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Deadliest Catch Faces Tragic Loss of Todd Meadows
Discovery Channel has revealed how Deadliest Catch will handle the death at sea of 25-year-old cast member Todd Meadows.The rookie deckhand fell overboard into ...
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into the Bering Sea off the coast of on February 25, despite a desperate rescue attempt by others on Captain Rick Shelford's Aleutian Lady fishing vessel.
At the time of his death, Meadows had already filmed scenes for the show's upcoming 22nd season, which will premiere on May 8.
Now it has been confirmed that there were cameras set up aboard the Aleutian Lady at the fateful moment when Meadows' harness snapped.
However, out of deference to his loved ones, who include a wife and three young children, the incident will not be broadcast.
There will instead be an homage to Meadows on the premiere episode airing in two weeks' time, according to background information obtained by Variety.
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Discovery Channel has revealed how Deadliest Catch will handle the death at sea of 25-year-old cast member Todd Meadows
Sequences he had filmed for the show will appear on subsequent episodes, and the effect of his death on his crewmates and the wider fishing community will also be part of the upcoming season's subject matter.
The news comes over a month after Meadows' mother Angela publicly expressed her wish that the network not air video of her son's death.
Meadows died after falling overboard on February 25, despite a desperate rescue attempt by his crewmates aboard Captain Rick Shelford's Aleutian Lady fishing vessel
It was previously revealed that Meadows was in the water for 'three or four minutes' before crew members were able to get him back on the boat, but by then he was already 'turning blue' with foam emerging out of his mouth and nose, Green told Page Six last month.
The entire incident was reportedly , as the crew performed CPR for 45 minutes in a vain attempt to revive him before the Captain halted the rescue efforts.
The Daily Mail previously reached out to the Discovery Channel and Captain Shelford for comment.
'We got him on the boat as fast as we possibly could; it just wasn't enough,' Green said, adding that Meadows's body was then wrapped in a tarp and placed in a freezer to preserve it.
Green described the usually treacherous Bering Sea as 'flat' and 'calm' on that day, and said the weather was 'actually good.'
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He added that the incident happened in the late afternoon when the sun was still out and visibility was high.
He said the water was 'only a degree or two above freezing' and the 'outside temperature was below freezing.'
Green alleged that Meadows went overboard after an incident with one of the vessel's shellfish pots - a type of fishing trap.
Green said that right after Meadows entered the water, he ran to the back of the boat to look for him.
'I see Todd. He's floating, he's swimming. He's got huge baby blue eyes. And I can still, probably from like 100 yards away, I could still see his eyes looking around.'
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Meanwhile, Shelford turned the boat around to get closer.
Deckhand Trey John Green III, 30, recalled the moment a rescue harness snapped as the crew fought to save the young fisherman and did 'everything they could' to help him
Meadows's death certificate reveals he died from 'drowning with probable hypothermia' and 'submersion of body in cold water'
The entire incident was reportedly captured from multiple angles by Discovery Channel cameras, as the crew performed CPR for 45 minutes in a vain attempt to revive him before the Captain halted the rescue efforts
Meadows allegedly suffered a traumatic brain injury at work just weeks before his untimely death. Above, with his mother, Angela Meadows
'We don’t want to see any footage from the accident and do not want Discovery to air any of that footage or make money off of our son's death,' she told the publication. 'We hope they only air good things of Todd on that boat.'
Instead, she revealed the family has asked for clips of Todd crabbing at sea so they can remember him doing what he loved and 'have the videos for memories.'
A GoFundMe launched to support the boys has already raised more than $48,000.
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