What ‘Deadliest Catch’ star Todd Meadows informed his children moments earlier than his loss of life
“Deadliest Catch” star Todd Meadows informed his youngsters he was “being secure” simply moments earlier than he fatally fell overboard whereas filming the sequence.
Producers divulged the earlier than and after of Meadows’ tragic Feb. 25 loss of life after falling off the Aleutian Woman in Alaskan waters of the Bering Sea throughout Friday’s episode — whereas steering away from the incident itself.
In a single section in the course of the Season 22 finale, Meadows promised his son throughout a FaceTime name along with his household that when he returned house, they’d go on a salmon fishing journey.
“I hope you’re being secure,” his daughter stated within the clip. “Should you’re not being secure, you higher be secure.”
He hauntingly replied, “Oh, I’m being secure.”
Meadows additionally informed producers throughout a confessional that it had “been one in every of [his] desires and targets” to affix the crew, including, “That’s why I’m up right here to make it and to attempt to help my household.”
He informed producers that leaving his youngsters — aged 1,2 and 4 on the time — to work on the boat for the sequence was a “heart-wrencher” as a result of the youngest don’t perceive why he’s gone.
The anguished moments following Meadows’ fall into the ocean have been subsequently shared, with the scene reducing to Captain Rick Shelford — after listening to screams — asking crew members, “All people OK?”
“No,” the crew responded, explaining there was a person overboard, to which Shelford instantly turned the boat round and ordered the crew to be prepared to drag Meadows out of the water.
After being knowledgeable {that a} man was overboard, Shelford ordered crew members to drag Meadows up and carry out CPR. He’d been within the water for six minutes and 26 seconds earlier than being pulled unresponsive from the Bering Sea.
From off digicam, the captain might be heard uttering, “Come on, man, come on,” earlier than calling the Coast Guard.
A producer informed an especially emotional Shelford, “He’s gone, Rick.”
Shelford initially introduced Meadows’ tragic loss of life in an emotional social media put up in March.
“February 25, 2026, was essentially the most tragic day within the historical past of the Aleutian Woman on the Bering Sea,” he wrote on the time. “We misplaced our brother, Todd Meadows.”
Calling Meadows “household” and praising his “robust work ethic,” Shelford additionally talked about the late TV persona’s youngsters.
“Todd’s love for his youngsters, his household and his life was evident in all the things he did,” he wrote within the put up.
“He labored exhausting, liked deeply and introduced pleasure to these round him,” Shelford continued. “Proper now, our hearts are damaged in a method that phrases can’t totally specific.”
The TV persona 25 on the time of his loss of life.
Fellow “Deadliest Catch” deckhand Trey John Inexperienced III informed Web page Six solely in March that the waters have been “calm” and “solely a level or two above freezing” on the time of the deadly incident.
His castmate was “in the appropriate place on the proper time” and “doing precisely what he was purported to be doing,” Inexperienced insisted, including, “It’s a kind of issues that none of us actually perceive.”
Meadows died of “drowning with possible hypothermia” and “submersion of physique in chilly water,” a loss of life certificates obtained by TMZ revealed.
Meadows’ mom, Angela, beforehand pleaded with the community not “to air any of that footage or become profitable off of our son’s loss of life.”
The household reportedly obtained a lawyer with a view to doubtlessly launch a wrongful loss of life lawsuit, TMZ claimed in April, although it stays unclear authorized motion materialized.
A GoFundMe for Meadows’ household has since raised greater than $85K out of a $90K aim, with the episode concerning the tragic accident bringing newfound consciousness to the fact star’s loss of life.
