping ALL of the rewards for one of the best shows on TV.. maybe they’re right to quit because of this?
Its called loyalty GDH im happy ur not my friend!
When did Phil Harris die?
I hope you’re kidding.
DITTO!..
ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!
someone here needs to be put on bait duty and then keelhauled!
Feb 9, 2010
I pray you havent called yourself a fan!
Without the Northwestern the show will be a mere shell of itselft. Who cares about The Wizard and The Kodiak. THey need the Hansens.
This is going to be like Happy Days after Richie left and we’re just stuck with Potsie and Ralph Malph ( aka Wild Bill and his crew)
TOO DERN FUNNY!!! LOL
I’ve watched this show since the very beginning, but I was ready to drop it after this last year anyway. ‘Catch’ has pretty much abandoned it’s focus on crab fishing and has instead turned into a soap opera full of silly, petty drama. I already fast forwarded through any scene with that whiny idiot Jake Harris, and if he comes back that pretty much seals the deal for me. Giving all that garbage on the Kodiak greater coverage is another step in the wrong direction.
this ssucks i hate greed .. i have been watching from the beginning, but this season i may not
its not entirely greed from Discovery. In a way the guys were lazy not to finish it and Discovery do have a case but one thing the owner of the Discovery channel is definitely lacking in the brains department.. they are going to lose money through this – probably billions! Maybe Sig, John and Andy could go independent, will the people who know the captains suggest this?? Sod Discovery!
This is one of those shows that you don’t know why you love it, but you do. The “characters” are the reason we keep watching. The Hillstrands and Sig are two of the biggest reasons. But because they’re up against the “evil network” doesn’t mean they don’t have to fulfill a contract. They must know that. And Sig is cutting his own throat by “walking” with them. I hope they get their act together and rejoin the show. It wouldn’t be the same without them.
Sig isn’t “cutting his own throat.” He’s a 5th-generation fishing boat captain. He made his living fishing before the show existed, and he’ll continue to do so after it’s long done. It’s in his blood. This is a TV show. No comparison.