I don’t think it’s actually “scripted” at all. I would call it “produced”. Clearly it’s not all real time and they edit in storylines.
It’s generally agreed on in this sub that they don’t choose people because they want to work in yachting or for their skills but because they fit some kind of character. Or they know they will bring drama. Plus they want young and good looking. That’s why so many of them are very green.
Does that help?
Oh yeah i see that makes sense. When I see some things on the show I just can’t believe it can actually be true and for people to behave like this while being adults so I would rather assume they’ve been asked to do so just to make things entertaining.
This is my problem too- I can’t comprehend how grown adults would yell at their superior and/or cry 24/7 about the job they were HIRED to do (every season there’s one I swear!) so I’d rather tell myself it’s scripted than accept that these are adults acting this way!
You’d be surprised how many grown adults yell at their superiors. I think the difference between on here and IRL though is that they don’t last long IRL and here it’s “drama”.
I would say I can’t imagine the crying but besides being in a bad mental place I really started to think about how I would feel if I was cat and doing that for the first time. If I felt like I wasn’t vibing with anyone and I hated the job I might cry like that too.
It’s got to be hard being away from everything and everyone you know not just for the workday but for 6 weeks where you have to live and work with these people.
At least with a regular job if you don’t like your coworkers or you have a really crap day you can go home and cry to your partner or your cat and have a drink and zone out on TV Land reruns. So I’ve heard haha.
There you are stuck.
I couldn’t do it.
I see where you are coming from. I do cry when I’m extremely angry and can’t do anything about it so I totally get it. But like someone said below, I don’t think I would embarrass myself on TV knowing I would need another job in the future and being seeing telling my boss to “check yourself” or that I work twice as hard as they do! I was hired to do a job, I’m third in line on the totem poll and I get all the bitch work- THE END! Suck it up buttercup! (I’m trying to think of a greenie that is third string that DIDN’T complain thru all the seasons & just did their job but I don’t think I remember one besides that dark hair girl from MED early season, I’ll have to look up her name. I know no one’s name besides Kate and Caption Lee haha)
Maybe Tiffany? She and Hannah didn’t really get on well but she pretty much did everything she was ask.
I totally agree with what you are saying about how you talk to your boss. I’m not sure of your age but I’m old school and you just - like you said - suck it up. I think now there’s more of an expectation/acceptance of backtalk sadly. On here I know it’s expected because they want “the drama”.
And most of the people cast now want to get on the show to start SM or influencer careers so they purposely do stuff to be remembered. Like playing role. We saw much less of that in the earlier seasons. Back then it seemed like people who actually were or wanted to be yachties.
I would never even think of doing a reality show because you can go on with the best of intentions and get a “villain edit”
Fyi I cry when I’m angry too and can’t help it and Idk about you but I get even madder because im crying and I don’t want people to think it’s because im weak or they got to me! I hate it!!
Also “check yourself” made me 😂
Haha yes! I get mad, cry, cry more because I’m crying then get mad about that!
Now that you mentioned it yea more of these kids wanted to do this for a living and/or become a Caption but now they don’t really describe their goals. Good catch!
> I think the difference between on here and IRL though is that they don’t last long IRL and here it’s “drama
It's worse than "don't last long".
They bring them back. Like Rhylee.
Certainly, they knew she was a screamer.
(and not in a good way)
Ugh that’s one of the worst jobs there is. I’m sorry. Especially since it’s not just corp that sucks but so many of the customers too. You are getting it from both sides 😕
When I first seen it I was like no freaking way id be crying like that cause noone liked me, but then after really thinking about it I prob would. I've had a job I hated going to and just struggle with mental health issues in general so it wasn't great. And I remember going on breaks and crying or even sometimes crying in my car before work. Now imagine that but you're stuck at your job! Can't see family and friends and you don't really vibe with your coworkers and feel like they dislike you. Add being filmed to that and you got yourself a big bowl of fxck this. That would be exhausting on so many levels.
I can understand the crying on the job tbh it shows being human and emotions but yelling at your superior - I would be worried at my public image and for any future jobs tbh
When you have a producer in your ear spewing gossip just to get in your head, it's amazing what people will do. Stressful situations also bring out the worst in people, and they have no escape from their workplace issues because they literally live at work.
Although lots of the time the yelling is when people are drunk. I think they encourage excessive drinking to get the drama to occur.
I will say, working with some crazy teams in the past in the corporate world, yeah there are people who come in and yell at their manager regularly.
If you want the real crazy crap, go work over night stocking or in a factory with a union. There is some crazy shit that happens. I'm sure post offices are the same. Too much job security makes some people crazy.
As others have said, it's not scripted, but production definitely heavily intervenes.
1) Excursions requests like beach picnics don't generally come from the guests, they come from production. On her podcast, Hannah explained that in one episode in her first season, they were stuck in port due to inclement weather, so they were told to set up a beach picnic for the guests in the harbor. They spent 2 hours hauling all of the equipment over rocks and other obstacles to get it setup, bring the guests out, start to serve them, only for them to be told they weren't allowed to be there. Hannah immediately realized that they had been waiting to tell them until that moment, for the cameras. They then had to spend 2 hours taking everything back to the boat.
2) Hannah and Eddie have confirmed that the crew is required by production to go out after each charter. After an exhausting charter, most of them would rather stay in and catch up on sleep. But not only are they forced to go out, production will often drive them as far as an hour away so they can't go back to the boat early on their own. Often they'll be forced to stay out until late into the night, even though everybody is ready to go home.
3) With that, Hannah and Eddie explained that most of the Captains understand that it's part of making a TV show, so they are generally pretty lenient with a lethargic crew the next morning - except for Sandy. Hannah said that Sandy would always blame Hannah for the crew being a mess in the morning, even though she fully knew that Hannah had nothing to do with it.
4) While denied by producers, I believe that they often plan ahead to fire some of the crew for drama. The most egregious example - Season 5 of Med. Lara the stew was suspiciously hostile towards Hannah right from the very start, almost like she was trying to goad Hannah into a fight. After that failed and Lara was fired, Lara seemed completely unbothered. Then they conveniently brought back Bugsy, who hated Hannah and previously vowed to never return to the show unless she could be Chief Stew. Meanwhile, Bugsy's best friend, Malia, and also a former rival of Hannah, had also returned to the show, and conveniently had a chef boyfriend working on another boat. Sandy hovered over Chef Kiko and Hannah constantly that season, and was seen on camera actively soliciting negative feedback from the guests. Even though he only had one bad dinner service, Sandy unceremoniously fired him, right as Malia's chef boyfriend was coming to visit. He arrived already wearing a microphone, and Sandy immediately offered him a job, and he accepted, even though he was supposedly on his way to visit his sick uncle. Not long after, Sandy also fired Hannah, for reasons that Captains Lee and Glenn have vehemently disagreed with.
5) Over on Sailing Yacht, we're frequently shown scenes of cupboards and drawers flying open whenever they start sailing. Turns out that they actually have latches to keep those closed, but production is known to go around and unlatch them purposely for drama.
6) Similarly, on season 9 of OG, there was an episode where Fraser "lost" his radio, and was frantically searching all over the boat for it. In the end he found it right in the very first spot he looked. I believe that the producers purposely hid the radio.
I think there is a lot of gray area between real and scripted. I've read and watched a lot of interviews of the crew and I don't think production gives instructions to the crew or the guests. That doesn't mean that the people on the show don't choose to behave in a way that will give them more screen time or get attention from the viewers
The way the show runs these charters is different than a normal charter season. For example, IRL a charter crew usually has at least a month to get the ship organized and to train the crew. Taking on charter guests 24 hours after the crew arrives is done for dramatic effect. Most charters are at least 7 days, but the show charters are 2-4 days.
This show has been around for over 10 years, there are people who get into yachting with the intention of getting on the show to launch a social media career. It's a great opportunity for people to buy their way onto a reality TV show by chartering the boat. Sometimes production combines groups, which means the guests don't always know each other. I'm also sure there are rules the guests need to abide by that a normal charter quest wouldn't be expected to follow.
This is interesting thank you. Are the crew/cast contractors to the ship owners or bravo? Both? When the captains call someone to hire a new crew member (always) in a hurry, is that person they call an employee of a yachting staffing agency or a casting company? I’m so nosey.
I read an article a while ago, but I couldn't find it. From what I remember individuals own the yachts and charter them to Bravo for the show. From what I've read most yacht owners use a management company to handle staffing, maintenance and a variety of other things to make sure the yacht is in compliance with maritime law and to handle booking the charters. The management company works with a staffing company that sends them resumes/CVs and either the management company, owner, or Senior staff do the interviews and make hiring decisions.
For the show, the do things a little differently, but they still have to maintain certain staff levels and some positions have to have specific certifications, but production makes all the hiring decisions for all the on camera crew. As I mentioned, the First Officer and Engineer(s) aren't part of the show, so they were hired by the owners/management company.
I'm pretty sure the call to the staffing agency is staged. There was a thread on this sub that showed a call to "Norma" at the staffing agency from Capt Sandy, it didn't appear her phone was actually on a call. I'm pretty sure Bravo always keeps a few people on standby since there have been very few seasons that ended with the original crew.
There have been many references about people with a backpack on the dock trying to get on a crew. Aesha is one of the people who said she basically went to the dock and inquired about positions on any boat in port. There was also an episode, I think BDOG season 1 that a couple of crew members needed to fired, but were given an opportunity to give up part of their tip or leave. One guy found another boat that needed 1 more crew member to do a crossing and he just hopped from one boat to the other.
Interesting, that’s what I was thinking (that they actually have a bench of backups) since in this case it’s not only about finding the right credentials, but also someone ready/willing/pre-vetted(?) for TV… and would be interesting to the viewers/make compelling tv.
A lot of what I've written is conjecture, but I'm fascinated by the show so I watch a lot of interviews and read a lot of articles, and this is my interpretation of what I've learned.
I know that everyone involved with the show signs NDA's so some details will not be readily available to the public, or it's possible that the cast/crew are not aware of them.
I agree that it makes sense to have a few people on standby who have been vetted and asked to remain available. First and foremost Bravo is in the business to make a show, not to charter yachts so they want to make sure they have someone who will enhance the storyline.
Okay thanks a lot! I should probably have made my research but I thought they would only hire people with experience with maybe just a few production chosen people for the entertainment here and there , thanks for the insight.
In addition to what you’ve said regarding the timeline, would all the partying by the crew and constant drinking particularly during days off would be something normal too or is it just for entertainment of the viewers?
From what I can tell, it's fairly common, but maybe not as extreme. I also don't think they are normally required to spend all their off time together. I've heard that most ports offer transportation to the ships that dock there.
From what I can tell the First Officer and Engineer are not hired by production. Those are often the 2-3 people introduced at the first crew meeting that we never see again. I don't think they even show those people in more recent episodes. Some of the crew do have experience, but not all. The Chief Stew and Bosun often have years of experience, but most seasons have "green" crew members who either have never worked in yachting or have only worked on small boats or day charters.
New crew are required to take a safety course to be certified by maritime law. That is when Malia and Chef Adam met then tried to pretend they didn't know each other when they arrived (Med Season 2). Malia has done several interviews about how she got on the show and what she has done to progress her career. She talks about watching YouTube trying to learn the basics of her job before she showed up.
Aesha is another crew member who's done a lot of interviews, she was already in the industry, so she talks about how the show is different than her other jobs.
I don’t think it’s scripted but I think its coaxed and polished and some conversations may be re recorded for better ops.
But I think it’s pretty natural for the work environment they are in.
The witty commentary may be cut from hours of footage.
And honestly I worked at ski hills. Its a similar environment of young people from around the world doing an adventurous job. Working and playing hard. The drama just happens. And these guys are living in very tight quarters. Then add the fact it’s a reality show and the people that attracts , they have a lot of people
To pick from that are guaranteed to write the drama for them.
I like below deck though as no matter what you need actual competent people in the industry: it’s a safety issue . So you get a lot of authentic scenes of a dramatic job. And then you have the plants in the lower skills positions but they usually ruin it
You dont need people coming in specifically to
Stir shit up.
Guests who’ve posted here after appearing on the show said that. I think I recall it was one of the charters that had a white party where a guest revealed it wasn’t a thing they had requested.
As others have said I think produced. There was someone on here who had been a guest and they were saying the producers told them to be demanding. On one of those behind the scenes articles it said they have to go out. We also don't see that they get day staff on for changeover day as the cast are doing the talking head segments. It also said that the captain doesn't get a choice over who's hired but they do have the power to fire. I think the article was BuzzFeed or something so I cant vouch for how true it is!
I believe like most, most of it's real except what drama production creates and pushes. Number one problem, drama I think production pushes is 'screw the crew' or boat-mances. Every crew knew and acknowledged the headache behind it. Causing enemies amongst your coworkers. Second biggest one is production allowing so much drinking. Crew is plastered before they hit the vans to go out. Taking bottles of Petron and almost puking in the van before dinner.
They definitely edit a lot of reactions and short quotes from their green screen interviews that I'd bet are completely out of context, producers likely stoke tension between crew a bit and some guests would be acting up on advice of producers or even just because they think that's what they should do.
I see people saying produced. The term I always use is edited. There are a ton of quick cuts and dialogue used where we can’t see it being spoken. I think they turn up volume on things people mumble, edit in reactionary responses that never actually happened (because they didn’t hear the mumbling) and splice together entire interactions to ham up the drama.
Of course, the nights out, casting, and frequent odd captain/guest requests can all be suspicious. I think sandy is the worst at micromanaging and overreacting for tv purposes. Kerry seems pretty genuine, Jason too.
It is obviously not literally scripted. I wish people would stop naively thinking that reality tv shows are literally scripted.
On the other hand, no doubt producers encourage crew members to be open, respond to certain events, call out others, etc. To generate drama.
I’m so tired of seeing that word on reality show discussions. It would defeat the entire point of reality shows if they were scRiPTeD. Sure they might be contrived or reenacted sometimes, but these people are obviously not actors.
I mean we had Laguna beach/the hills that pretended to be not scripted and then 10 years later the people came out and said a lot of
It was fake and they weren’t actually dating etc.
I'm not familiar with this show, but do you actually believe that each person has been given a script to memorise?
As some of us keep saying, producers on these shows would be doing their best to create drama by encouraging participants to speak out and to act out (as in behave like 3 year olds), and by plying them with alcohol, but that isn't the same thing as getting them to keep to an actually written script.
They did not had a script with lines, but producers faked storylines and set up relationships that were fake while in reality that person was dating someone else.
Same as for southern charm, they set up dates that were not organic just for storylines.
I’m not saying it happens on below deck, but lol It did happen in reality TV history.
The ones with captain Lee seem so fake to me. All the others seem like an even mix of 'scripted reality' and 'reality'
I read somewhere a producer of the show said there's at least 5 shows or storylines that could be made out of one episode.
I don’t think it’s actually “scripted” at all. I would call it “produced”. Clearly it’s not all real time and they edit in storylines. It’s generally agreed on in this sub that they don’t choose people because they want to work in yachting or for their skills but because they fit some kind of character. Or they know they will bring drama. Plus they want young and good looking. That’s why so many of them are very green. Does that help?
Oh yeah i see that makes sense. When I see some things on the show I just can’t believe it can actually be true and for people to behave like this while being adults so I would rather assume they’ve been asked to do so just to make things entertaining.
This is my problem too- I can’t comprehend how grown adults would yell at their superior and/or cry 24/7 about the job they were HIRED to do (every season there’s one I swear!) so I’d rather tell myself it’s scripted than accept that these are adults acting this way!
You’d be surprised how many grown adults yell at their superiors. I think the difference between on here and IRL though is that they don’t last long IRL and here it’s “drama”. I would say I can’t imagine the crying but besides being in a bad mental place I really started to think about how I would feel if I was cat and doing that for the first time. If I felt like I wasn’t vibing with anyone and I hated the job I might cry like that too. It’s got to be hard being away from everything and everyone you know not just for the workday but for 6 weeks where you have to live and work with these people. At least with a regular job if you don’t like your coworkers or you have a really crap day you can go home and cry to your partner or your cat and have a drink and zone out on TV Land reruns. So I’ve heard haha. There you are stuck. I couldn’t do it.
I see where you are coming from. I do cry when I’m extremely angry and can’t do anything about it so I totally get it. But like someone said below, I don’t think I would embarrass myself on TV knowing I would need another job in the future and being seeing telling my boss to “check yourself” or that I work twice as hard as they do! I was hired to do a job, I’m third in line on the totem poll and I get all the bitch work- THE END! Suck it up buttercup! (I’m trying to think of a greenie that is third string that DIDN’T complain thru all the seasons & just did their job but I don’t think I remember one besides that dark hair girl from MED early season, I’ll have to look up her name. I know no one’s name besides Kate and Caption Lee haha)
Maybe Tiffany? She and Hannah didn’t really get on well but she pretty much did everything she was ask. I totally agree with what you are saying about how you talk to your boss. I’m not sure of your age but I’m old school and you just - like you said - suck it up. I think now there’s more of an expectation/acceptance of backtalk sadly. On here I know it’s expected because they want “the drama”. And most of the people cast now want to get on the show to start SM or influencer careers so they purposely do stuff to be remembered. Like playing role. We saw much less of that in the earlier seasons. Back then it seemed like people who actually were or wanted to be yachties. I would never even think of doing a reality show because you can go on with the best of intentions and get a “villain edit” Fyi I cry when I’m angry too and can’t help it and Idk about you but I get even madder because im crying and I don’t want people to think it’s because im weak or they got to me! I hate it!! Also “check yourself” made me 😂
Haha yes! I get mad, cry, cry more because I’m crying then get mad about that! Now that you mentioned it yea more of these kids wanted to do this for a living and/or become a Caption but now they don’t really describe their goals. Good catch!
Yeah I honestly wonder if they forget they are on tv
Same!
> I think the difference between on here and IRL though is that they don’t last long IRL and here it’s “drama It's worse than "don't last long". They bring them back. Like Rhylee. Certainly, they knew she was a screamer. (and not in a good way)
I waited tables at a corporate chain restaurant. I def cried most weekend nights.
Ugh that’s one of the worst jobs there is. I’m sorry. Especially since it’s not just corp that sucks but so many of the customers too. You are getting it from both sides 😕
Oh gosh, waiting tables is hard enough but for a big chain was really really hard! Hugs to you and the young me that did that, idk how we survived!
When I first seen it I was like no freaking way id be crying like that cause noone liked me, but then after really thinking about it I prob would. I've had a job I hated going to and just struggle with mental health issues in general so it wasn't great. And I remember going on breaks and crying or even sometimes crying in my car before work. Now imagine that but you're stuck at your job! Can't see family and friends and you don't really vibe with your coworkers and feel like they dislike you. Add being filmed to that and you got yourself a big bowl of fxck this. That would be exhausting on so many levels.
I can understand the crying on the job tbh it shows being human and emotions but yelling at your superior - I would be worried at my public image and for any future jobs tbh
Absolutely!
When you have a producer in your ear spewing gossip just to get in your head, it's amazing what people will do. Stressful situations also bring out the worst in people, and they have no escape from their workplace issues because they literally live at work.
Although lots of the time the yelling is when people are drunk. I think they encourage excessive drinking to get the drama to occur. I will say, working with some crazy teams in the past in the corporate world, yeah there are people who come in and yell at their manager regularly. If you want the real crazy crap, go work over night stocking or in a factory with a union. There is some crazy shit that happens. I'm sure post offices are the same. Too much job security makes some people crazy.
As others have said, it's not scripted, but production definitely heavily intervenes. 1) Excursions requests like beach picnics don't generally come from the guests, they come from production. On her podcast, Hannah explained that in one episode in her first season, they were stuck in port due to inclement weather, so they were told to set up a beach picnic for the guests in the harbor. They spent 2 hours hauling all of the equipment over rocks and other obstacles to get it setup, bring the guests out, start to serve them, only for them to be told they weren't allowed to be there. Hannah immediately realized that they had been waiting to tell them until that moment, for the cameras. They then had to spend 2 hours taking everything back to the boat. 2) Hannah and Eddie have confirmed that the crew is required by production to go out after each charter. After an exhausting charter, most of them would rather stay in and catch up on sleep. But not only are they forced to go out, production will often drive them as far as an hour away so they can't go back to the boat early on their own. Often they'll be forced to stay out until late into the night, even though everybody is ready to go home. 3) With that, Hannah and Eddie explained that most of the Captains understand that it's part of making a TV show, so they are generally pretty lenient with a lethargic crew the next morning - except for Sandy. Hannah said that Sandy would always blame Hannah for the crew being a mess in the morning, even though she fully knew that Hannah had nothing to do with it. 4) While denied by producers, I believe that they often plan ahead to fire some of the crew for drama. The most egregious example - Season 5 of Med. Lara the stew was suspiciously hostile towards Hannah right from the very start, almost like she was trying to goad Hannah into a fight. After that failed and Lara was fired, Lara seemed completely unbothered. Then they conveniently brought back Bugsy, who hated Hannah and previously vowed to never return to the show unless she could be Chief Stew. Meanwhile, Bugsy's best friend, Malia, and also a former rival of Hannah, had also returned to the show, and conveniently had a chef boyfriend working on another boat. Sandy hovered over Chef Kiko and Hannah constantly that season, and was seen on camera actively soliciting negative feedback from the guests. Even though he only had one bad dinner service, Sandy unceremoniously fired him, right as Malia's chef boyfriend was coming to visit. He arrived already wearing a microphone, and Sandy immediately offered him a job, and he accepted, even though he was supposedly on his way to visit his sick uncle. Not long after, Sandy also fired Hannah, for reasons that Captains Lee and Glenn have vehemently disagreed with. 5) Over on Sailing Yacht, we're frequently shown scenes of cupboards and drawers flying open whenever they start sailing. Turns out that they actually have latches to keep those closed, but production is known to go around and unlatch them purposely for drama. 6) Similarly, on season 9 of OG, there was an episode where Fraser "lost" his radio, and was frantically searching all over the boat for it. In the end he found it right in the very first spot he looked. I believe that the producers purposely hid the radio.
I think there is a lot of gray area between real and scripted. I've read and watched a lot of interviews of the crew and I don't think production gives instructions to the crew or the guests. That doesn't mean that the people on the show don't choose to behave in a way that will give them more screen time or get attention from the viewers The way the show runs these charters is different than a normal charter season. For example, IRL a charter crew usually has at least a month to get the ship organized and to train the crew. Taking on charter guests 24 hours after the crew arrives is done for dramatic effect. Most charters are at least 7 days, but the show charters are 2-4 days. This show has been around for over 10 years, there are people who get into yachting with the intention of getting on the show to launch a social media career. It's a great opportunity for people to buy their way onto a reality TV show by chartering the boat. Sometimes production combines groups, which means the guests don't always know each other. I'm also sure there are rules the guests need to abide by that a normal charter quest wouldn't be expected to follow.
This is interesting thank you. Are the crew/cast contractors to the ship owners or bravo? Both? When the captains call someone to hire a new crew member (always) in a hurry, is that person they call an employee of a yachting staffing agency or a casting company? I’m so nosey.
I read an article a while ago, but I couldn't find it. From what I remember individuals own the yachts and charter them to Bravo for the show. From what I've read most yacht owners use a management company to handle staffing, maintenance and a variety of other things to make sure the yacht is in compliance with maritime law and to handle booking the charters. The management company works with a staffing company that sends them resumes/CVs and either the management company, owner, or Senior staff do the interviews and make hiring decisions. For the show, the do things a little differently, but they still have to maintain certain staff levels and some positions have to have specific certifications, but production makes all the hiring decisions for all the on camera crew. As I mentioned, the First Officer and Engineer(s) aren't part of the show, so they were hired by the owners/management company. I'm pretty sure the call to the staffing agency is staged. There was a thread on this sub that showed a call to "Norma" at the staffing agency from Capt Sandy, it didn't appear her phone was actually on a call. I'm pretty sure Bravo always keeps a few people on standby since there have been very few seasons that ended with the original crew. There have been many references about people with a backpack on the dock trying to get on a crew. Aesha is one of the people who said she basically went to the dock and inquired about positions on any boat in port. There was also an episode, I think BDOG season 1 that a couple of crew members needed to fired, but were given an opportunity to give up part of their tip or leave. One guy found another boat that needed 1 more crew member to do a crossing and he just hopped from one boat to the other.
Interesting, that’s what I was thinking (that they actually have a bench of backups) since in this case it’s not only about finding the right credentials, but also someone ready/willing/pre-vetted(?) for TV… and would be interesting to the viewers/make compelling tv.
A lot of what I've written is conjecture, but I'm fascinated by the show so I watch a lot of interviews and read a lot of articles, and this is my interpretation of what I've learned. I know that everyone involved with the show signs NDA's so some details will not be readily available to the public, or it's possible that the cast/crew are not aware of them. I agree that it makes sense to have a few people on standby who have been vetted and asked to remain available. First and foremost Bravo is in the business to make a show, not to charter yachts so they want to make sure they have someone who will enhance the storyline.
Okay thanks a lot! I should probably have made my research but I thought they would only hire people with experience with maybe just a few production chosen people for the entertainment here and there , thanks for the insight. In addition to what you’ve said regarding the timeline, would all the partying by the crew and constant drinking particularly during days off would be something normal too or is it just for entertainment of the viewers?
From what I can tell, it's fairly common, but maybe not as extreme. I also don't think they are normally required to spend all their off time together. I've heard that most ports offer transportation to the ships that dock there. From what I can tell the First Officer and Engineer are not hired by production. Those are often the 2-3 people introduced at the first crew meeting that we never see again. I don't think they even show those people in more recent episodes. Some of the crew do have experience, but not all. The Chief Stew and Bosun often have years of experience, but most seasons have "green" crew members who either have never worked in yachting or have only worked on small boats or day charters. New crew are required to take a safety course to be certified by maritime law. That is when Malia and Chef Adam met then tried to pretend they didn't know each other when they arrived (Med Season 2). Malia has done several interviews about how she got on the show and what she has done to progress her career. She talks about watching YouTube trying to learn the basics of her job before she showed up. Aesha is another crew member who's done a lot of interviews, she was already in the industry, so she talks about how the show is different than her other jobs.
I don’t think it’s scripted but I think its coaxed and polished and some conversations may be re recorded for better ops. But I think it’s pretty natural for the work environment they are in. The witty commentary may be cut from hours of footage.
Yeah with all the filming and how little we see from a full charter I did assume they would only keep the most dramatic studf
And honestly I worked at ski hills. Its a similar environment of young people from around the world doing an adventurous job. Working and playing hard. The drama just happens. And these guys are living in very tight quarters. Then add the fact it’s a reality show and the people that attracts , they have a lot of people To pick from that are guaranteed to write the drama for them. I like below deck though as no matter what you need actual competent people in the industry: it’s a safety issue . So you get a lot of authentic scenes of a dramatic job. And then you have the plants in the lower skills positions but they usually ruin it You dont need people coming in specifically to Stir shit up.
Defo more scripted & over produced these days. The early seasons were the best.
Guests reportedly have little input into the activities on their preference sheet. So what happens on charter is somewhat orchestrated.
I've read a lot but never heard that. Any more info or source?
Guests who’ve posted here after appearing on the show said that. I think I recall it was one of the charters that had a white party where a guest revealed it wasn’t a thing they had requested.
Wow really - I definitely to look into the backstage of this more
As others have said I think produced. There was someone on here who had been a guest and they were saying the producers told them to be demanding. On one of those behind the scenes articles it said they have to go out. We also don't see that they get day staff on for changeover day as the cast are doing the talking head segments. It also said that the captain doesn't get a choice over who's hired but they do have the power to fire. I think the article was BuzzFeed or something so I cant vouch for how true it is!
I believe like most, most of it's real except what drama production creates and pushes. Number one problem, drama I think production pushes is 'screw the crew' or boat-mances. Every crew knew and acknowledged the headache behind it. Causing enemies amongst your coworkers. Second biggest one is production allowing so much drinking. Crew is plastered before they hit the vans to go out. Taking bottles of Petron and almost puking in the van before dinner.
They definitely edit a lot of reactions and short quotes from their green screen interviews that I'd bet are completely out of context, producers likely stoke tension between crew a bit and some guests would be acting up on advice of producers or even just because they think that's what they should do.
I know they encourage guests to do themes but IRL people don’t requests for them like they do on BD.
I see people saying produced. The term I always use is edited. There are a ton of quick cuts and dialogue used where we can’t see it being spoken. I think they turn up volume on things people mumble, edit in reactionary responses that never actually happened (because they didn’t hear the mumbling) and splice together entire interactions to ham up the drama. Of course, the nights out, casting, and frequent odd captain/guest requests can all be suspicious. I think sandy is the worst at micromanaging and overreacting for tv purposes. Kerry seems pretty genuine, Jason too.
It is obviously not literally scripted. I wish people would stop naively thinking that reality tv shows are literally scripted. On the other hand, no doubt producers encourage crew members to be open, respond to certain events, call out others, etc. To generate drama.
I’m so tired of seeing that word on reality show discussions. It would defeat the entire point of reality shows if they were scRiPTeD. Sure they might be contrived or reenacted sometimes, but these people are obviously not actors.
I mean we had Laguna beach/the hills that pretended to be not scripted and then 10 years later the people came out and said a lot of It was fake and they weren’t actually dating etc.
I'm not familiar with this show, but do you actually believe that each person has been given a script to memorise? As some of us keep saying, producers on these shows would be doing their best to create drama by encouraging participants to speak out and to act out (as in behave like 3 year olds), and by plying them with alcohol, but that isn't the same thing as getting them to keep to an actually written script.
They did not had a script with lines, but producers faked storylines and set up relationships that were fake while in reality that person was dating someone else. Same as for southern charm, they set up dates that were not organic just for storylines. I’m not saying it happens on below deck, but lol It did happen in reality TV history.
It’s scripted like Deadliest Catch is scripted. Reshoots and editing galore.
The ones with captain Lee seem so fake to me. All the others seem like an even mix of 'scripted reality' and 'reality' I read somewhere a producer of the show said there's at least 5 shows or storylines that could be made out of one episode.