The Deadliest Catch star Jack Bunnel’s ‘wake up moment’ that finally got him ‘clean’

Jack Bunnell idolized his father growing up and knew he wanted to follow in his footsteps, however, it took a devastating illness to get the C]captain to shape-up and ship-up.

With twenty seasons in its repertoire, fans love the Deadliest Catch almost as much as these fisherman love trawling the Bering Sea. The show follows the crabbing cast as they risk it all to bring home the, well, crabs. With the stars regularly battling against extreme weather conditions and fighting for their lives, there must be some staunch reasons these seafarers can’t help but return to the waves. During season 19, Captain Jack broke down in tears as he shared his sentimental reason for being a sea dog for more than a decade.

Jack idolized his father growing up thinking he was ‘so awesome’

During the November 1, 2023, episode of Season 19 Captain Jack Bunnell of the Barbara J shared with viewers a heartfelt story about his childhood. This highlighted the profound influence his father had on his life, along with the pivotal moment he decided to “get cleaned up” and become a fisherman.

In this episode Jack is after a mega catch, nervous about proving himself in his first season as a captain, he stated: “I’ve got to produce.”

Jack’s high expectations of himself come from a lifelong ambition of wanting to be a captain, a dream he has held since he was a “little boy.” His crew aren’t the only ones Jack feels the need to prove himself to, as we see in this episode, the captain is receiving a special visitor: his father.

Bunnell was born in Homer, Alaska, where he grew up with his father, who was a commercial fisherman and crabbed in the Bering Sea.

Jack tells the cameras he has always looked up to his father, literally and figuratively: “He was this big huge guy, with wide shoulders, big beard, and he was just, like, a fisherman.”

The young Jack saw his towering, bearded idol as “so awesome” which naturally lead him to wanting to pursue a career in the same field.

The reality star sweetly shares some of his “earliest memories” which all involve his father and the open ocean. He recalled his father waking him up, putting him in the truck and taking the young boy to work. Even letting Jack “drive sometimes” he was primed for the seas at a young age.

A distressing memory followed as Jack recalled his father regularly returning home from work and getting into fights with his mother. He described how him and his sisters would listen to the parents arguing downstairs.

With an inevitable divorce on the cards, Jack spiraled, he admitted he “rebelled” in his teenage years, taking drugs, drinking alcohol and robbing stores.

Jack finally heard the words ‘Good job, I’m proud of you’

It was during Jack’s teenage-rebellion that he received a phone call no son wants to hear. “He [his dad] was in the hospital,” he recalled.

Bunnell’s father had a stroke and was immobile and unable to speak, only mumble. At this point the story is too much for the crabber and he begins to cry on camera: “So that was really tough.”

It was at this moment, Jack decided to turn his life around and pursue the career he still adores ten years later. He made a promise to his father if he ‘stuck around’ he would see his son become a fisherman.

The young captain refers to this as his “wake up moment” in the following months he cleaned himself up and started full-time fishing. “I didn’t want to let my dad down.” He humbly shared.

The star admitted that it had been a long time since his father had told him he was proud of him, but that changed the moment he truly followed in his father’s footsteps and started crabbing the Bering Sea.

Jack shared when he came home from a long day trawling, his dad would now tell him: “Good job, I’m proud of you.”

In the following scene, Jack returned to preparing the boat for his exciting arrival, a father-son moment he never thought he would be able to share following his dad’s stroke.