The Bering Sea Gold Fist Fight, Explained

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The tension between Shawn Pomrenke and the Kelly family spiraled out of control at Nome Harbor, leading to punches, blood, and a 911 call.

Haylee Thorson - Author

While Discovery’s long-standing reality series Bering Sea Gold certainly doesn't have a shortage of foul language and feuds, Season 15 introduced a new development in Episode 7 — fist fights.

The insurmountable tension between Shawn Pomrenke and the Kelly family spiraled out of control at Nome Harbor, leading to punches, blood, and a 911 call. But what happened exactly? Here's what we know.

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Shawn Pomrenke and Andy Kelly's argument escalated into a fist fight on 'Bering Sea Gold.'

In Season 15, Episode 7, “Brawl of Duty,” the feud between Shawn Pomrenke and the Kellys took a turn for the worse.

As Andy Kelly approached Shawn at the harbor in Nome, Shawn threatened to call the police, prompting Andy to get up close and personal with his nemesis. Shawn then yelled, “Get the f--k out of my face,” and choked Andy, leading Andy to hit him in the face and push him into a nearby boat.

Stunned at first, Shawn continued to egg Andy on from inside the boat, but then Kris Kelly arrived and joined his brother.

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the fact that bering sea gold just recorded the fight between shawn and andy rather than stopping it and put that on the air in 2023 gives me a whole new respect for the show...let em throw hands lick your wounds and live to fight another day good on discovery channel

— Ncpinetree (@Ncpinetree) January 4, 2023

Shawn emerged from the boat, and he and Andy began throwing punches and tackling one another. “Grab him and throw him over to the side, Andy!” Kris yelled. With blood staining Andy’s teeth and mustache, he smiled at his enemy, practically begging him to throw another punch.

When Shawn finally stood down, the three got into an argument about mining locations and who touched who first in the fight. Kris claimed that Shawn came down to start trouble, which caused Shawn to get riled up again.

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The brothers told Shawn that he’ll going to go to jail for assault, but then Andy pushed Shawn into the water and punched him in the face when he returned to the dock. Andy continued to make aggressive advances at Shawn, only stopping when Kris begged him to, and Shawn finally walked away.

The episode ended with the Kelly brothers and Shawn racing to call 911 and report the altercation first.

This isn’t the first time one of the Kellys has gotten into legal trouble for physical violence.

In February 2022, Andy and Kris’s father, Brad Kelly, was arrested for brutal domestic violence.

According to the police report obtained by TMZ, after an argument, Brad struck the mother of his child in the head while she was sleeping, and she woke up in a pool of blood. The reality star told the police that she had fallen and hit her head on the table. However, police charged him with second-degree domestic violence.

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The Bering Sea Gold captain was sentenced to four years in prison, but he can reduce it to eight months (with five years' probation) if he maintains good behavior behind bars.

To see if Shawn, Kris, and Andy can set their differences aside and put the past behind them, tune into new episodes of Bering Sea Gold on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery.

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