Exclusive | ‘Dirty Jobs’ host Mike Rowe sues for millions in alleged unpaid ‘Deadliest Catch’ voiceover money

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“Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe claims Discovery cheated him out of millions by launching “Deadliest Catch” spinoffs without using him as the narrator, according to a new lawsuit.

Rowe, who started to narrate “Deadliest Catch” episodes back in 2005, filed a lawsuit against Discovery Talent Services (DTS) Tuesday claiming the network failed to pay him according to a deal they allegedly hammered out in 2020 stating Rowe would rake in $40,000 an episode.

Rowe and his production company Lab Rat were to be paid on a “pay-or-play” basis, according to the lawsuit, meaning DTS was to either use Rowe’s voice in episodes (play) or to pay him his hourly rate for any new episode they did have him narrate or used another narrator (pay).

While an original agreement had Rowe locked into the pay-or-play basis for a specific period of time, an agreement in 2020 allegedly said Rowe was to be “locked in for life” to the deal, according to the lawsuit.

The agreement allegedly included all originally produced episodes of “Deadliest Catch” and “Bering Sea Gold.” The deal also “applies with equal force to spinoffs of the original “Deadliest Catch” series.

The agreement was carried out without issue during spinoffs including “Deadliest Catch: The Bait” and “Deadliest Catch: Dungeon Cove.”

However, according to the lawsuit, Rowe was not cast as the narrator and was not paid for spinoffs “Deadliest Catch: Bloodline (33 episodes),” “Deadliest Catch: The Viking Returns (10 episodes)” and Deadliest Catch: Northern Edge (8 episodes)” — a violation of the “pay” part of the alleged agreement.

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“Lab Rat and Rowe have also learned that the episodes of the original “Deadliest Catch” series that are aired internationally are materially different than the episodes aired in the United States. To the extent any of these international episodes are determined to be “originally produced episodes,” the pay-or-play agreement would apply to those as well,” according to the lawsuit.

Rowe and his legal team allegedly had discussions prior to filing the lawsuit where Discovery “stated that its understanding of the pay-or-play provision in the Deal Memo is that the provision only applies when DTS chooses to have a Narrator in the episode,” according to his lawyers.

“Because DTS exercised its choice not to use Rowe as a Narrator in at least 51 episodes of “Deadliest Catch” spinoffs, Lab Rat is entitled to a payment of at least $2.04 million,” the lawsuit said.