Posted on July 20, 2010 - by Morgan Howard

Capt. Phil’s Cameraman: Todd Stanley Interview

In this unedited interview available only on the Pat and Tom Show, KNCI website, Producer/Cameraman (and Coloma resident) Todd Stanley talks about the heart wrenching season finale of Deadliest Catch, and remembers his friend, Captain Phil Harris.

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[Pat]  Yeah, and it was really tough to watch, but at the same time, I’ve told you this before, you guys handled it with such dignity, that, you know, it didn’t feel voyeuristic.  You know what I mean?

[Todd]  Yeah.  You know, that’s everybody, I mean, that’s everybody saying it.  I’ve never gotten an email after a show.  I think I got like 10.  You know, nothing big.  But people actually sought me out, you know, to tell me that very thing.  And, you know, it played on TV just like it was.  You know, there never was this…  I mean, we…  The one thing that people probably don’t understand, you know, we were a big, tight family.  And those guys, you know, we had full and complete trust in each other.  That’s why I was even allowed to be there in the first place.

[Pat]  I think the roughest part, other than Phil’s actual passing, was the two boys going at it in the hotel room.  And I found myself wondering, how could those guys, at that moment, allow you to be rolling tape?

[Todd]  That just broke my heart.  That just broke my heart.  I don’t know if you remember, you know, I end up setting the camera down on the dresser…

[Pat]  Yeah, there were a couple of shots where…

[Todd]  …and intervened, and that really just got out of control, right then at that moment, and, it was all I could do to keep those guys from fighting, you know.  It was a tough time.  And those two were going… they were at each other’s throats, you know.  And I constantly had to remind them that…  “You guys, come on!  Your Dad’s in the hospital right now, and the last thing you guys need to be doing is to be doing is fighting.

They go, “I know, I know…”  Yeah, they…

[Pat]  So, did you talk to them, after the fact, about airing that video?

[Todd]  No.  No, I didn’t talk to them.  They knew that… they knew that was part of the deal, you know.

[Pat]  Okay.

[Todd]  You know.  I mean…  Even the… you see Jake in there, he says, “Come on.”  Actually, I’m not sure if they showed that part on TV, or whatever, but Jake definitely said, “Come on Todd.  Is this what you want?  You want to keep filming this?”  And I think that’s when I set the camera down.  And I said, “No.  This is not what I want.  And that’s not why we came in this room.  We came in this room so we could call the Cornelia Marie, and find out how the guys are doing.  But you two are starting to act like jackasses.”

[Pat]  Yeah.  They did edit that part out.  That wasn’t in there.

[Todd]  (Laughs)  Yeah.

[Pat]  But, at the same time, there was a reality to that moment, and in Todd’s reality TV, but it went beyond that.  Once again, it wasn’t exploited.  I mean, you saw the pain of these two kids, and the struggle that Jake is going through, and, and the torment that addiction can cause.

[Todd]  Oh, it’s really, really…  It’s yeah, yeah…  I’ve lived with it.  It’s a scary thing, you know?  Again, you know, it just breaks your heart to see somebody fumbling like that.

[Pat]  And the number one question from our listeners, and, I’m sure, you’ve been getting it, too, is, “How is Jake doing right now, because that was months ago?”

[Todd]  You know, what…  Jake…  I saw Jake recently, and Jake seemed to be doing real well.  He’s…  Jake’s a real shy, quiet guy, you know.  He didn’t seem to have a lot to say, but, his… his eyes and actions speak loudly.  I’ve talked to Jake quite a bit, and he… his… he’s hands down, without a doubt, doing… doing great.  Great.  So, you know…  I just love that kid to death.  And, his brother, Josh, is, you know…  Josh is the talker.  He does all the talking for Jake, so, you know (laughs).  And Jake hates it.

[Pat]  (Laughs)  Yeah, you can kind of see that.  But, a lot of folks are wondering, “Will Jake go back next year?”  It sounds like Josh is going to take over the boat?  Or, have they settled that yet?

[Todd]  You know what?  There’s a lot of things up in the air right now.  Now, I think the idea is to have the Cornelia Marie return.  But, you know, I…  I’m out of that right now.  Now…  I don’t…  You know, I’m not really in a position to talk about it.  But, you know, everybody wants the boat back on the show.  Jake and Josh want to continue fishing on that boat.  They want it to work out.  It’s just coming down to, um, what’s possible.  You know, so, I think that there is some negotiation going on, but I’m not real privy to it.

[Pat]  …  The overarching story line of Captain Phil, um, really superseded another what would have been, I would guess, as powerful a story line almost, and that was the other Jake, from the Northwestern, and his missing father.

[Todd]  Oh, God.

[Pat]  I mean, that was almost lost in all of this.

[Todd]  Again, man, I’ve never been in such a position where, I mean, you’re so emotionally attached to these guys…  And Jake, you know, Anderson, he’s another, just a great guy, man.  I… he…  I can’t say enough good things about him.  And to see the pain and torment that that poor kid has gone through in the last couple of years is…  God, you just wonder… you’re…  myself, I wonder how, how the heck is he able to continue, you know, existing on that boat while all this is going on in his life.  It’s just remarkable.

[Pat]  Has he…  Have they found out what…  I never did hear what happened with his Dad.  Do they know?

[Todd]  He…  Well, you know, you heard it.  And that was that his truck was found, and that… on some remote logging road… and that was it.

[Pat]  That’s been it?

[Todd]  That’s it.

[Pat]  Uh!  Wow.

[Todd]  It’s just gone.  He’s gone.  So, Jake, you know, he’s left with his sister and his mother, so…  Yeah, it’s really, really, just tragic.  Just incredible.  I mean, you know, I mean everybody is… is reaching out to me, which is great.  And, you know, I have so many mixed feelings over this whole thing.

[Pat]  What about you?  Are you going to go back next year?  I know you were hesitant to go up this year.

[Todd]  Well, it’s not so much that I was hesitant, it’s just that, you know, it’s a long, enduring season, you know.  And, God, it’s really going to be tough to go back, but I really feel strongly that, you know, I really need to go back, especially if the Cornelia Marie’s going to be back on the show.  I just gotta…  I really need to find some closure to this whole thing.  I think that’s the best way.  Just to go back out there, you know.  I mean, the plan is to take Phil out and bury him at sea, so, I mean, I gotta be there for that, regardless.

[Pat]  I remember you telling me that, that, um, you’d never had anybody close to you die before?

[Todd]  Not like that.  I haven’t ever spent that many days in a row with somebody, you know.  So, uh…  Phil just… you know, he and I were real good friends.  I mean, he’s the kind of friend that would call me at 3:00 a.m.…  (in Capt. Phil’s voice)  “What’re you doin?”

“What do you mean, what am I doin?  I’m sleeping.”

(Phil’s voice)  “Oh, man.  I’m watching this coin show and I just bought some gold coins.  (Pat laughs)  You won’t believe it, these things are amazing.”

Wow.  (Pat continues laughter)  So, you know, I mean, we were close, you know.  One of the things, you know, not too many people, probably really nobody even knows about, is that, uh, Phil, about an hour before he passed away… he gave me, uh, he gave me his gold ring.  It’s got a diamond and a couple of rubies in it.  These crabbers, you know, they all have…  They all wear some kind of bling, whether it’s a golden, diamond-encrusted king crab on a necklace or something.  But he bought this, this was the first piece of jewelry he bought as a teenager, as a young crab fisherman, you know.  Something, you know, I tried to give back to the boys, and Josh wouldn’t, wouldn’t take it.  But that… you know, I wear it proudly on my hand today, and I… it reminds me of him every single day.

[Pat]  And there really was…  And I don’t know if you guys edited it together to make it look like it, but in preceding episodes, there was definitely a sense of something coming.  Did Phil really have a… you kind of addressed on “After the Catch” a little bit…  Was there, I don’t know, a feeling that, that you really couldn’t recognize until afterwards?

[Todd]  There was a feeling that I, uh, that I definitely suppressed, and I realized I did afterwards, because, yeah… no, he definitely talked to me, like, “Oh Todd, you know, if I’m not…  You know, if I died tomorrow, you know, I could say that I’ve led a good life.”

And I’d be, like, “Why are you talking like that?”  But, you know, he constantly was talking like that.  It was as if he was really giving up.

[Pat]  The part that got me was when he was going through the photo album, with his boys.  After the blow up with Jake, and they kind of resolved that a little bit… and…  And it went right back to that place of love that those three shared.

[Todd]  Yeah.  You know what?  There’s one thing that nobody will understand.  I’ve heard all the stories.  Those two boys, and their father, have been through more than most people could ever imagine.  And because of the triumphs, you know, the trials and tribulations that they’ve experienced together, they had a bond that you just don’t have with a lot of people.  And so no matter what, you know, people talk about unconditional love, well, there it was.  It was right there.

You know, I’ve seen these guys fight, over and over, about stupid things, and I mean some real serious knock-down fights, but you always knew at the end, it didn’t really matter.  That the love they all had for each other was, was undoubtedly true.

[Pat]  Let’s talk about something a little more cheerful, although it could be just as alarming to people.  And that’s this rumor I heard that Sig is trying to lobby to get on “Dancing with the Stars?”  Do you know anything about that?  (Todd chuckles)  Is that true?  Is there any truth to that?

[Todd]  All I know is, I think he came out public with that, and was on Jay Leno…

[Pat]  (Chuckles)  Is that where he was?

[Todd]  …is where he announced it.  Don’t quote me on that, but…  I don’t know much.  But I was with Sig at a party at his house a couple of months ago, and I asked him about it.  He actually had a band playing, and stuff, and was…  he actually put a little dance on for us.  (Laughs)

[Pat]  We saw the little dance he did on “After the Catch,” that didn’t turn out so well.  And, I’m just thinking…  you know…

[Todd]  He’s excited about it.  Who would have thought?  (Laughs)

[Pat]  And the other thing about Sig is, you know, he’s got the Viking hair, when he’s out on the boat.  And then when he’s on “After the Catch,” does he use a curling iron?

[Todd]  (Laughs)  There’s a lot of makeup and stuff that goes on in between the scenes there…

[Pat]  He looks like a blonde poodle…

[Todd]  Yeah.