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

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’

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.”