The loss of his high school best friend isn’t the only one that “Deadliest Catch” viewers have watched Johnathan Hillstrand grapple with. In 2010, he mourned the loss of Phil Harris, the fierce captain of the F/V Cornelia Marie, who suffered a stroke that eventually caused his demise at the age of 53. Rather than keep his final days private, Harris wanted the cameras to keep rolling, with audiences able to witness his tear-inducing last moments with family and friends.
Similar to the emotional funeral-at-sea for Mike McCollum, the gatherings around Harris’ hospital bed remind viewers that they’re seeing true emotion and heartache on their screens, not something that’s fabricated by producers. “We’re not characters. We’re real people,” Hillstrand said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “Phil was an easy guy to love. He was always the coolest guy in the building — honest, hardworking, old-school handshake kind of guy. I really loved him.”
