Mike Rowe Sues Discovery, Claims He’s Owed $2 Million for ‘Deadliest Catch’ Spinoffs

Mike Rowe says Discovery owes him millions, and he’s taking the network to court.

The New York Post reported on Tuesday, June 30, that the Dirty Jobs host filed a lawsuit against Discovery Talent Services, alleging the company left him out as narrator on several spinoffs of Deadliest Catch, the show he has narrated since it premiered in 2005, despite a deal that was supposed to guarantee his involvement.

According to the filing, Rowe’s deal through his production company, Lab Rat, included a “pay-or-play” clause. Under the agreement, Discovery allegedly had to either feature Rowe’s narration on new episodes or pay him even if the network used someone else.

A 2020 update to the deal allegedly locked Rowe into the arrangement “for life,” covering not just the original Deadliest Catch and Bering Sea Gold but also any future spinoffs, at a rate of $40,000 per episode. That held up fine for spinoffs like Deadliest Catch: The Bait and Deadliest Catch: Dungeon Cove, the lawsuit states.

But in the suit, Rowe claims he was cut out entirely, without pay, from Deadliest Catch: Bloodline, Deadliest Catch: The Viking Returns, and Deadliest Catch: Northern Edge — a combined 51 episodes. The suit doesn’t stop at domestic episodes, according to the outlet, also pointing to international versions that may differ enough from U.S. broadcasts to count as “originally produced” and carry the same pay guarantee.

Before filing, Rowe’s legal team says Discovery pushed back, arguing that the pay-or-play clause applies only when the network chooses to include a narrator at all.

People reported that the lawsuit seeks “at least $2.04 million” for Lab Rat, along with possible “additional payments for 12 longer episodes,” interest, and a jury trial.

Before things turned messy with the network, Rowe reflected on his long run with the show in an April 2019 Facebook post. “Hard to believe I’ve been narrating ‘Deadliest Catch’ for fifteen seasons,” he wrote. “Hard to deny it, either. What began as a hosting gig, turned into a steady job that affords me the privilege of telling true stories of brave men from the climate-controlled confines of a very comfortable studio.”

Roew continued with his trademark humor: “Do I miss being up there in Dutch Harbor with the boys, bearing witness to the rogue waves, the vomit, the fish guts, the nipple clamps, (see attached,) and the scrotumtightening Bering Sea? No. I mean, why would I, when I can watch from home, like you?”

Discovery has not commented on the lawsuit.