VIDEO PHOTOS Meet Deadliest Catch female deckhand Amy Majors from the Wizard

Amy Majors Deadliest Catch

 

 

Tonight, on an all-new episode of Discovery’s award-winning reality series Deadliest Catch, things get interesting when the Wizard’s Captain Keith Colburn goes against his superstitious nature and hires his first ever female deckhand, Amy Majors.

“You know, I’m obviously not bringing a girl out here that’s never fished,” Keith says in the preview clip below introducing Amy. “She’s got a pretty good resume,” Keith says. “The only thing she hasn’t done is fish crab.”

“I’ve never done crab fishing before,” Amy admits in the video, “but I’ve done squid fishing and a lot of other fisheries.” The 27-year-old third-generation fisher adds “I’ve been on boats pretty much my whole life.”

 

Deadliest Catch Amy Majors

 

Here’s the clip:

 

 

The reactions from the Wizard crew appear to be mixed.

“Plenty of boats out here that have women on them,” says one fellow deckhand. “If she can do her job…sweet.”

Another crew member is not as open-minded. “I’m not sexist or anything, but this is a man’s game. Even some men can’t do this, let alone a female that’s…I don’t know, she probably weighs what? One fifteen? One twenty? This ain’t gonna be good.”

The reactions to the clip on the Deadliest Catch Facebook page were similarly mixed. Here is a screen cap of the Top 5 comments at the time of this post:

 

Deadliest Catch woman deckhand Amy Majors reaction on Facebook

 

 

So who is Amy Majors, and what exactly is her fishing background?

Amy was born into a fishing family in Catchacrab Ketchikan, Alaska, and her statement about being on boats most of her life is spot-on: she first boarded a boat at the age of ten months.

After being raised in the fishing life, Amy headed off to college to pursue a career in photojournalism. But, as she tells People, she left after only a year “to pursue my dreams and what makes me happy, which is fishing.”

In addition to squid, Amy has also fished for halibut, black cod, and salmon. She has never fished for crab before, and the notion of joining the Wizard fleet, as well as the cast of a hugely popular reality show, made her nervous. “It was intimidating,” Amy says, watching the show and seeing, you know, the weather that everyone had to deal with and the whole video camera thing that was also equally intimidating.

So how in the world did she wind up getting the job? That happened in part because Amy’s passion for fishing landed her a job writing for Pacific Fishing Magazine. She was present at a marine expo last year and Captain Keith Colburn recognized her. “Keith just randomly walked up, and he said, ‘I read all your articles in the magazine, and let’s see how tough you really are on the Bering Sea in the dead of winter,'” recalls Amy, who responded immediately with, “Sure, bring it on.”

 

Deadliest Catch Amy Majors female deckhand on the Wizard

How did it all work out?

 

***SPOILER ALERT***

 

Amy admits that perhaps she wasn’t as tough as some of her male shipmates, but says, “I definitely thought that I could keep up with them, and I did.”

And it seems that Amy’s success on board the Wizard has led to her full-time commitment to fishing. On April 25th she shared this message with fans on Facebook:

 

May all my fellow commercial fishermen hear this here first. After four long years writing for Pacific Fishing Magazine, I am retiring. God has blessed me with bigger & better things, & it is now time to move on at this point in my life. Thank you for reading, & supporting me for so long. Love you all! Fish on!!!!

 

That was preceded a few days earlier with the announcement, “Watch out Togiak herring! I’m on my way!” And earlier this month she wrote, “Back to the ocean, where my heart is & will always be. Time to go slay some sockeye in Bristol Bay!!”

 

Deadliest Catch Amy Majors Alaskan Husky

 

Plus, Amy seems to reveal that she isn’t on deck, but in the wheelhouse with this post from this weekend:

 

I’m extremely jealous of all the “it’s our first southeast seine opening of the year” talk, but at the same time, am super happy for all of you. I will never crew on a seiner again & it’s sad in a way. However, being a captain will be much more fun. Fish on!!!

 

Be sure to catch Amy’s debut on the Wizard on a brand new episode of Deadliest Catch airing tonight at 9/8c on Discovery.

UPDATE – Discovery just announced that Amy will be keeping a diary of her experience aboard the Wizard and sharing it on Discovery.com! Click here to read her first installment.



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