The Tragedy Of Deadliest Catch's Jake Anderson Explained

With three generations of his family preceding him in the robust Pacific Northwest crab fishing trade, it was almost inevitable that Jake Anderson would wind up on boats braving the waters outside Alaska, hauling up cages full of crustaceans onto the decks of ships. It wasn't as likely that Anderson would wind up a TV star, except that his entry into the crabbing industry dovetailed with the rise of reality television, and he found himself a cast member on the hit Discovery Channel reality series "Deadliest Catch." Still fishing after nearly 20 years, Anderson advanced his career in full view of TV cameras and proved himself among the toughest cast members from "Deadliest Catch," rising to the rank of captain of the F/V Titan Explorer and leading always-treacherous missions into the sea.

A bracingly, frighteningly, and unfailingly realistic look at the dangers of deep-sea commercial fishing, "Deadliest Catch" also provides a raw look into the lives of ship crew members. Captain Anderson especially has endured a number of personal setbacks and tragedies, both before his stint as a reality television stalwart and during, often with the cameras rolling. Here's a look into the saddest moments in the personal and professional life of "Deadliest Catch" skipper Jake Anderson.

Before he became a professional fisherman and television star, Jake Anderson aspired to be a pro skateboarder. A severe injury precluded that career choice and left Anderson struggling to move forward. "I kind of gave up on everything," he told the Skagit Valley Herald.

Anderson began to misuse prescription medication and methamphetamines in his early 20s. After healing from his injury enough to give skateboarding another attempt, he began to take another drug, Adderall. Prescribed as a treatment for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Anderson believed the pills improved his skateboarding; they didn't, and he became so profoundly addicted that he alienated friends and couldn't secure housing. Anderson would ultimately go unhoused in his hometown of Anacortes, Washington, for two years. "There was nowhere to go. I can't express the humiliation one feels at four or five in the morning, and all you can do is watch yourself walk up and down the streets."

Shortly after his 24th birthday, Anderson sought out sobriety with a move to Alaska and a job on a fishing boat. After a relapse, he joined a more formal program and kicked drugs for good. He's reportedly been sober since 2010.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

In one of the most disturbing things that happened on a reality show, Captain Jake Anderson received word of a family tragedy. Out at sea and hundreds of miles away from his hometown of Anacortes, Washington, Anderson learned in the Season 5 "Deadliest Catch" episode "Bitter Tears" that his older sister, Chelsea Anderson, had been rushed to a medical facility, and shortly thereafter, died from issues related to pneumonia. Chelsea's death in February 2009 capped a life characterized by chronic illness. Around the age of two, she was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, a condition that can lead to pain in the joints, slowed growth, and inflammation.

On the anniversary of his sister's death in 2020, Anderson divulged the details of the tragic event. "Before my sister died at the doctors office she was arguing with my mom about how she didn't need to go, she was fine. She died 20 mins later while my mom was in the waiting room," he wrote on Facebook. Chelsea Anderson had lost many of her physical facilities by her mid-30s, at which point she developed seizures and abscesses, then became addicted to prescription pain medications and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. She was 37 years old when she died.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

The family of "Deadliest Catch" star Jake Anderson was rocked by a mystery that, once resolved, still didn't offer up many answers. In January 2010, Anderson's father, Keith Anderson, left his home in Anacortes, Washington, intending to meet an unnamed friend in the town of Arlington, about 40 miles away. The elder Anderson, who departed with only a little cash and reportedly dealing with depression, never returned. Weeks later, his truck was discovered and identified by authorities on a logging road in rural Skagit County, Washington. Little trace of Anderson remained in the vehicle.

More than two years later, a hiker came across skeletal remains less than a few miles from where Anderson had abandoned his truck. Authorities identified the bones as those of Keith Anderson. That closure of sorts came for Jake Anderson days before an episode of "Deadliest Catch" aired, which showed the fisherman coping with grief and lingering questions as he surveyed the area where his father's truck had been discovered. Keith Anderson died at the age of 62.

Jake Anderson joined "Deadliest Catch" in 2007, right about when he began his career in commercial fishing, brought into the business by his uncle, F/W Northwestern deckhand and original "Deadliest Catch" star Nick Mavar. Anderson would eventually co-captain that vessel, while Mavar would leave the show in the 2020s after he tore his appendix and was diagnosed with cancer. Anderson's uncle retired from reality TV fishing, but not the industry, operating a salmon fishing business in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

In one of the biggest reported tragedies that have come out about "Deadliest Catch," Mavar's body was found on the ground at a boatyard in Naknek, Alaska, on June 13, 2024. At a nearby hospital, the doctors declared Mavar dead. The cause of death: a sudden health emergency during an odd accident. Initially reported as natural causes, Anderson later reported that his uncle and fellow fisherman fell off of a ladder on a dock when he was beset by a heart attack. Mavar was 59 years old. Two days after Mavar's death, Anderson posted a poem of praise called "Measure of the Man" to his Facebook page, dedicated to his "uncle Nikki."

The F/V Saga is almost a "Deadliest Catch" cast member, as the fishing boat has served as the setting for some of the show's most dramatic moments since 2007. By the time Season 20 of the series began production in 2023, the F/V Saga had become even more important to crew member and star Jake Anderson. He'd worked his way up from a deckhand to captain that ship, and then poured his financial resources into the boat, becoming a part owner of the Saga in 2015. Eight years later, some financial snafus that Anderson blamed on a business associate led to him losing the ship — which also happened to be the primary way he makes his living. Authorities ordered the property to be repossessed, and just before the potentially lucrative 2023 fishing season was about to get underway.

"Everything was situated to go red crab fishing. Then, on September 1, things started to look dark," Anderson told TV Insider. "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. In saying that, I don't think there has ever been a show to watch the American dream unfold and watch it crumble at the same time." Anderson wound up joining the crew of the F/V Northwestern working for his former boss, Sig Hansen.

After Jake Anderson took control of the crabbing boat the F/V Saga, as depicted on "Deadliest Catch," he brought in welder, cutter, and veteran ship worker Tom Brossard to serve as the vessel's chief engineer. Brossard also helped Anderson largely rebuild the F/V Saga after he purchased the boat, and the captain considered the engineer to be his closest friend.

The camera crew filming the Season 20 episode of "Deadliest Catch" caught on tape Anderson learning about the sudden, tragic death of Brossard. While idle one evening at sea, Anderson received a call from his wife, Jenna, who had just gotten word about a medical emergency from Brossard's spouse. "It's Tom," Jenna Anderson said (via YouTube). "He just had a heart attack or something." She added, "He didn't make it." The captain was baffled and angered by the death, noting that there were many other people he thought more deserving of death than his best friend and that he still spoke with him on the phone every night. Brossard, who'd moved to the Philippines in his final years, was 64 years old. He was another of several "Deadliest Catch" stars you might not know died. 

"Deadliest Catch" is available for purchase on Prime Video.