Deadliest Catch: Sig Hansen Only Intended To Do The Show For One Year
If you have seen more than a couple of episodes of Discovery's crab fishing reality series "Deadliest Catch," you're no doubt familiar with Sig Hansen's flowing blond locks and icy blue eyes. The captain of the Northwestern has appeared on 249 episodes to date, more than any other person.
But while Hansen and his crew — which includes his two brothers Edgar and Norman — have appeared in every season of the show, their original plan was to just do the show for a single season, only for fate and success to intervene.
"We really wanted to do it just the one year, and then it just kind of snowballed," he told The Fishing Website. "I guess when you get your fifteen minutes of fame you might as well run with it." Hansen said that initially, he and his brothers wanted to do the show to have a record of their grueling job, but not everyone in their industry — or even their family — understood or empathized with their desire to be on TV. "The first time around we wanted to do it for our families as a kind of a keepsake," he said. "We took a lot of heat and a lot of them turned their backs to us."
Hansen went on to say that the success of "Deadliest Catch" has won over even the crabbiest members of the fishing community, and now those same folks are scrambling for a spot on his ship. "These days, all the guys that turned their backs to us want to participate in the show – they see the good that has come from it," he said.
Both his fishermen and the Discovery camera crews went through an initial adjustment period
Sig Hansen said that there was an initial adjustment period for his deckhands and fishermen, and that meant in part learning to curtail some of their traditionally salty language — although the Discovery audio editors had their own tactics to deal with that. "There is editing, and you will hear a lot of 'bleeps' on the screen," Hansen said." "But I think that is one reason the film crew wanted to stay with our boat – we are pretty natural."
"After the first year we got used to having the cameras around," Hansen said," and he said that's why they like it. "As long as the camera doesn't bother you, you are going to be yourself, and that is what they are really after; that's their big motivation – to get realistic action and reactions from the crew, and our guys give it."
His crew also helped the Discovery production team adjust to life at sea during that first year, including giving the first season's camera operators an education in longstanding seafaring traditions.
"Not leaving port on a Friday is one superstition," Hansen said, "and the one about suitcases we take seriously. The first camera crew tried to take a bunch of suitcases on board, but we refused, so they had to unpack everything onto the boat and leave the suitcases on the dock."