With the risk of danger around every corner, working aboard a fishing vessel on Deadliest Catch is only for the well-disciplined. Sure, there can be fun and games when the time is right, but mistakes can be costly. Such was the case when greenhorn Connor was fired by F/V Wizard’s big man in charge, Captain Keith Colburn. Though Captain Keith knew his deckhand had made a mistake, it was the latter’s blatant disrespect for his superior that was most alarming.
The incident blew up bigger than it needed to be. Captain Keith is notorious for his outbursts, but for the young Australian to use it as ammunition to wreak havoc on board while he waited for his dismissal was truly uncalled for. The world of crabbing in the Bering Sea is a high-risk, high-reward profession, so tempers are bound to flare. But disrespecting your boss never has a positive outcome. Just ask the litany of other crew members fired on Deadliest Catch over the years.
Captain Keith Was Tested Like Never Before on ‘Deadliest Catch’
With quota on his mind, Captain Keith alerted his team that the crab pots needed to be baited properly. Calling out cranky but high-energy Connor for not paying attention laid the groundwork for animosity. When the Aussie used the wrong bait and then refused to fix his mistake by “laying on” Mia, another deckhand, to replace the bait, things turned ugly. Calling him into the wheelhouse with the ammunition he needed, Captain Keith ripped into Connor, who pushed back, causing his own demise. “He is the weakest link in the chain on that deck, by far,” the captain said. “This is going to be difficult enough for the crew I have. I don’t need a bad seed, a bad apple.”
How Captain Keith fired Connor in front of the entire crew may have thrown things a bit overboard. Turning away from Connor and addressing the team, he said, “Now, you have one less thing to worry about.” Rather than offering a moment of remorse or an apology for embarrassing him in front of the entire Wizard team by telling him not to show up on deck, he just gave Connor a reason to act out. Connor made disparaging comments to the camera in his cabin and to Mia on the journey back to Dutch Harbor. With Mia relaying the comments back, Captain Keith went off, mocking his “mate,” so when he was asked to sign his “End of Voyage” statement, it was one last chance for both men to come to blows, as Connor claimed an injury.
Having had a medical emergency last season, Captain Keith’s outburst was cause for great concern. His doctors had ordered him not to put himself in stressful environments, and yet, here he was once again, raising his blood pressure to a boiling point that could have resulted in something dangerous. Even his brother, Captain Monte Colburn, knew the risk, attempting to calm him down as best he could. It’s astonishing to see how one minor mistake escalated to the ultimate firing. Because the mistake resulted in a monetary loss, Captain Keith felt he needed to make the move, but that is how this business is run. Captain Keith didn’t want Connor on deck because he knew he was a liability and would only rile the team, even though it would abruptly leave a crew member out at sea.
Deadliest Catch airs Fridays at 8:00pm on Discovery Channel. All episodes are available to stream on HBO Max.
