What happened to Saga on ‘Deadliest Catch?’

Of all the dangerous job reality TV shows out there, Deadliest Catch is one of the OGs. This Discovery Channel staple chronicles the lives of men who risk it all to catch crab in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska. It’s a job that has high stakes but comes with high monetary rewards.

Fans of the show know that Captain Jake Anderson took over the ship F/V Saga from Captain Elliott Neese, but the ship hasn’t been in action the way it used to be. Read on to find out what happened to it.

The Saga gas had quite the well, saga over the years. During the first episodes of Season 17, the Saga wasn’t around anywhere. Many wondered if it finally sank for good, but it reappeared during the episode “Restricted Zone,” although we never learned where it was.

The ship is old. More than 42 years old, to be exact, so suffice to say it’s needed some upkeep to stay operational. It’s also famously dodged quite a few close calls over the years. In the Season 16 episode “Rogue Wave Juggernaut,” the ship’s rudder went bad in rough waters, and the crew had to fix it or risk losing the ship.

Now that we’re on the cusp of season 20, people are more eager than ever to know the truth. In a recent recap episode ahead of the premiere, Jake said in passing that he lost the Saga because of something “squirrely” his partner did.

The consensus seems to be that his partner Lenny Herzog had some tax issues and the boat was repossessed. Here are some related theories that cropped up on a Reddit thread pondering the fate of Saga:

“If the government went to enforce the lien, they could seize and sell the whole boat and then just give Jake his share after all the other liens are paid off. More likely, however, is that they were unable to borrow money to keep the boat going because of the lien and either sold it to pay off all the debts or shut down then lost it to the lender.”

Another thinks that “they had a judgment against him and that shut down the LLC’s ability to borrow money” and that “to keep going since he likely would have had to sign a personal guarantee on the LLC’s loan(s). No cash=no ability to buy supplies, fuel, do repairs, pay loans, get insurance, etc.”

Whatever happened, it’s possible it won’t even be mentioned in passing in the premiere. But there also exists the scenario where we do get the answer.

The 20th season of Deadliest Catch premieres June 11 on Discovery.