A pioneering and often frighteningly real entry in the genre of reality television, “Deadliest Catch” has been airing on Discovery Channel since 2005. Hundreds of episodes have captured what it’s like to live and work on crab-fishing boats around Alaska, while exploring the bonds between the hale and hearty guys who throw out crab cages and haul them back in. These fishermen didn’t necessarily set out to become TV stars, but they certainly became them, bringing unflinching drama to the masses.
Many tragic details have come out about “Deadliest Catch,” up to and including the surprising and disturbing deaths of some of its most popular cast members. While commercial fishing like on “Deadliest Catch” is dangerous, these men, none ever older than middle age, also had to contend with the threats that affect the general population with tragic regularity — chronic health issues, failing bodies, and substance abuse, to name a few sad examples. Here are all the people who braved the frigid and deadly waters of the Pacific Ocean because their livelihood as fishers required it, who were immortalized by “Deadliest Catch” and died too young for tragic reasons.
NICK MCGLASHAN
One of the most prolific and omnipresent fishers in the “Deadliest Catch” reality TV franchise, F/V Summer Bay and Cape Caution deck boss and mentor figure Nick McGlashan appeared in more than 80 episodes of the main series while also popping up to do his job on spinoffs like “Deadliest Catch: The Bait” and “Deadliest Catch: Greenhorn.” His final episode, which made use of archival footage, would arrive abruptly, airing in June 2021 and taped in December 2020. In it, several crab boat crew members receive text messages alerting them, and thus many “Deadliest Catch” viewers, to McGlashan’s death. The fishing crew, which includes some of the toughest cast members from “Deadliest Catch” history, was plunged into disbelief and mourning.
McGlashan’s body was found in a room at a Holiday Inn in Nashville, Tennessee. He’d left “Deadliest Catch” entirely during Season 13 after his issues with drugs and alcohol grew untenable to the rest of the crew. He sought out sobriety and returned to work and television, but died from a fatal mixture of fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine, an autopsy suggested. Joining the list of reality show celebrities who died before 35, McGlashan was just 33.
MAHLON REYES
First appearing sporadically in Seasons 8, 9, and 10 of “Deadliest Catch” as a greenhorn or rookie fisherman and then deckhand, working the F/V Seabrooke and Cape Caution, Mahlon Reyes reemerged on the series in 2020, helping catch crabs on the Summer Bay. His last episode, Season 16’s “Bering Sea Crash,” is one of the show’s most difficult, showcasing two full days of stressful, weather-hampered sailing and Reyes enduring a severe injury to his Achilles’ tendon in the line of duty. Unable to walk, let alone hoist crab pots, Reyes had little choice but to leave the sea and convalesce in his hometown of Whitefish, Montana.
While still off duty on July 27, 2020, Reyes experienced a medical emergency and was admitted to North Valley Montana Hospital. Doctors were unable to revive Reyes, who’d endured a fatal heart attack. The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation into the cause of death and determined that Reyes’ heart issue was triggered by an accidental overdose of cocaine. He was 38 years old.
TODD KOCHUTIN
During his lifetime, Todd Kochutin appeared on just one episode of “Deadliest Catch.” In 2020, his fishing exploits as a greenhorn on the F/V Summer Bay were chronicled. Kochutin would show up via archival footage in five more “Deadliest Catch” installments in the 2020s, all produced after his death at sea.
While working the F/V Patricia Lee in February 2021, Kochutin — an experienced cod, pollock, and crab fisherman — was forcefully, accidentally struck by a crab pot, which can weigh around 800 pounds. Sustaining significant injuries in the accident, Kochutin was declared dead by a medic on the deck of his ship. While the Patricia Lee wasn’t part of the “Deadliest Catch” fleet, an episode of the series related the tragic events as they unfolded, with Kochutin’s crew members and friends learning of the injuries and death. Kochutin was 30 years old, the last surviving member of his immediate family following the deaths of his parents and two siblings.
NICK MAVAR
After his many years of work throughout the Alaskan fishing industry, Nick Mavar was recruited by F/V Northwestern captain Sig Hansen to be a deckhand on his fishing boat. Mavar then became an original cast member on “Deadliest Catch,” factoring into 98 episodes from 2005 until the 2020s, when he left the series to recuperate from serious health problems. During filming, his appendix ripped, which exposed a malignant tumor. Never returning to “Deadliest Catch,” Mavar ran his own salmon fishing operation out of Bristol Bay, Alaska.
On June 13, 2024, Mavar was discovered unresponsive in a Naknek, Alaska, boatyard. Mavar was taken to a hospital where doctors declared him dead, determining that he died of natural causes. His “Deadliest Catch” costar and nephew, Jake Anderson, later reported that his uncle likely suffered a heart attack while climbing a ladder on a dock then fell to the surface below. Mavar was 59 years old.
JUSTIN TENNISON
Over the span of “Deadliest Catch” Season 7, Justin Tennison left, albeit tragically, just as quickly as he’d arrived. He served as a deckhand on the F/V Time Bandit for the fall 2010 and winter 2011 crab fishing seasons, brought on by Captain Andy Hillstrand and joining his cousin, Eddie Uwekoolani.
Tennison may have continued to fish for the cameras on future seasons of “Deadliest Catch,” but he died immediately after the end of the winter 2011 season and the filming of Season 7. After he was dismissed, he checked into a Best Western hotel room in Homer, Alaska, where authorities were summoned when Tennison was discovered lifeless in his bed. The fisherman was pronounced dead, and a cursory investigation found evidence of a party, with alcohol bottles and marijuana on the premises. “Justin died peacefully in his sleep the night of February 21, 2011,” Hillstrand wrote on Facebook. “We will miss him terribly and wish his family all the best during this most difficult time.” His death attributed to sleep apnea, Tennison was 33.
CAPTAIN PHIL HARRIS
Disturbing things can happen on reality shows, such as death. In 2010, “Deadliest Catch” delivered some of its most harrowing moments ever when it depicted the rapid decline and shocking death of one of its main cast members. As shown in a Season 6 episode of the series, Phil Harris, the cranky captain of the F/V Cornelia Marie and a lifelong crab man, was routinely removing snow crabs off the deck of his ship while in port at St. Paul Island, Alaska, in January 2010. Having recently resumed his work after a medical furlough to treat a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot), he suffered a stroke in full view of the cameras; he requested that the crew capture the events as they happened, even though he was having a hard time moving and speaking.
Captain Harris sought medical attention and was transported to a hospital in Anchorage, Alaska, for treatment and recovery through a medically induced coma. On February 9, 2010, Harris died at the age of 53. The death, officially attributed to a brain hemorrhage, and its aftermath of grieving relatives, made it into “Deadliest Catch.”
ROSS JONES
Among a group of newly hired greenhorns on board the F/V Saga, Ross Jones joined “Deadliest Catch” in its 16th season. He’d appear in just two episodes, participating in Captain Jake Anderson’s relentless drive to make a speedy and successful haul before the onset of a potentially dangerous ice storm. Jones would soon thereafter leave behind the crab fishing life as well as reality television.
Just about two years after his last episode of “Deadliest Catch” aired, the Deadliest Catch World Facebook page reported in June 2022 that Jones had died. The account didn’t publicly disclose any details about the manner, location, or cause of Jones’ death. It was likely abrupt and unexpected, as the former and relatively young fisherman had made a social media post just four days prior celebrating his 2-year-old son’s birthday. “I loved Ross Jones,” “Deadliest Catch” star Captain Jake Anderson memorialized on Instagram. “TO VALHALLA!”
BLAKE PAINTER
An engineer on the F/V Maverick before he was promoted to captain, Blake Painter joined the cast of “Deadliest Catch” in the series’ second season, appearing sporadically over the course of two years. He’d later hand off his boat to Captain Rick Quashnick and helm another ship, the F/V Tradition. His final episodes depicting his professional life aired in 2007, after which Painter faced multiple criminal and substance abuse issues. After returning to his home of Astoria, Oregon, he was arrested in January 2018 for driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, possession of heroin, and evidence tampering.
In May 2018, fearing that the lifeless body on the floor spotted through a window might be the “Deadliest Catch” star, a friend of the fishing boat captain asked police in Clatsop County, Oregon, to perform a wellness check. Authorities discovered the body of Painter, who had been dead for several days, surrounded by drug paraphernalia and what appeared to be heroin, methamphetamine, and prescription painkillers. The former reality TV star was 38 years old.
TONY LARA
Following the untimely and unexpected death of Captain Phil Harris in 2010, Tony Lara took over as captain of the F/V Cornelia Marie, thus providing his entry to the cast of “Deadliest Catch.” Lara and Harris were good friends, and before tragedy led to him becoming a skipper, Lara had worked as a deckhand on the Cornelia Marie in the 1990s, years before “Deadliest Catch” began production. Lara appeared in just six episodes of the show’s seventh season before moving on.
Just four years after his final TV appearance, Lara died. In August 2015, Lara attended the yearly Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. The fisherman didn’t wake up one morning, and he was found deceased in his bed. The “Deadliest Catch” participant was 50 years old, or 56 according to other reports. An autopsy performed just following the death indicated that the cause of death was a heart attack.
