Tonight marks the return of Deadliest Catch on Discovery and, as we found out from Mike Rowe, the cast is being added to by some fan favorites like Johnathan Hillstrand — but one captain is in the spotlight in our exclusive preview: Sig Hansen.
Some days the crabs eat your lunch on Deadliest Catch, and others the pots eat the crab.
In Sig Hansen’s case, right out of the gate on the Season 16 premiere tonight it does not start out gangbusters.
More like potbusters. Captain Sig’s initial foray into the Bering Sea stinks on ice as he starts pulling up pots.
The deckhands on the Northwestern call it, they are drawing what they all call “blanks” — empty 800-lb pots that mean time and money are wasted and out the door. Even Sig says the pot is a blank.
Our exclusive clip above reveals that daughter Mandy is with him in his cabin as the crew wear their disappointment all over their faces. You can see it as the pot is hauled up on deck and it has not one viable crab they can sock away.
And that is bad news, likely meaning the crab stock on the ocean floor have migrated elsewhere and Sig is left sucking wind. Will Captain Keith Colburn from the Wizard clean his clock with crab catches the first day out?
We will be tuning in tonight.
How is Sig Hansen holding up on the series?
Sig Hansen has been fishing a very long time and he has prospered and diversified his business interests. In fact, he was one of the “Council of dads” that Josh Harris sought for advice ahead of his new series Deadliest Catch: Bloodline.
Why? Captain Phil Harris — according to Josh — always felt that Sig had the best business sense of the whole lot of Captains. Phil was best buddies with Johnathan Hillstrand, but it was that crafty Norwegian Sig Hansen who was Phil’s money and business advice guru.
Sig has been making the rounds on remote feeds with local news stations warning viewers and fans of the series to take the COVID-19 virus seriously, as the Washington-based captain has been observing stay-at-home orders and social distancing, in a bid to keep his own mother healthy.
Tune in tonight to see if Sig’s luck changes for the better and how Time Bandit veteran Johnathan Hillstrand is reintroduced to the cast.
Deadliest Catch is returning for its 16th season on Tuesday, April 14 at 8 PM ET/PT followed by the kickoff of Deadliest Catch: Bloodline at 9 PM ET/PT.