Who is Mandy Hansen?

Mandy Hansen was born in 1996, in the United States of America. She is a fisherman, reality TV personality and substitute captain, also known as the stepdaughter of reality TV star Sig Hansen. The father-daughter duo is a regular part of the Discovery Channel show “Deadliest Catch”, with her father having been with the show since its inception.

Mandy Hansen’s net worth

As of the beginning of 2020, Mandy Hansen’s net worth is estimated to be over $1 million, largely earned through a successful career in the fishing industry. Crab, mackerel and cod fishing are some of the most lucrative activities they work on.

She is also likely benefiting from her father’s success as Sig has a net worth estimated at over $3 million.

Family and early life

Mandy grew up in a family of fishermen whose ancestry goes back to fishermen from Norway. Her great-grandfather and grandfather helped pioneer the opilio crab fishery in Alaska. Before opilio crab fishing became popular, crab boats often had a season to fish only late in the year, but this new way meant they could fish all year round. Today, crab fishermen in Alaska can spend up to 10 months at sea each year, depending on their catch.

She was also exposed to having some parts of her life in front of the camera, with both her parents involved in the reality series “Deadliest Catch”. The premise of the show is that crab fishing can be one of the world’s most deadly professions due to the environment, harsh weather conditions, and the difficulty of the job. Statistics have shown that injuries and even death can be frequent news when it comes to work. The show follows various boats and crews as they try to make the most of the fishing season, hoping to come out on top in terms of earnings.

Education and fishing career

Mandy grew up alongside a sister – both were adopted by Sig when he married their mother June. The sisters have a half-sister from their father’s previous marriage. With their father’s passion for fishing, they both learned skills such as tendering at an early age. Unlike her sister, Mandy wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and after graduating from college, she enrolled in a Maritime Academy.

She wanted to prove herself competent and knowledgeable so that the other crew members would recognize her.

Before completing her education, she had served as a sailor with her father and had appeared sporadically in “Deadliest Catch” since childhood. She then became a full-time member of her father’s crew and has been a constant presence on television ever since. There was even an occasion where she captain job from her father who suffered from a few health problems.

Father – Sig Hansen

Sig began learning the craft of fishing during his early teens and served as a deckhand on his father’s boat. He worked his way up through the ranks over the years before becoming a skipper’s assistant.

It is the skipper’s job to take over the role of captain in short fishing seasons when the captains take a break. This developed his leadership skills and he became a skilled captain full time when he reached the age of 24. One of his greatest achievements is the safety of his crew, with the Northwestern reporting the lowest number of injuries during his tenure.

He prioritized safety and reducing risk, and this resulted in no deaths for over two decades before joining “Deadliest Catch”. Because of his experience and his skills with safety, he became a technical consultant and producer of the show along with his wife who also has television experience.

He also has the records for it the highest earnings and the toughest overall catch in the show. He later wrote an autobiographical book that reached the New York Times bestseller list. He also became a constant presence on television, even expressing a desire to appear in “Dancing with the Stars”, though he has yet to be selected. He has appeared as a contestant on “The Celebrity Apprentice” and lent his voice for the animated movie “Cars 2”.

Sig Hansen’s health problems and controversies

Working as a captain can be a very stressful job and Sig couldn’t always be very healthy at sea.

He even admitted to following a diet consisting mainly of coffee and chocolate, while using cigarettes on board to de-stress. This caused his overall health to deteriorate and in 2016 he had a heart attack that was even recorded during an episode of “Deadliest Catch”. He took a season break to recover from the illness before returning to filming the following year. However, this was not the end of his troubles as in 2018 he suffered from a second heart attack. At the time, production was very concerned about his health and had to undergo many checks before returning to the field (or water). This has led to rumors that he might retire, although he has not expressed any intention to do so.

Aside from his health issues, he is also known to drink a lot of alcohol from time to time. On one occasion, he was arrested after an altercation with an Uber driver he was in front of charged with abuse. He was ordered to pay fines and community service as ordered by the court.

Private life

Mandy met fisherman Clark Pederson while both were working on the Northwestern. He was a relatively new fisherman at the time, but that didn’t stop them from developing a close bond that would lead to a romance. He has since worked for other ships, but has remained a regular member of Sig Hansen’s crew in “Deadliest Catch”.

Although her father initially agreed to their relationship, there was a point where he got really angry after Pederson joked about getting her daughter pregnant.

The two married in 2017 in a traditional Norwegian wedding. Most of Mandy’s relatives wore traditional clothes and she even got a Kransekake, a traditional cake translated as Princess Cake. In 2019, she shared that she suffered from a miscarriage while working as a captain for the Northwestern. The stress and hardships of being at sea may have significantly affected her body, leading to the tragic event. She has gained a lot of support after spreading the word about what happened on social media.