Duane “Dog” Chapman is hoping to make his late wife Beth Chapman proud. Just two months after her death following a years-long battle with cancer, Chapman’s newest venture into reality TV, Dog’s Most Wanted, is set to premiere on WGN America. Speaking to TV Insider, Chapman said that he hopes the series and his family’s continued efforts to fight for justice make his late wife proud.
“I always did this job to make her proud,” Chapman said. “I just thought on every arrest how proud she would be.”
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In Dog’s Most Wanted, Chapman, a longtime bounty hunter who rose to fame in 2004 with Dog the Bounty Hunter on A&E, will be throwing himself into much riskier situations as he and his team track and capture higher-profile fugitives, including those who appear on the FBI, U.S. Marshals, and States’ Most Wanted Fugitives lists. The reality star, however, is not concerned for his own safety, as he is no longer “afraid to die.”
“I told my camera crew after she [passed], ‘If something happens to me, you’d better get that shot.’ They’re like, ‘Boss, we will,’” he recalled. “I’m not afraid to die now, because I know where I’m going and who I’ll get to see again.”
The 10-episode freshman season, set to premiere next month, will focus on more than just the hunt, as it will also detail Beth’s battle with cancer. She had been diagnosed with stage II throat cancer in September 2017 and was re-diagnosed in November 2018. On June 26, 2019, she tragically lost her battle.
In a trailer released earlier this month, Beth spoke to her husband about her chances of beating throat cancer, revealing that she had “e a 50-50 chance to surviving it, with the chemo.” Later in the clip, Chapman said, “This one’s for Beth” as he captured a fugitive.
According to Chapman, his late wife’s presence has helped him with many hunts, including one instance during which he and team lost a fugitive in an unfamiliar neighborhood.
“I stopped for a second as I was running and said, ‘Beth, please. Where is he?’ All of a sudden, I heard [fellow hunter] David and [Chapman’s son] Leland yell, ‘We’re on him again, boss,’” he recalled. “I told David, ‘Oh my God, she’s watching.’ David said, ‘We have an angelic drone.’ I feel her all the time.”
Along with Dog’s Most Wanted, the Chapman’s have also featured on Dog the Bounty Hunter, which ran on A&E from 2004 until its cancellation in 2012. The Chapman’s later launched a CMT show called Dog and Beth: On the Hunt, which ran from 2013 to 2016.
Dog’s Most Wanted is scheduled to premiere Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 9 p.m. ET on WGN America.
