The WORST episodes of Deadliest Catch
Every episode of Deadliest Catch ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Deadliest Catch!
Forty-foot waves, 700 pound crab pots, freezing temperatures and your mortality staring you in the face…it's all in a day's work for these modern day prospectors. During each episode we will watch crews race to meet their quota and make it home safely.
#1 - The Crush of Winter
Season 18 - Episode 15 - Aired 8/2/2022
New-mother Mandy returns to Sig's wheelhouse but as heavy ice builds on the Northwestern, she reckons with the risks the family is taking. Jake unveils a new super pot to stake his claim in the unforgiving cod derby as winter weather blindsides the fleet.
#2 - Get 'Em Back Safe!
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/15/2008
It's the beginning of a new king crab season and everyone's looking to cash in. Some boats are slow to start but eventually get to catching some king crab.
Watch Now:iTunes#3 - Listing Lover
Season 9 - Episode 12 - Aired 7/2/2013
The crews and battered boats are feeling the brunt of one of the hardest Opilio seasons on record. While some crew members battle potentially catastrophic breakdowns to stay on the grounds and keep fishing, others throw in the towel and call it quits.
Watch Now:iTunes#4 - Sleeping With the Enemy
Season 9 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/18/2013
Survival is the name of the game as the fleet battles their way through a ferocious arctic storm. Junior takes a huge risk in order to get back in the game; two greenhorns struggle to fit in with their crews; and Elliott’s problems on land continue.
Watch Now:iTunes#5 - Good Fishing
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 5/31/2005
Unseasonably warm weather and calm seas have contributed to three days of record catches for the fleet. It's not all smooth sailing for one boat, however, when an electrical fire breaks out in the engine room and its crew must scramble to fix the problem before safely returning to fishing. But as the fourth day of the season gets under way, the continued high number of crabs spurs rumors of an early closure, with every captain speculating on when the quota will be met.
Watch Now:iTunes#6 - Super Typhoon (2)
Season 11 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/12/2015
Super Typhoon Nuri swallows the fishing grounds. With lives and livelihoods on the line, rookie Josh Harris' weaknesses are exposed, Captain Sig loses control of the Northwestern & Captain Elliott Neese steps down from the helm of the Saga.
Watch Now:iTunes#7 - Mutiny on the Bering Sea
Season 9 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/16/2013
It's October in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and after a devastating 2011 Opilio season, every ship in the fleet — including two new boats — is looking to make a comeback in the 2012 King Crab season. But it won't be easy for any of them.
Watch Now:iTunes
#8 - No Good Deed Unpunished
Season 18 - Episode 11 - Aired 6/28/2022
With dock prices spiking, the fleet races to deliver. Jake witnesses a freighter severing his longline, forcing the Saga crew to drag the bottom for a valuable string of pots. Rip helps Johnathan locate the motherlode only to pay with a broken block.
Watch Now:iTunes#9 - Hell's Bells
Season 11 - Episode 9 - Aired 6/9/2015
Christmas at sea for the Time Bandit is disturbed when an unhinged deckhand terrorizes the crew. Jake Anderson awaits the birth of his baby, when an unexpected phone call throws a wrench in the plan. A greenhorn's season is cut short by a gruesome injury.
Watch Now:iTunes#10 - Greenhorns
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/12/2005
It's the first day of work at the world's deadliest job. Approximately 1,500 fishermen and 250 boats have converged on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, for the 2005 Alaskan king crab season. Each individual old salts and greenhorns alike ” is here to stake his claim on the 14 million pounds of crab that the season is expected to yield, and the chance to earn a year's wages in just one week. To that end, each boat's captain has his own strategy for success.With a radio countdown, the season begins and the first pots are dumped into the sea. It will be many hours before all the pots are set and even longer before anyone rests. But soon after the start, the stabilizer breaks on one of the boats, forcing its crew to fish with a potentially deadly problem. For others, it's fish guts and crab pots as they desperately grasp for their piece of the $80 million king crab pie.
Watch Now:iTunes#11 - It's Not All Mai Tais and Yahtzee
Season 7 - Episode 12 - Aired 6/28/2011
A loose pot causes havoc on the Kodiak; a Seabrooke crewman is nearly crushed by ice and the new skipper of the Cornelia Marie courts mutiny when his new string comes up lean.
Watch Now:iTunes#12 - Bite the Hand
Season 11 - Episode 14 - Aired 7/21/2015
As a second major storm slams the fleet, Rookie skipper Jake Anderson reaches out to Sig Hansen for help. Josh Harris arrives on the grounds weeks late. Captain Keith Colburn and Wild Bill Wichrowski struggle to keep their greenhorns in the game.
Watch Now:iTunes#13 - New Captain on the Block
Season 11 - Episode 11 - Aired 6/23/2015
The rest of the fleet arrives in Dutch Harbor to take Opilio season by storm. Jake Anderson prepares to captain the Saga for the first time. Captain Andy Hillstrand returns to find the Time Bandit in disarray. Keith Colburn's new greenhorn turns heads.
Watch Now:iTunes#14 - Fist to the Face
Season 9 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/21/2013
On the Northwestern, Jake's dark secret sets off a fistfight that throws Edgar's new captaincy into jeopardy. Tempers flare on the Saga and Seabrooke when Elliott grows wise to Junior's devious ways.
Watch Now:iTunes#15 - Seeking the Catch
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/20/2008
As the King Crab season drawls to a close, a mass amounts of stinging jellyfish by catch in unfilled pots add insult to injury. The Cornelia Marie could face losing their captain for good. The crew mistakes onboard Northwestern could be costly.
Watch Now:iTunes#16 - Frontier Medicine
Season 7 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/14/2011
The fleet battles a devastating arctic hurricane as the focus shifts from fishing to survival; the captains consider drastic measures as the ice and injuries pile up.
Watch Now:iTunes#17 - Hell Or High Water
Season 15 - Episode 16 - Aired 8/6/2019
Monte returns to co-captain the Wizard just as massive storms slam the fleet from the south. Jake risks hauling his pots in 30 foot seas to return to his family. Wild Bill goes farther north into the icy Arctic than any other boat in the fleet.
Watch Now:iTunes#18 - A Wing and a Prayer
Season 7 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/10/2011
A deckhand falls asleep at the wheel and sends the boat towards a fleet of vessels.
Watch Now:iTunes#19 - We're Not Gonna Take It
Season 9 - Episode 11 - Aired 6/25/2013
The fleet's weathered the storm, but the crabs are still off the bite. Desperate to make their offload dates the captains mercilessly grind their crews. Not making any money, the deckhands start to get sick of being bullied.
Watch Now:iTunes#20 - Release the Beast
Season 8 - Episode 15 - Aired 7/17/2012
Two brothers find themselves in the same dire situation that sunk their father's boat. After a midseason hiatus, the fleet returns to the Bearing Sea, but the ice is back and worse than before. Now the skippers could get pushed past their breaking points.
Watch Now:iTunes#21 - Wasted Talent
Season 11 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/19/2015
With a 1.5 million dollar boat of his own and more King Crab quota than any other captain in the fleet, Elliott Neese throws it all away and bids a final farewell. With a baby on the way, Jake Anderson struggles to fill Edgar's shoes on the Northwestern.
Watch Now:iTunes#22 - Man Overboard
Season 9 - Episode 15 - Aired 7/23/2013
After enduring months of mechanical breakdowns, sleepless grinds and infighting, the fleet is starting to crack. And when deckhands on the Wizard are unable to lasso a floating walrus carcass, one man takes matters into his own hands.
Watch Now:iTunes
#23 - Blow Up
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/10/2008
A routine Coast Guard rescue becomes a battle against nature. The Cornelia Marie heads to land for repairs. Fatigue is causing mistakes on the Northwestern. On the Wizard, Greenhorn Moi locks horns with Capt. Keith. The Time Bandit heads for better grounds.
Watch Now:iTunes#24 - Race Against the Ice
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 6/6/2006
The Rollo and the Maverick have off loaded their crab, a miscalculation sends a Captain into a frenzy. A race back to the crab grounds is underway to see who can bring home the crab.
Watch Now:iTunes#25 - Quid Pro Crab
Season 17 - Episode 17 - Aired 8/17/2021
Captains scramble to meet an expanded quota in the path of a violent system dubbed "Squall-pocalypse". A breakdown on the Wizard puts Monte in debt to the Time Bandit and Josh and Casey exceed their own quota when it comes to injuries on deck.
Watch Now:iTunesWant to see the rest of the rankings?
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