‘Deadliest Catch’ Has Big Shot to Win Its First Emmy Since 2015

It could be a big year for Deadliest Catch at the Emmy Awards. The Discovery reality series, which chronicles the dangerous highs and lows of life as a fisherman on the Bering Sea, was nominated for two Emmy Awards at the 2022 ceremony. The show has been nominated a total of 56 times and won 16 Emmys since its debut in 2005. 

In this, its 18th season, the show received a nod for Outstanding Cinematography For A Reality Program and Outstanding Picture Editing For An Unstructured Reality Program for the episode “Five Souls on Board.” Deadliest Catch is competing in the cinematography category against The Amazing Race, Life Below Zero, Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and Survivor. For picture editing, Deadliest Catch will compete against Below Deck Mediterranean, Cheer, Life Below Zero and Love on the Spectrum U.S.

Emmy nominations have been a regular occurrence for Deadliest Catch going back to 2006, but the last time the show walked away with an actual award was in 2015, where it won for Outstanding Picture Editing For An Unstructured Reality Program, Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program and Outstanding Cinematography For Reality Programming. 

While filming Season 15 of Deadliest Catch, Director of Photography David Reichert told PopCulture.com that the show’s crew was constantly stepping it up in terms of technology and technique. “We’re using better and better equipment because we’re 15 years in,” he said at the time. “We need to make this thing better every year. After 15 years, we’re pretty high up there, but this year … it is, without a doubt, the biggest look upgrade we’ve done in the 15-year history of the show.”

With a brand new, state-of-the-art camera system, DaVinci software and wheelhouse lighting done by the gaffer who lit John Wick, Reichert praised Deadliest Catch for going above and beyond in the world of reality television. “We’re putting movie pictures, cinema-quality pictures, on television, in a show that is happening in the middle of the Bering Sea, chasing a bunch of crabbers around that you can’t hardly control,” he reminded viewers. “But, you know, you put all that together, and you got something pretty great.” He added, “It’s a hundred percent different than everything else on TV. Yeah, nobody else is doing what we’re doing. Not even close right now.” The Emmy Awards are set to air Sept. 12 on NBC and Peacock at 8 p.m. ET.