INTERVIEW: Jake Anderson prepares for fatherhood on ‘Deadliest Catch’

Jake Anderson, a prominent member on Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch, is forward thinking with his life and dedicated to the crew on the Northwestern ship, one of the boats profiled on the successful reality series. Now, everything has changed for Anderson.

Viewers tuning in Tuesday, June 16 will be able to see a new (and welcome) obstacle in Anderson’s life: He’s a father.

The combination of the fishing season and the birth of his son caused a lot of headaches. “I wanted to smash myself in the head with a hammer,” he said with a laugh during a phone interview.

Anderson attended breathing-technique classes with his wife and found that he needed them as well. “I was an active user of the breathing techniques,” he said. “So she wasn’t even going into labor, and I was already practicing these techniques because I was worried that she wasn’t going to have the baby until after I left. And it was a huge fear of mine, and we had to buy a plane ticket for every day leading up to and after the birth. There were thousands of dollars in plane tickets just to make sure that I could get up there and make the baby. It was such a headache, but it was so worth it when I got to see him arrive into the world.”

Anderson called the experience “phenomenal.”

“I always try to be tough and try to be strong,” he said. “And after seeing what my wife went through, and how she went through it, and how calm she was, there’s nothing that I can do in my life that could [match] the strength she had that day.”

Being a new father has changed his perspective on life, Anderson said. He’s even given new thoughts to the fishing industry in Alaska, where he’s been on the deck of the Northwestern for several years. Over the years, Capt. Sig Hansen has brought the fisherman through a lot of difficulties and taught him a lot about a life on the sea.

“I can’t do a lot of things that I used to do so freely,” he said. “It [being a father] really pushes me to further my career in the wheelhouse, any wheelhouse. … It’s so dangerous, and it’s so hard on my wife and my child that I’m actually really scared.”

Anderson, who infamously left the Northwestern to try his hand at another ship, has admitted to everyone on Deadliest Catch that he has his sights set on the top position on a boat. In his personal struggle to reach the wheelhouse, he has needed to face some anguish-filled decisions aboard the Northwestern, his home away from home.

“I think there’s a lot of misconceptions of why I left the Northwestern in the first place,” he said. “Northwestern is my home and always will be my home. We’re a family here.”

After the other opportunity on another boat didn’t work out to his liking, Anderson came back to the Northwestern, and he was lucky there was a spot for him on the deck. “It’s just safer for the boat to have guys on there that have been in it,” he said. “It’s really hard for us five guys on the deck to ever get fired because we are a family and take care of each other.”

After becoming a captain, Anderson said he’ll need to come up with other goals. “This year was the biggest year I’ve ever had in my whole life — personally and on Deadliest Catch,” he said. “I don’t think any other television show [or] documentary has ever been able to say that they’ve documented the American dream firsthand because that’s my story, living the American dream, doing what I want to do, and aspiring and finding a goal. I feel so grateful to be a part of something so great. … I think the show is just outrageously phenomenal.”

Before coming to the choppy waters of the Bering Sea, Anderson was living a difficult life. The new father said he had no place to live except his parents’ house six months before joining the boat. “I was messed up on alcohol and drugs,” he said. “For me and for the viewers it was a deep moment. It wasn’t just a job from a fishing boat.”

It was an opportunity to turn his life around.

Anderson said he hoped audience members learned a few lessons from his life: “I hope people can understand for themselves that if they want something they’re going to have sacrifice something to get it. Otherwise they can’t complain why they didn’t get it. People are seeing that the true nature of following your heart and your dream is not fun. I just know the end result will be great, and viewers will see that by the end of the season. … I don’t know if I want to stay in the industry for life, or if I’m going to aspire to be say a captain of a freighter or something. That’s what I’m going to find out. I’m in the process of going on my third five-year plan.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Deadliest Catch airs 9 p.m. Tuesdays on Discovery. Click here for more information.