"I’ve never been fired until I spent some time with this man,” Hansen said, referencing Trump at the White House on Thursday, June 11
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/Sig-Hansen-Donald-Trump-061226-824e570c20a149e7a2b85d121097c343.jpg "US President Donald Trump listens to Norwegian-Amercan captain Sig Hansen")
Credit: Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Deadliest Catch star Sig Hansen spoke of his time on the reality show The Celebrity Apprentice, previously hosted by now-President Donald Trump
- “I’ve never been fired until I spent some time with this man,” Hansen said during his speech at the Oval Office on Thursday, June 11. “It was very humbling to say the least”
- The reality star was in attendance for the president’s signing of a proclamation that will reopen nearly half a million square miles of protected waters to commercial fishing
Deadliest Catch star Sig Hansen looked back on President Donald Trump once firing him on Celebrity Apprentice.
The reality star, 60, attended the president's Oval Office ceremony, where he signed a proclamation opening nearly half a million square miles of protected waters in the Pacific Ocean to commercial fishing on Thursday, June 11.
At the event, Hansen thanked Trump for his “phenomenal” support of fishermen and handed him a crew hat. “You're one of us now,” Hansen told him, as reported by Deadline.
Credit: Blair Bunting/Discovery
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Later in his speech, Hansen recounted his time on the NBC reality show The Celebrity Apprentice, previously hosted by Trump. “I spent a couple of months with you on The Apprentice, and I saw your work ethic there,” he said. “I can't fathom how you do all this. How you get the time to do what you do.”
“And representing us and helping the fishermen. It's mind-boggling,” Hansen continued. “Because I know you've got your hands full. And putting us on that pedestal and back our industry the way you have. It's just phenomenal.”
He went on to explain that he's been fishing since he was 12 and has “never been fired until I spent some time with this man,” referring to Trump. “It was humbling to say the least.”
“You did a great job," Trump told Hansen, who briefly explained how the firing changed him.
“I was a better captain after that,” Hansen noted, “because I was very nice to my crew. I was very humbled when I was fired.”
Credit: NBC
With the signing of the new proclamation, Trump targets marine protections put in place by former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden in an effort to protect fish stocks for future fishermen and boost the U.S. seafood industry.
“Hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean were cut off for them,” Trump said during Thursday's ceremony. “They can't fish. Other people could fish; they couldn't.”
“Could you imagine that? Did you ever think that was going to happen as you grew?” he asked, looking at the group of fish industry workers present at the ceremony. “That some day they were going to take away the right for you to go fishing in the Pacific Ocean. What a bunch of dopes.”
The proclamation signed by Trump eliminates certain restrictions on fishing in the Islands Unit of Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, Mau and Ho'omalu Zones of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument.
Last year, Trump signed a proclamation opening the waters of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to U.S. commercial fishing.