‘Deadliest Catch’ Fans Still Questioning Captain Keith Colburn’s Well-Being After Medical Emergency

With just one episode of the season left to go, Deadliest Catch fans still hope to learn the cause of Captain Keith Colburn’s “terrifying” medical emergency at sea several episodes ago.

The professional crabber suffered what fans perceived as a potential cardiac event or stroke during the episode that aired on Oct. 1. After the health scare, his brother and fellow captain, Monte “Mouse” Colburn, rushed their boat, the F/V Wizard, to the edge of the Bering Sea so Keith could be flown to a hospital in Anchorage, Ala., for medical attention.

While there, as documented in the Oct. 8 episode, doctors all but ruled out a heart attack as the cause due to his negative levels of troponin, a cardiac enzyme typically elevated during cardiac events.  But they still didn’t have solid answers to offer him, or viewers.

They speculated that Captain Keith may have suffered a transient ischemic attack (TIA), or mini-stroke, but referred him to a specialist for further testing.

Naturally, fans hoped that by the time the Oct. 15 episode was over they’d have answers. But while a voiceover from the narrator seemed to indicate that they were sticking with a TIA as the cause of his health woes, a phone call between the brothers revealed that Keith was “still having a lot of tests done.”

So, after the penultimate episode of the 20th season, fans still waited with bated breath to hear the results of his tests.

The finale will air at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22 on Discovery Channel—and, hopefully, it will provide answers before the show’s hiatus.