Latest news with #SigHansen
Epoch Times
2 days ago
- Health
- Epoch Times
‘Deadliest Catch' Captain Sig Hansen Reflects on Mortality Ahead of New Season
'Deadliest Catch' captain Sig Hansen says years of health scares have given him a new perspective on both life and family. The longtime skipper of the F/V Northwestern, who has spent decades navigating the harsh waters of the Bering Sea, recently admitted he no longer sees himself as invincible. At 59, Hansen said the challenges at sea have made him reflect more deeply on how he wants to spend his remaining years.
Fox News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
‘Deadliest Catch' star Sig Hansen confronts mortality after life-threatening health scares at sea
"Deadliest Catch" Captain Sig Hansen isn't afraid of the sea, but he's no longer pretending he's invincible. After decades of battling brutal conditions in the Bering Sea, Hansen, 59, is now facing something even more formidable than icy waves — his own mortality. The veteran fisherman, known for his grit and leadership aboard the F/V Northwestern, told Fox News Digital that a string of personal health scares at sea has fundamentally changed the way he views both fishing and family. "Honestly, with family, it actually opened my eyes," Hansen candidly said. "I mean, I want to spend more time with them, and it's like you do have more of an appreciation… you do see things differently with age and all that." "Honestly, with family, it actually opened my eyes. I mean, I want to spend more time with them, and it's like you do have more of an appreciation… you do see things differently with age and all that." As for his mortality, the sea captain said the clock's ticking, and he wants to be a better father, grandfather and husband to his family. Hansen — who's spoken in the past about surviving a heart attack and enduring medical setbacks while at sea — said the close calls have made him want to become a better man, especially at home. WATCH: 'DEADLIEST CATCH' STAR REFLECTS ON AGING, FAMILY AND FEAR AT SEA "If you're a terrible father, you want to be a better father," he reflected. "And then if you can't be a better father, then now you're a good grandfather. So, you're trying to make up for all this lost time." But when it comes to deep-sea fishing — the career that made him famous — Hansen admitted the fear has deepened. "I'm much more fearful," he confessed. "You do have the Coast Guard — and they're just amazing… guys and gals out there that are out looking over everybody, but at the end of the day… there's no doctor. It's scary." He recalled one terrifying moment that nearly cost him his life — not on deck, but shortly after returning from sea. WATCH: 'DEADLIEST CATCH' STAR SIG HANSEN REVEALS HIS BIGGEST REGRETS, MISTAKES FROM DANGEROUS CAREER "I was going to take the boat to Seattle… it's about a seven-day trip," Hansen recalled. But his brother offered to handle the voyage, so Hansen could fly home early — a decision that may have saved his life. Before leaving, Hansen took a hard fall on the ice and hit his nose. He brushed it off and flew home. He waited a day in Dutch Harbor before continuing his journey. But once he got back, Hansen explained how things took a scary turn. "I woke up and… I had an infection and my face looked just like it was swollen," he said. "It was like a golf ball out of my nostril." An alarmed Hansen shouted to his wife, "Did you poison me?" She replied, "No, we got to get you to the hospital." WATCH: 'DEADLIEST CATCH' STAR SIG HANSEN SHARES THE DANGERS HE'S FACED AT SEA THIS SEASON Doctors didn't waste time. He was injected with antibiotics immediately. "She said basically, you know, another few hours, you'd be gone." As Hansen looked back, he was certain of one thing: If he'd been at sea when the infection hit, the results could've been fatal. "Had I been on that boat, I don't think the Coast Guard would have been there soon enough… That's all it would've took. One little slip in the ice — and then you got the infection — and that's how quick things can happen." The Norwegian American has weathered countless storms and personal health scares during his time on "Deadliest Catch," including a heart attack in 2016. While Hansen isn't quite ready to hang up his captain's hat, he explained that his priorities may have shifted, as the call of home is growing louder than the call of the sea. Since he suffered a heart attack on the job, he's been more cautious and more aware of what's at stake, as he told Fox News Digital what retirement may look like for him in the future. "I've been thinking about it ever since… more fearful when you put pots on the boat, more fearful for everybody else," he said. "And then you start thinking, 'My wife has spent decades waiting for me. Why not… give the last whatever I got to her?' That's what I'm doing." The veteran sea captain has been married to his wife June for more than 20 years. Throughout their decades-long marriage, Sig adopted June's two daughters — Mandy and Nina Hansen. Fans of "Deadliest Catch" would recognize Mandy, who's stepped into the spotlight alongside her father aboard the F/V Northwestern. She welcomed a daughter named Sailor Marie in November 2021 with her husband, Clark Pederson. In addition to their blended family, Sig also has a biological daughter, Melissa, from a previous marriage that ended in divorce. "Deadliest Catch" airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on Discovery Channel.
Fox News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
‘Deadliest Catch' star reflects on aging, family and fear at sea
"Deadliest Catch" star Captain Sig Hansen tells Fox News Digital the "clock's kind of ticking here" as he talks about mortality and life at sea.
Yahoo
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Deadliest Catch 'star Sig Hansen on teaming up with Johnathan Hillstrand and season 21's remote destination
The fan-favorite captain tells EW that journeying to the far western reaches of the Bering Sea "brought back a lot of good memories." Don't underestimate Captain Sig Hansen's crab radar. Deadliest Catch season 21 finds the fan-favorite skipper teaming up with Captain Johnathan Hillstrand aboard the Time Bandit to the furthest reaches of the Bering Sea in search of monster red king crab. The unlikely pairing came about last October, when rumors swirled that an abundance of crab awaited in the waters off Adak Island, which is part of the distant Andreanof Islands in Alaska's Aleutian Islands chain. "I keep thinking it was so interesting that we joined forces," Sig tells Entertainment Weekly of his collaboration with Johnathan, which began in the premiere episode that aired Aug. 1. "Twenty, 30 years ago, that wasn't gonna happen. You're too competitive. And now we're like these old guys that are teaming up. So for me, that was just a lot of fun." Heading so far west was also a sail down memory lane for Sig, who fished the remote area with his father years ago. In addition, it was also an opportunity to say "I told you so" to his daughter, Mandy Hansen, and her husband, Clark Pederson. "We were as far west as you legally could for the Bering Sea fishery," Sig says. "Getting out close to Adak is a moment back in time for me. And those crab that we caught back then with my father and fishing in that area was a lot of fun." Sig continues, "I've always told Mandy and my son-in-law about what it was like out there back in the day, and the type of crab, the difference between the crab that are way out west versus the ones that you get normally in the Eastern Bering Sea. And, you know, it's almost like they didn't believe me, like, 'these monsters don't exist,' and then you get out there and lo and behold, daddy's right." With Sig on the Time Bandit with Johnathan, Mandy captains the Northwestern on her own for the first time in season 21. For Sig, it was a reminder of his past working with his dad, and that "everything's repetitive." "It just made me so proud that she was making her own decision," he says. "I don't think she was letting anybody talk her into doing anything. And to me, that's what it takes to run a boat and to be the boss, you know, whether it's right or whether it was wrong. You just have to be the one to make that tough choice sometimes. And she did. And she does. And she showed it. And I wasn't there to hold her hand. So I think it's great." Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Sig teases that the journey west was a success — albeit not without risks. "I don't regret going out there," he says. "I can say that we found enormous crab. And I can say that it brought back a lot of good memories... But it is a dangerous place." Deadliest Catch airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery Channel. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Fox News
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
‘Deadliest Catch' star Sig Hansen blames ego and greed for reckless calls at sea
"Deadliest Catch" star Captain Sig Hansen is no stranger to risk. While Hansen, 59, has spent decades navigating the brutal, icy waters of the Bering Sea, he told Fox News Digital that it's not just the storms and freezing temperatures that have put his life at risk. The veteran crab fisherman got candid about the dangerous decisions he's made at sea, including one call driven by ego that nearly cost him everything. "Well, it was the icing down… that was ego-driven," Hansen remarked. "And when you're ego-driven, and you're worried if you want to make more money and your greed is thinking more than your common sense, it's not good." "When you're ego-driven, and you're worried if you want to make more money and your greed is thinking more than your common sense, it's not good." Hansen reflected on a career full of high-stakes decisions and even higher consequences. Despite surviving some of the most treacherous fishing conditions, he admitted there are moments he'll never stop regretting. WATCH: 'DEADLIEST CATCH' STAR SIG HANSEN REVEALS HIS BIGGEST REGRETS, MISTAKES FROM DANGEROUS CAREER "There's a lot of regrets. I mean, good Lord, I had a heart attack at sea… Maybe I should have hung up the spurs a long time ago," Hansen said. "And to a fisherman, it's always that one bad season, right? So, there's a lot of regrets. Made a lot of mistakes. But we've been fortunate, haven't lost anybody and everybody's OK. So that's good." One near-tragic moment from early in his career that still haunts him was a mistake that led to a crew member's serious injury. "There was one guy that got hurt. I won't say the name. That was many years ago. I think I was like 27, 28 years old," Hansen recalled. "It was after a storm... I saw the wave coming, and then I didn't manage to hit the alarm… [to] notify him. When it hit him, it knocked him clean across the deck, and he really did damage to his back." Though the crew member recovered and returned to fishing, the accident shook Hansen. "Sometimes you're not talking minutes — you're talking seconds to where things can happen. It did, and I learned a valuable lesson." Hansen said his takeaway from that boating accident was not to be distracted in the wheelhouse. "It was that one split second... you take it for granted, and that's what happened. And after that, I never played music up there ever again," he laughed. "At least while I'm fishing." WATCH: 'DEADLIEST CATCH' STAR SIG HANSEN SHARES THE DANGERS HE'S FACED AT SEA THIS SEASON Even with decades of experience under his belt, the ocean has continued to humble Hansen — most notably during a terrifying moment when his boat began to ice over in sub-zero conditions. Then there was the fire — a moment caught on camera and made all the more intense by the fact that his daughter, Mandy, was on board. "We had a fire on board… My daughter was with us, and so that really is frightening," he shared with Fox News Digital. "I keep thinking back — had that fire broke out like an hour earlier, I think we'd have been in big, big trouble." Luckily, the crew was alert and ready, the "Deadliest Catch" star explained. "We managed because the guys were so attentive. And when the fire broke out, they were already ready to start fishing on deck... But they just had been in their bunk sleeping." Hansen's time at sea has tested not just his physical endurance, but his heart — both literally and figuratively. He suffered a heart attack on the job, and it was that health scare — along with the tragic loss of the F/V Destination in 2017 — that first made him question whether it was time to walk away from the ocean for good. Since then, he's been more cautious and more aware of what's at stake, as he told Fox News Digital what retirement may look like for him in the future. "I've been thinking about it ever since… more fearful when you put pots on the boat, more fearful for everybody else," he said. "And then you start thinking, my wife has spent decades waiting for me. Why not… give the last whatever I got to her. That's what I'm doing." In Season 21 of "Deadliest Catch," Hansen teamed up with returning captain Johnathan Hillstrand as the two headed to the abandoned Adak Island in search of a rumored giant king crab. Co-captaining the Time Bandit, the veteran fishermen kicked off a modern-day gold rush — but the race for the rare crab took a dangerous turn when chaos erupted aboard the Titan Explorer and forced Captain Jake Anderson's crew to abandon ship. As the crews pushed into uncharted waters to secure the lucrative haul, they were met with brutal conditions and dangerous mechanical failures — turning the high-stakes hunt for crab into a fight for survival. "Deadliest Catch" airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on Discovery Channel.
