On March 11, 2026, Mike Rowe, the founder of the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, participated in a panel at the BlackRock Infrastructure Summit in Washington, DC. The summit, organized by the global investment management company, brought together leaders from government, business, and labor to discuss the expansion of U.S. infrastructure. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
In separate news, TV personality Mike Rowe has initiated a lawsuit against Discovery. He alleges that Discovery failed to pay him over $2 million for his narration work on the hit series “Deadliest Catch.” According to People Magazine, Rowe, along with his production company Lab Rat, filed the lawsuit on Wednesday. The suit claims Discovery Talent Services breached their contract by not compensating him for narrating at least 51 episodes of “Deadliest Catch” and its spinoffs.
Rowe has been narrating the series since 2005. He asserts that he entered into a ‘pay-to-play’ agreement with Discovery in 2020, which stipulates he earns $40,000 per episode, regardless of whether he narrates it. The lawsuit notes that Rowe did not narrate five episodes during “Deadliest Catch” season 21. However, his company discovered international episodes of the series were significantly different from U.S. broadcasts. They argue these episodes qualify as ‘originally produced,’ thus the pay-to-play agreement also applies to them.
Lab Rat claims that Discovery Talent Services owes at least $2.04 million in lost wages. This amount includes potential payments for 12 extended episodes and applicable interest. Rowe and his company have requested a jury trial.
This lawsuit is not Rowe’s first legal action against Warner Bros. Discovery. In June 2025, he filed a lawsuit seeking unpaid residuals from when “Deadliest Catch” became available on streaming platforms.
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