‘Deadliest Catch’ Season 19: Who Is Jacob Hutchins?
Discovery Channel’s hit reality TV series, Deadliest Catch, continues to show the difficult dynamics involved in crab fishing in season 19. Jacob Hutchins is featured this season, and he works aboard the F/V Wizard alongside Captain Keith Colburn. But who exactly is Hutchins? Here’s what to know about the star.
Who is Jacob Hutchins from ‘Deadliest Catch’ Season 19?
Jacob Hutchins stars in Deadliest Catch Season 19 on the F/V Wizard, but he has bigger dreams than just working alongside Captain Keith Colburn. He hopes to become the first African American captain of a crab fishing boat on the Bering Sea.
Hutchins didn’t grow up anywhere near the Bering Sea. He was born in Austin, Texas, and adopted at 4 years old. His family then raised him in Seabeck and Bremerton, Washington. Jacob’s the second youngest of 12 adopted kids in his family.
While speaking to The Seattle Times, Hutchins talked about learning how to live his life from the examples around him. “It was interesting being adopted as a baby and being around individuals who had been in the system, through [Child Protective Services] and the adoption agencies, so I had a lot of examples of what not to do with myself,” he explained. Hutchins then noted he moved out at 15, and he started his career in fishing in 2011 while living in Grays Harbor County.
“I didn’t have a father to give me a career, to give me a boat,” he added. “The people I was working around knew they were going to be fishermen from the second they could think for themselves. They already had their lives set up in front of them.”
While Hutchins has high hopes to make it as a captain in the Bering Sea, he’s also heavily involved in music. He grew up singing church hymns and playing the trumpet, and while out at sea, he frequently wrote poems and songs. Hutchins started his band, The Jacob Hutchins Band, during the pandemic.
He had issues with Captain Keith Colburn aboard the F/V Wizard
While Jacob Hutchins has more presence in Deadliest Catch Season 19, this season isn’t his first. He made appearances on seasons 14 and 15, as he worked on Jake Anderson’s boat, the F/V Saga. In season 19, Hutchins is seen working on the F/V Wizard beside Keith Colburn.
“Keith Colburn needed a deckhand, so I reached out and it just so happens the show is still going strong and the boat is featured on this television show,” Hutchins told The Seattle Times. ” … I’m hoping that we work something out where I can show him qualities that he deems admirable and perhaps he’ll teach me how to do what he does.”
Unfortunately, Colburn and Hutchins had their difficulties when working together. A clip posted to the Deadliest Catch Instagram shows an altercation between the deckhand and the captain. Hutchins was demoted down to making the bait after fumbling with a crab pot, and they had a blow-out argument on deck.
“I’m liking the bait,” Hutchins told Colburn.
“I hope so. You’re gonna be here awhile,” Hutchins responded.
“Well, that’s fine because it’s far away from you. That’s what I like,” Hutchins added. He then started cursing at Colburn, and Colburn screamed at him.
“Again already you start the day like this?” Colburn yelled at Hutchins. Colburn then kicked Hutchins off the bait and forced him below deck back to his room.
“Heads up: You’re now officially a four-man deck,” Colburn tells the others who heard the altercation.
Ultimately, Colburn terminates Hutchins, and Hutchins hopes to follow his dream of captaining his own boat.
Deadliest Catch Season 19 airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel.
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