Discovery Channel vice-president of programming Hagar Voynich announced Tuesday that the reality/adventure show Deadliest Catch: Outer Banks would not be renewed for a second season. Although popular with Dare County residents, the show did not receive strong ratings in the rest of the country.
“I really regret that the show didn’t take off. We came to the Outer Banks encouraged by the success of Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks, and we hoped to recreate the drama and excitement of the other major reality show based on seafood harvesting” stated Voynich. Also, since the busy season for king crab in Alaskan waters is October and February, the complementary summer season for Dare County crabbers offered an opportunity to make money with boats that would otherwise sit idle through the warm months.
After making the long voyage from Bering Sea to the Pamlico Sound, however, the 130-foot-long boats were unable to pass through Oregon Inlet. “We were gobsmacked. I mean, isn’t somebody in charge of dredging the inlet? The government or somebody?” asked an exasperated Captain Thurg Snorrison of the Yggdrasil. However, even after the network paid for a channel to be dredged, the larger boats found that they had to stick to the main channel or risk running aground.
Another suspected reason for the cancellation is the relatively placid nature of sound crabbing. Brigge Dottirsdottir of the Audhumla explains: “In the Bering, waves average 10-20 feet. I’m not saying you don’t get some weather down here, but considering the high seas combined with the dangerously icy decks we deal with up north, there’s just a lot more danger crabbing in Alaska.”
The 70-pound crab traps used for king crabs can potentially kill the crabbers, an average of whom seven die on the job every year. Attempts by the producers to focus on similar local dangers led to embarrassments such as the segment during which first mate Durg Birgsturmer of the Ymir dropped a local crab pot on his toe and had to limp around for several minutes until the pain subsided. Another Alaskan, Loki Jormungandr, got a nasty pinch from an escaped blue crab, but the ensuing trip to the emergency room of Outer Banks Hospital was largely ridiculed by viewers.
Personality conflicts, common on Wicked Tuna, were also largely absent. The Outer Banks crabbers generally went on about their business, their smaller boats able to easily navigate the sound and their knowledge of where to place the pots giving them an insurmountable advantage over the Alaskan crews. A few taunts were thrown by the Alaskans but were largely ignored by the laconic Outer Bankers.
The breaking point came when, desperate for a ratings gimmick, the producers forced the northern fleet to disembark to the beaches of Dare County and hunt sand fiddlers using nets and buckets. When this led to a critical and ratings disaster, the show unfortunately doubled down and required the proud Alaskans to drive from Wings store to Wings store in search of hermit crabs. Several fishermen walked away from their contracts in disgust at that point and took their boats back to the Bering Sea.
While Dangerous Catch may have abandoned eastern North Carolina, though, local officials are currently in talks with CBS executives about the possibility of another local project, Survivor: Rodanthe.