Deadliest Catch Cast: What Happened To Casey McManus & The F/V Cornelia Marie?

The F/V Cornelia Marie might be one of the most well-known vessels on Discovery’s “Deadliest Catch,” but its history has been almost as rocky as the Bering Sea. In 2010, Captain Phil Harris passed away unexpectedly at the age of 53 following a stroke. Four years later, his son Josh Harris and Casey McManus took over as the F/V Cornelia Marie’s co-captains.

McManus, Harris and the Cornelia Marie remained part of “Deadliest Catch” through Season 18, which aired in 2022. However, all three are noticeably absent from Season 19. A tweet from McManus in December 2022 revealed that this decision was not theirs: “Discovery did not renew contracts with the boat, nor Josh, nor I. It was a bummer deal, but there’s no crab to catch anyways. All the seasons are shut down. Smoke and mirrors.”

On Instagram, McManus revealed that once he was out of his reality TV job, he landed a new gig pulling tugboats. He said, “The new job is bigger than just running a boat … Some of the boats are small assist tugs and others are huge ice class tow vessels, and everything in between, including barges. It’s a new world, but a boat is a boat, and I know boats.”

TELEVISION REALITY TV
Deadliest Catch: Why Captain ‘Wild’ Bill Had To Return Despite A Sad Diagnosis

Uri Schanker/Getty Images
BY MELISSA LEMIEUXJUNE 13, 2024 4:12 PM EST

Contains spoilers for “Deadliest Catch” Season 20, Episode 1 — “King Crab Derby”

Captain “Wild” Bill Wichrowski isn’t one to run away from life-threatening circumstances, but he’s admitted that he was a little reluctant to allow Discovery’s cameras capture his treatment for prostate cancer as a part of “Deadliest Catch” Season 20. One thing changed his mind — the realization that he might be able to encourage others to keep going and seek treatment of their own.

“I’ll be honest. It’s kind of weird to put [the diagnosis] out there to the public. I’ll explain to people what happens as it goes … I’m willing to put it out there to let people see the journey in hopes of convincing some people to get tested,” he says during the episode. Audiences follow him to his first treatment during the season premiere — but viewers also see him acting as a skipper on the Summer Bay, hauling in several king crabs. That balance is vital to reminding the audience that Wichrowski’s goal is to keep himself active and do what he loves doing best until he cannot do it again.

“One of the things I thought was, ‘You know what? I’m not going to stop [fishing]. I’m going to keep going until I actually can’t.’ How many people get diagnosed with this and they just shut down and crawl into a shell? And it just makes it worse,” he says on the episode. It looks like the captain’s determination is set to pay off. According to a recent Facebook comment, Wichrowski’s illness is trending in the right direction.

Wild Bill’s cancer appears to be improving

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Per a recent but privated comment made to his Facebook — as reported upon by Deadline — “Wild” Bill Wichrowski reports that diagnostic measures show that things are getting better for him. “My cancer numbers are good. [N]o energy from hormones but looks like on the back side of it for now.” It sounds as if the disease is trending toward remission — and that audiences devoted to “Deadliest Catch” will get to watch Wichrowski’s course of treatment every step of the way. Since “Wild” Bill previously faced a near career-ending health crisis that almost sidelined him for good, it shows how tough the former Navy man is. After all, he prefers to keep fishing even in the offseason.

While fans followed along with Wichrowski during “King Crab Derby,” his drama wasn’t the only crisis afoot. Jack Bunnell has lost the Saga between seasons and is now working as a co-captain on the Northwestern as Sig Hansen’s co-captain. The Wizard catches on fire and Keith Colburn has to save his deckhands, who are stuck below when it breaks out. All of the ships and captains come together in a king crab catching derby that happily remarks the resurgence of the crustacean in the chilly Alaskan waters. Hopefully, that twist of good fortune presages easier times ahead for all of the captains sailing the briny blue in search of fishy gold.

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TELEVISION REALITY TV
Deadliest Catch Cast: What Happened To Casey McManus & The F/V Cornelia Marie?

Discovery
BY SAMANTHA BAMBINOJULY 30, 2023 8:30 PM EST

The F/V Cornelia Marie might be one of the most well-known vessels on Discovery’s “Deadliest Catch,” but its history has been almost as rocky as the Bering Sea. In 2010, Captain Phil Harris passed away unexpectedly at the age of 53 following a stroke. Four years later, his son Josh Harris and Casey McManus took over as the F/V Cornelia Marie’s co-captains.

McManus, Harris and the Cornelia Marie remained part of “Deadliest Catch” through Season 18, which aired in 2022. However, all three are noticeably absent from Season 19. A tweet from McManus in December 2022 revealed that this decision was not theirs: “Discovery did not renew contracts with the boat, nor Josh, nor I. It was a bummer deal, but there’s no crab to catch anyways. All the seasons are shut down. Smoke and mirrors.”

On Instagram, McManus revealed that once he was out of his reality TV job, he landed a new gig pulling tugboats. He said, “The new job is bigger than just running a boat … Some of the boats are small assist tugs and others are huge ice class tow vessels, and everything in between, including barges. It’s a new world, but a boat is a boat, and I know boats.”

Discovery cut ties with the entire boat after Josh Harris’ past was revealed

If there are no crabs to catch, why are the F/V Northwestern and numerous other boats part of “Deadliest Catch” Season 19 and not the F/V Cornelia Marie? In September 2022, it was brought to light that, at the age of 16, Josh Harris pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of a four-year-old girl in the late 1990s. Once his past came to the surface, Discovery was quick to cut ties with him, and, it seems, everyone and everything connected to him. Even the spinoff series “Deadliest Catch: Bloodline,” which follows Harris as he utilizes his late father’s fishing charts to explore the waters of Hawaii, has been scrubbed from all streaming platforms.

This leaves one question … has the Cornelia Marie been retired for good? According to Reddit’s eagle-eyed u/avidindoorswoman21, the boat is still out there. “I saw the Cornelia Marie in the background again … when the Saga was leaving the docks. The bottom front part’s blurred (name and logo/emblem), but longtime DC fans will know the CM when they see her, blurred or not. I hate that everyone on that boat got dragged out by that convicted child rapist.” If the Cornelia Marie is truly still on the Bering Sea, it’s unclear who is running her, especially since McManus’ Instagram bio reads “Ret. Captain/Former Partner F/V Cornelia Marie.”