# Deadliest Catch Trivia...



## Hard Core (Sep 24, 2008)

Howdy all....



I spent several hours over the last few days talking to the guy who used to own the Cornelia Marie. That is the crab boat on the Deadliest Catch television show that is ran by Phil. The boat is actually owned by Cornelia Marie....Ralph's ex wife. Ralph Collins is the guy I have had the pleasure of meeting. He came down to visit with my buddy Mike King who still owns the Rebel. A 100 foot crab boat built at Bender Marine in Mobile. The Cornelia Marie was built in Bayou La Batre by Elmo Horton. Ralph owned and ran the Cornelia Marie up until the divorce....then his ex-wife Cornelia got Phil to tun it.



What really surprised me was how much money each boat gets paid for being on that show. Anyone care to guess how much they get per show or per season? By the way the new season starts the April 14th. I will wait till we get a few guesses then tell you exactly what they get paid.



Ronnie


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## bluffman2 (Nov 22, 2007)

20k?


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

$5


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## amberj (Oct 1, 2007)

More than I make in a year.


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## bonita dan (Oct 3, 2007)

More than I get paid per episode of "The Magic Silver Box"! :reallycrying


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## SKATR JIM (Oct 2, 2007)

Zero


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## Outside9 (Apr 30, 2008)

I have been on a vessel in the Bearing Sea and I didn't have to work through the bad weather, NOT ENOUGH


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## Hard Core (Sep 24, 2008)

Okay..enough guessing.



Bluffman2's guess was exactly right. The boat gets $20,000.00 for the whole season. To me that does not seem like enough money. Hossfly is also right. Phil owns 25% of the boat...Cornelia owns the rest. I was surprised to hear how little $$$ they got to put up with working around a camera crew. The deck hands don't get enough out of it to buy a new slicker suit. My buddy Mike turned down the deal. You are fishing for $500,00.00 to a 1,000,000.00 catch and they want to give you 20K to get in the way??? I would have never let them on my boat either... Just thought ya'll might enjoy what I learned over the last few days...



Ronnie


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## The LaJess II (Oct 3, 2007)

They would have to pay a whole lot more than that to get on my boat if I owned one. They would have to put me up there with Judge Judy at 10 million a year. I guarantee Deadliest Catch gets watched more than Judge Judy.


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## HateCheese (Oct 2, 2007)

That is pretty wild, thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the show starting back up this month. 

Not sure why some people want to be on 'reality tv', but I am glad there are some up there who do it cause its a pretty entertaining show.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

That's crazy. I would've figured at least $200,000 for the season. I wouldn't put up with them for $20,000.


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## deeptracks (Oct 2, 2007)

Judge Judy is Hot...


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## ScullsMcNasty (Oct 4, 2007)

cool topic! thanks for posting


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## amberj (Oct 1, 2007)

But you have to look at it like this as well. That 20k and exposure on TV helps promote there individual sales of t-shirts, and hats, and books. Hell Sig Hansen just came out with his own frozen fish line. Most boats have there own web site with all kinds of fan stuff. They get paid to go to book signings and apprerances. That 20K and getting in the way can end up being Thousands and Thousands of dollars just for the exposure they get on TV. Like me I am a super huge fan of the Northwestern, I also have a Tee-Shirt and hat. I have a friend of mine that is crazy for the Hillstrands on the Time Bandit and he has all kinds of stuff. I am on the friends list of most of the captains on that show on Myspace and I get bulletins all the time saying where they will be, what they are saling, whos coming out with this. I mean even look further, Sig Hansen put out his own Video game. If someone gave me 20k and got in my way to put me on tv to get all that exposure to make a ton of money off of the stuff when I am not fishing, I would be all over it.


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## Hard Core (Sep 24, 2008)

> *amberj (4/7/2009)*But you have to look at it like this as well. That 20k and exposure on TV helps promote there individual sales of t-shirts, and hats, and books. Hell Sig Hansen just came out with his own frozen fish line. Most boats have there own web site with all kinds of fan stuff. They get paid to go to book signings and apprerances. That 20K and getting in the way can end up being Thousands and Thousands of dollars just for the exposure they get on TV. Like me I am a super huge fan of the Northwestern, I also have a Tee-Shirt and hat. I have a friend of mine that is crazy for the Hillstrands on the Time Bandit and he has all kinds of stuff. I am on the friends list of most of the captains on that show on Myspace and I get bulletins all the time saying where they will be, what they are saling, whos coming out with this. I mean even look further, Sig Hansen put out his own Video game. If someone gave me 20k and got in my way to put me on tv to get all that exposure to make a ton of money off of the stuff when I am not fishing, I would be all over it.




Remember they are not giving you 20K. They are giving "the boat" 20K for the whole season. Each to their own. I could care less about being famous. I would rather catch a million bucks worth of crabs a year for 26 years just like my friend has done. Then sell my crab fishing license to the Government for 3 1/2 million and retire also like my friend just did. Tell all the guys you talk to online that Mike King says hello... They will know who you are talking about. 



Ronnie


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## JDM (Oct 1, 2007)

Agree with amberj, those guys make a lot of money to get paid 20g's for that kind of exposure. I would certainly let them get in my way for the kind of money they have an opportunity to make.

Great show and looking forward to the new season.


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## 69Viking (Oct 30, 2008)

The way I look at they're getting $20K and free advertisement. It must be worth it or so many of them wouldn't sign up for it. Great show! It would be awesome to meet one of the captains or crew members, the stories they could tell at Happy Hour! :letsdrink


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## markw4321 (Oct 4, 2007)

The way i look at it the $20K for being on the show is just on top of the money made off the catch.

In other words, the purpose of the boatsgoing out there isn't to film the show,the boats would still be going out even if it weren't for the "deadliest crab" show..So the $20K is just bonus money.

Mark W


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## P-cola_Native (Feb 5, 2008)

They probably just use it to off set fuel costs and stuff. I'm sure 20K get's burnt up pretty fast operating one of those boats.

It's a cool show.


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## Hard Core (Sep 24, 2008)

> *hossfly (4/22/2009)*The hillstands own there boat, wizard owns his boat, northwestern owns his boat. So You would an idiot to turn down anything with the discovery channel. I bet they havent had to pay for a lunch since the show.




The only reason to be on the show is to be famous. The $$$ they are being paid is not worth talking about...You can then get be paid for giving talks or sell promotional products. My friend Ralph Collins that built the Cornelia Marie and still owns all the permits that boat fishes under.....is a very rich man. He ran the boat for years and would never think of letting a film crew on the boat. When you are fishing for a million dollar catch...buying lunch is not a great problem. Being famous when you are rich is also of little consequence. Who cares when you can already have every toy you ever wanted. It does feel good at times to be known....but it feels good all of the time to know you are rich. 



Ronnie


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## Corpsman (Oct 3, 2007)

It reasons to think that given the popularity of the show and the respective crews that number might be up for negoation.


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## Hard Core (Sep 24, 2008)

> *Corpsman (4/22/2009)*It reasons to think that given the popularity of the show and the respective crews that number might be up for negoation.




The only reason an actor gets paid more money for being on a show is that he becomes irreplaceable. That show is about crab fishing and all the characters are able to be replaced at a moments notice. The producers have made sure of that. I thought in the beginning that Sig would turn out to be the star of the show. It looks like Phil may be getting the most attention right now. But "five packs of cigarretes a day" Phil is liable to croak anytime. The show would go right on with a brief mention "in memory of Phil" at the end of one program. The boat is being paid a nominal fee ($20K) and it is strictly for the purpose of hoping to make it somewhere else. The real money is the crabs and it always will be...



By the way...the government has taken over the sale of all the crabs. The boat can only sell to the crab processor that he sold to last year. He can sell 10% somewhere else but that is all.

The processors got that passed and it has brought crab prices down already. The boat has no negotiating power to get a higher price for their crabs.

More trivia that I thought someone may find interesting...



Ronnie


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