Keith Colburn Life or Death Drama as Crew Member Falls Overboard

The unforgiving cold has taken hold on Deadliest Catch. These icy conditions continue to cause issues for the captains of the Discovery Channel series. During the July 17 episode, Keith Colburn was still reeling from the harrowing Coast Guard rescue of nine crew aboard the beached Arctic Sea vessel. Unfortunately, the Wizard captain has to deal with his own scary situation. 

Elsewhere, Sig Hansen is still finding his dynamic with the addition of Sophia “Bob” Nielsen to the Northwestern. Beyond that, his team up with Johnathan Hillstrand of the Time Bandit revs up as they tow the Russian line. Rick Shelford joins the fleet in his own crab fishing expedition and welcomes aboard a few new greenhorns.

Keith Colburn 

Lynn Guitard and Keith Colburn (Discovery Channel)

The weather is starting to pick up with Keith facing issues with his plotter, which doesn’t help when you’re looking at positioning and setting 160 pots. When he looked to help the Arctic Sea, it set him back 60 miles off course and wanted to get back on track. Things take a scary turn when deckhand Lynn Guitard falls overboard in 15 foot seas. Keith and his brother Monte lead the rescue efforts. At one point Keith lost sight of him, but the crew eventually threw a life sling to Lynn. They managed to pull him back onto the boat, rushing to get him warm to prevent hypothermia. 

It was an emotional scene. “I’m so sorry. I love you guys,” Lynn said. Keith gives him a hug, thankful the ordeal didn’t happen at night. The team was shaken up. “Everything went right when so many things could have gone wrong,” Keith said, summing up the rescue. The crew gets back to work as Keith predicted four hours of hell due to the 22 foot seas and severe conditions they’d face. Lynn got back on deck as the pots came in full with crab quota. The episode ended with dedication to Monte’s son Gregory, a Wizard crewman from 2018-2022, who unexpectedly died in a May motorcycle accident. 

Sig Hansen & Johnathan Hillstrand

Sig Hansen (Discovery Channel)

Bob has been growing frustrated by Sig not giving her much to do. She confided in her brother on a phone call about feeling more like a passenger than a partner. This became apparent when Sig enlisted her to Bob to monitor the waves for the guys on deck. They felt there was some disconnect with communication. 

Sig had a 200,000 opilio quota and needed to start getting big numbers toward it fast. His plan was to bypass the crab from entering the Russian waters. Ice was adding weight to the vessel and not making things any easier. Johnathan linked up with Sig as what was described as an “Iron Curtain” of pots to haul the mass defection of crabs. He had his own 180,000 to get. The two captains worked in concert and got some nice pot numbers within the 500 range. 

Rick Shelford

Todd Meadows (Discovery Channel)

Rick’s Aleutian Lady was being readied to leave the Dutch Harbor with 400,000 pounds of bairdi to catch. He remarked that it was the coldest winter in decades. They needed to get out of town and quickly work toward that $2.4 million quota. The boat was prepped with new greenhorns joining the fold. Among them was John Green from Florida and Todd Meadows from Washington.

The latter would die tragically by falling overboard in February, succumbing to a reported drowning and probable hypothermia. The Season 22 premiere was dedicated to the late 25-year-old. Cameras caught a heartwarming interaction between Todd and his son over the phone. 

In order to welcome the two new crew, John and Todd participate in the ritual of swallowing the eyes of cod. Rick’s deck boss Nico Huerta suffered an injury where he was stabbed in the leg while working with the pots. Rick helped him with antibiotics and stitches. The crew kept going and got some nice triple digit numbers of crab. 

Deadliest Catch, Fridays, 8/7c, Discovery Channel