Where is Jake Harris of “Deadliest Catch” Now?
Jake Harris appeared on the early seasons of Deadliest Catch, but left the hit Discovery show about Alaskan crab fishermen in 2012. The son of Phil Harris and brother of Josh Harris was struggling to cope with an intense drug addiction that derailed his career and landed him in trouble with authorities more than once. These days the fisherman is living a very different type of life—here’s what happened to him, and what he’s up to now.
Carry On Phil Harris’ Legacy
Blair Bunting/Discovery Channel via Getty Images
Jake’s father Phil Harris died suddenly in 2010 at just 53 years old. Jake and his brother Josh Harris took over the family business and tried to continue Phil’s legacy, which was shown on Deadliest Catch. “I’m going to be looking at that [captain’s] chair in a different way,” Jake told PEOPLE in a 2010 interview. “We definitely talked about it, but I just didn’t expect this to happen so soon. That’s definitely something where I would take over and take the responsibility.”
Opiate Addiction
HLN
Jake struggled to cope after his father’s death and turned to drugs, which he started taking in high school. “In high school I was a skater and it turned out I wasn’t very good,” he told Dr. Drew Pinsky in 2011. “I broke some limbs is how I got addicted to opiates… [I] got a big hole in my heart and tried to fill it up with everything that wasn’t good for it.”
Legal Troubles
MCSO
Jake was arrested for hit and run and DUI in March 2010. He returned to Deadliest Catch after the DUI but continued abusing pills while out at sea. He was not part of the season promos in 2013. “My brother’s been going through issues. He’s lost in drugs still,” Josh told HuffPost at the time. “Jake’s gotta take care of his own stuff right now. Deal with his demons.”
Hitting Rock Bottom
Discovery
Things spiraled for Josh after leaving Deadliest Catch. He was arrested for stealing a car and drug possession in 2017, and sentenced to 18 months on DUI and drug charges in 2019. Josh was arrested again in 2021 for speeding and was booked for felony DUI, driving with a suspended license, and driving without a required ignition interlock, according to TMZ. “Cops say Harris told them he had taken prescribed meds that morning, though the cop wouldn’t say what kind. They suspected he was impaired … and after Harris refused a sobriety test, cops arrested him.”
