'Deadliest Catch' 's Captain Sig Hansen Opens Up About His Heart Attack at Sea: 'That Was Close'

Twelves seasons into Deadliest Catch, Captain Sig Hansen has learned to expect the unexpected. However, he wasn’t prepared for the heart attack he had while filming the Discovery Channel series’ upcoming season.

“That was close,” Hansen, 49, tells PEOPLE Now. “That was like a 50/50 chance.”

The fisherman had the heart attack in early March. When it happened, he wanted to keep going, but the crew insisted he receive medical attention, so he was air-lifted to medical facility in Anchorage, Alaska, the show’s Twitter account confirmed at the time of the attack.

Looking back on the experience now, Hansen says the heart attack itself wasn’t even the scariest part.

“It was actually scarier when you got home and then you realize, ‘Did that really happen?’ ” he says. “In the moment it wasn’t so bad, just made me angry.”

Since the health scare, Hansen has had to make some changes to his lifestyle, like eating more salad, which “sucks,” he says. He’s also giving up cigarettes.

This season, the show is welcoming newcomer Captain Sean Dwyer. At 23 years old, he is the youngest captain in the show’s history.

“When I was a little kid, I decided this is what I wanted to do,” says Dwyer, whose father was also a fisherman. Every summer, his father would take the family out on the boat and would teach Dwyer all that he could. To this day, he remains an inspiration. “He’s with me all the time,” says the newcomer.

Dwyer felt a lot of pressure when he started working for Hansen, but Hansen says he’s very confident that his protégé will succeed, especially if Dwyer follows his advice: “Know your role, shut your hole.”

Deadliest Catch returns Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel