Deadliest Catch is a show renowned for its danger and drama. Captain Phil Harris achieved icon status over the course of several seasons of the show, before his tragic passing in 2010.
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00:00Deadliest Catch is a show renowned for its danger and drama.
00:04Captain Phil Harris achieved icon status over the course of several seasons of the show
00:08before his tragic passing in 2010.
00:11It might seem bizarre to imagine that someone's fancy crab dinner costs human lives, but viewers
00:16of the Discovery Channel's popular reality series Deadliest Catch might not be too surprised
00:21by that.
00:22The 19-season-long show, focusing on the lives and jobs of crab fishermen in Alaska, has
00:27featured the deaths of half a dozen cast members over the years.
00:30The first such tragedy occurred in 2010 during Season 6, when Deadliest Catch star Captain
00:36Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie suffered a stroke that happened off-camera.
00:40As the U.S. Sun reports, he died at the age of 53 after several days in the hospital.
00:45Harris' stroke kicked off a run of episodes that focused on his health and the reactions
00:49of those who knew him.
00:50The first of these episodes garnered 5.4 million views, according to The New York Times.
00:55Harris was placed in an induced coma and later woke up following surgery.
00:59Sometime after this, however, he died from an intracranial hemorrhage.
01:03The July 13th episode, Redemption Day, showed Harris during his final days.
01:07The subsequent episode, Valhalla, dealt with the aftermath of his death.
01:12These episodes were followed up with an hour-long tribute episode titled Captain Phil Harris
01:16Remembered.
01:17Clark Bunting, president and general manager of Discovery, told The New York Times,
01:21Most of the fans know what the unfortunate ending is.
01:24I think this is a collective opportunity for people to express their condolences.
01:28While fans of Deadliest Catch could never have foreseen that Phil Harris would suffer
01:32a stroke and die as Season 6 was filming, People reported that he suffered from poor
01:36health and lifestyle choices for years.
01:39He wore his body down over time through smoking, high-calorie meals, pots of coffee, cases
01:44of Red Bull, and more.
01:45He suffered a pulmonary embolism in 2008, a life-threatening blood clot in the lung.
01:51After that, a Deadliest Catch producer close to Harris observed that he seemed to get weaker
01:55as time went on.
01:56On top of all this, Phil's son, Josh Harris, also said that his father had herniated discs
02:01that left him in severe pain on his final trip out at sea.
02:05As People reported, it was the Cornelia Marie's engineer Steve Ward who found Captain Harris
02:09immobilized on the floor of his cabin.
02:11Josh Harris reported that the left side of Phil's face, as well as both of his arms,
02:16were paralyzed.
02:17And yet, as Pop Matters wrote, even in this debilitated condition, Captain Harris told
02:22the Deadliest Catch production crew to continue filming.
02:25The Discovery Channel filmed everything as it was happening, and built the rest of Season
02:296 around Harris' failing condition.
02:31He was transported to a hospital in Anchorage, underwent surgery, and seemed to take a turn
02:36for the better.
02:37But he ultimately died.
02:38I don't know how to tell you this, Jake, but, um, we lost Dad, dude."
02:46As Deadliest Catch footage shows, Phil Harris and his elder son, Josh Butted Heads, challenged
02:51each other for dominance, and played pranks on each other.
02:54But when push came to shove, the two came together.
02:57In a 2010 People article, Josh Harris describes being grateful for the time that he and his
03:01father had while he was in the hospital in Anchorage, saying,
03:04"...we had nine days total that we were there to enjoy a few moments with him.
03:08We had our closest people there, and it was awesome."
03:11On that same note, Captain Harris' closest friend, Dan Mittman, spoke positively about
03:16the upturn that Harris displayed following his surgery.
03:19He explained that, regardless of the tragic outcome, him being awake and aware long enough
03:24to be able to say goodbye to those closest to him was a miracle in itself.
03:28People describes how Harris more or less passed the professional baton to his children.
03:32His son, Josh, said,
03:34"...my life goal was to show him I could be a man, you know, and I could fish, and I did
03:38the best job that I could, and he recognized that as being a good job and gave me kudos."
03:43Harris' younger son, Jake, said,
03:45"...I'm going to be looking at that captain's chair in a different way.
03:48I just didn't expect this to happen so soon.
03:50That's definitely something where I would take over and take the responsibility."