Here's What The Yachting Industry Thinks About 'Below Deck'

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Here's What The Yachting Industry Thinks About 'Below Deck'

What I love about Below Deck is that it's ever-changing and ever-evolving; each new season brings new characters and guests to get to know. Plus, something that adds another layer to the series is that the cast is actually working. Their actual job is the focus. It's not like with Vanderpump Rules, where SUR is simply the back drop.

Whenever Captain Lee gets a list of his crew at the start of the season, one of first things he notices is people's prior experience. It holds weight. And there's always a mix of relatively rookie yachties and old yachting veterans, which creates such a delicious combination of tension and camaraderie.

But behind the scenes, there's a whole industry of professional stews and deckhands (not to mention first officers, engineers, and captains) from which the producers recruit for cast members. Some yachties are eager to join the show and some, according to Season 9 second stew Fraser Olender, look down their noses at the whole thing.

So, just how do the people who work day-to-day in yachting, not on camera, feel about the show? (Spoiler: not great!) Does Below Deck have a good reputation among the mega-yacht pros? Does going on the show hurt or help your career? Here's what Fraser told me.

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Samantha Bush for The Dipp:
Do people who work in the yachting industry talk about Below Deck at all? Do people want to be cast on the show, or not really?

Fraser Olender:
I have a theory, which I'll get to, but everyone watches it in yachting. I watched a bit of it before I joined, because I had no idea what I was getting into. And it gave me a good sort of insight as to what it was going to look like. Everyone does watch it in yachting, and it hasn't got a good name because it does impede on your career, as far as I've been told. I haven't experienced it yet, but yeah, it can be an issue, because when you've got these very wealthy families, they maybe don't want a reality TV star looking after them.

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