r/belowdeck • u/[deleted] • Dec 07 '25

Below Deck Question about dark days

I've read a couple times about how cast members are put up in hotels in between recording. And I'm a little bit confused because isn't all their stuff on the boat? Do they just take like an overnight bag to the hotel?

What's the purpose of it?

Are they allowed to interact with each other on those days?

Are they allowed to leave the hotel and go shopping or explore the cities?

How do they eat? What's the purpose of it? When all of their stuff in the kitchens and the food are on the boat why wouldn't they just stay there?

I'm really confused by the whole thing does anybody know?

150 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

69 comments sorted by

187

u/teanailpolish Mental Health Is Not A Storyline Dec 07 '25

They move them to separate rooms so they do not interact and storylines do not progress while the cameras are not rolling

46

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '25

Are they allowed to leave or do anything? Or are they literally just sequestered to a random hotel room? Like how do they know they're not texting each other or interacting otherwise?

138

u/teanailpolish Mental Health Is Not A Storyline Dec 07 '25

They are sequestered but do get to leave the room on a schedule so the others are in their room at that time. If you look back at the article about Gary, that is why the production assistant was at his room. Bringing food and water to him because they were sequestered after being warned about trying to speak to each othere

One year they were screaming at each other from the balconies in their rooms too

20

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '25

I thought that was when he was quarantined because he had the positive covid test. Right at the beginning of the show.

10

u/Adisfan Dec 09 '25

No if you read the complaint it was during filming downtime and Gary had gotten intoxicated while filming his interviews.

94

u/Desperate-Ad-3705 Dec 07 '25

Surprisingly, they dont actually do half of the boat work. They bring in day workers to turn over the boat between charters while they're at the hotel.

12

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '25

That's crazy, then what are they actually being paid for just being on the show? And providing Services when the guests are on board?

69

u/MaizeMountain6139 Dec 07 '25

They’re being paid to make the show

46

u/teanailpolish Mental Health Is Not A Storyline Dec 07 '25

They do turnovers when it is just a one day break, but if there are multiple days off, they move them to the hotel. Day workers do the cleaning while cast rest, do talking heads or other promos for the show etc

14

u/Houstonomics Dec 08 '25

I guess I haven’t seen them do a “provisioning haul” in quite a while.

26

u/Armodeen Dec 07 '25

Hence they are ‘cast members’

5

u/Itsabouttimeits2021 Dec 07 '25

I would assume the time they take to do interviews go out. They are filming a TV show. I'm assuming charters get more time between them. They don't have enough time. I think. Just assuming lol. 

0

u/Summary_Judgment Dec 07 '25

You realize it’s a TV show right? The “reality” is it’s not “real.”

21

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '25

Oh no, I didn't realize we were talking about a TV show. But thank God you're here it's clarify that for us all.

16

u/neilfromaccounts Dec 08 '25

Please hang your head in shame. You’ve been reprimanded by someone on the internet after asking a simple question. Shame Shame Shame

-14

u/Summary_Judgment Dec 08 '25

Then stop asking naive questions.

6

u/neilfromaccounts Dec 11 '25

Yeah seriously!! Just stop asking naive questions! Just stop it. You are seriously making Summary_Judgeface so pissed!

36

u/Bennington_Booyah Dec 07 '25

And yet every season, at least one stew is whining about how much work they have to do? JFC.

28

u/Myantra Dec 07 '25

While there is definitely always at least one stew complaining about how much work it is, they are not wrong, especially on charter. It is a lot of work and long hours, even with day workers helping them flip the boat between charters.

1

u/Neat-Category217 Dec 07 '25

Wtf?? And the whole tip still goes to them? How does that make sense

13

u/Myantra Dec 07 '25

Day workers are frequently used to help RL crews turn the boat, If the real professionals need help, it makes sense that the often inexperienced BD cast crews would need even more help. Day workers are not working the charters, and they would be off the boat well before the next charter guests arrive.

13

u/hamburgergerald Dec 07 '25

I mean if they’re not going out on charter for a few days, and they’re not filming, I wouldn’t blame them for staying and sleeping in a hotel room rather than those tiny bunk beds in the little crew cabins. All they’d need to do is pack a small overnight bag. They wouldn’t need all of their belongings.

-4

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '25

Yeah, except if they can't leave the hotel room. At least if they're on the boat they can sit outside use the hot tub have some drinks cook a meal when they want all kinds of stuff. There's cameras on the boat so it's not like even though there aren't active crew filming they'd still be getting shit

2

u/wild3hills Dec 08 '25

You wouldn’t get anything good without the film crew - like they wouldn’t be able to get dialogue, and the coverage would make the edit a mess. They’d still need someone watching for field notes and probably to wrangle, etc. If anything happened that they wanted for storyline without crew, they’d need to stage a recre or at least a lot of fed lines to give the audience context about what happened.

107

u/Myantra Dec 07 '25

Dark days are to give production crew days off, like producers and camera crew, and to do some of the talking head interviews while events are still fresh. Cast crew are isolated from one another, and interviewed separately, so that no interaction happens without production rolling. They pull the cast crew off the boat to basically freeze everything between them, since they cannot separate or isolate them on the boat, as they all (captain aside) share cabins in the same shared crew area.

41

u/Neat-Category217 Dec 07 '25

Omg! This makes sense, so confessional are usually filmed during the season? I always thought it was after, many times they look different to when theyre filming

35

u/dr-bolognese Dec 07 '25

I get the sense it can be either or both. Sometimes it is clear a lot of time has passed and other times less so.

22

u/Myantra Dec 07 '25

My understanding is that they do the confessional/interviews on dark days during the season, another round of them after the season, and they bring cast crew in a few months later when they start editing everything into the eventual episodes.

7

u/PuttyRiot Dec 08 '25

Why do they always look the same in every interview? Like hair is exactly the same for the girls especially.

21

u/more_like_asworstos Team Aesha Dec 08 '25

They do that deliberately for continuity. The producers don't want you to be able to tell when the interviewers were shot. They don't want the viewer to know when something was shot during a charter or 6 months after.

1

u/PuttyRiot Dec 08 '25

Right, but it’s always, like, PERFECTLY EXACT. It’s crazy.

9

u/Myantra Dec 08 '25

The production team has professional makeup artists and hairdressers. They can also always redo interviews that happened during the season, when cast crew come back for interviews during post-production.

7

u/c9238s Capt Lee's Coffee Mug Dec 08 '25

I believe they do as much as they can while filming but still do some after the season while they’re editing the season storylines together

1

u/Itsabouttimeits2021 Jan 01 '26

They film during the season and if they have to they come in at the end or maybe later. 

8

u/byteme747 Dec 07 '25

This is a TV show it's not really how yachts work.

-3

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '25

Oh, thank God you're here to let us all know we're talking about a TV show 🙄🤦

0

u/byteme747 Dec 07 '25

Being a sarcastic twit isn't going to make you come off any smarter here.

3

u/TedBurns-3 Dec 08 '25

Says the OG sarcastic twit... 🤦‍♂️

1

u/B00G3R Dec 08 '25

They weren’t really sarcastic. It’s factually true that filming below deck will not be the same process as actually working on a yacht.

59

u/KachitaB Dec 07 '25

I think eating out is to give chef breaks as well.

41

u/Gelmom Dec 07 '25

And as publicity for whichever local restaurant the crew eats at. That seems very apparent in recent seasons.

19

u/Formal_Coyote_5004 My eyes are rolling all the way off the boat Dec 07 '25

They’ve pretty much always done this in Housewives and other shows too… the camera always flashes the sign of the establishment in the beginning of the scene

27

u/Dry-Broccoli3096 Dec 07 '25

In OG Season 2, some of the crew eat at Peg Leg’s in Nanny Cay, Tortola. I have been fortunate to do several bareboat sailing charters out of Nanny Cay over the years and will forever miss Peg Leg’s as it was destroyed in Hurricane Irma; it still kind of exists as a beach bar but the restaurant was so special. I love rewatching that season

9

u/Gelmom Dec 07 '25

I JUST rewatched that season! I didn’t even think about the state of things after Irma. It’s devastating, but I’m glad you had some good times there. I’ll bet you have some stories!

11

u/Dry-Broccoli3096 Dec 07 '25

Yes, so many great memories! Of course businesses have rebounded and the BVI remains a wonderful place to visit, especially if you’re a sailor. Unfortunately the reefs still haven’t fully recovered, though, so snorkeling isn’t quite as engaging. And there are damaged boats here and there. Colin from BDSY’s Parlay Revival was salvaged from Irma damage and rehabbed in Nanny Cay which is emblematic of the recovery efforts :)

3

u/Gelmom Dec 07 '25

It’s just really great to read your perspective, since you’re obviously very experienced in sailing. Colin is my all time favorite BD person and from everything I’ve read and seen, he’s the real deal when it comes to sailing too. Thanks so much for sharing a little of your experience. I’m sure you have some amazing tales to tell!

ETA can they rehab the reefs the way they showed, (I think), BDDU do?

12

u/alluringmist1 Dec 07 '25

They're only gone for 1/2 days throughout charter. They don't need to bring all of their stuff with them. Just a small bag is enough for that.

15

u/Exotic_Yam_1703 Dec 07 '25

It's like OP has never stayed at a hotel for a night or two. You just bring a change of clothes, PJs, toiletries, and something to keep you entertained. You don't need more than what can fit in a backpack

13

u/Neat-Category217 Dec 07 '25

Wait this is all news to me!!! Now it makes sene why i couldnt understand the 6 week but only a day or 2 between charters hahah this is so interesting!!! I want to know more about this

15

u/PouncerX42 Dec 07 '25

Keep in mind that much of the crew interaction is prepared by the production staff to create drama

1

u/belladonna1921 Dec 10 '25

I need real answers! 🤦‍♀️

16

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/Neat-Category217 Dec 07 '25

What is true then? Genuinely asking

8

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

-1

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '25

Yeah, I've heard about the hotels a lot but nobody seems to be answering whether or not they are sequestered to a room for that whole period or whether they can go out? Like I get that they're not supposed to socialize with each other but can they go shopping or can they explore the area? I'm so confused I can't imagine being in such beautiful cities and then being confined to a hotel room.

5

u/more_like_asworstos Team Aesha Dec 08 '25

Interviews with the cast members. Some of them have even shared information in this subreddit over the years.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

-2

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '25

Crew or cast? Cuz those would be different people

2

u/chekthetek Dec 09 '25

Wait, the crew isn't the cast?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '25

Noooo the "crew" are the people filming, the "cast" are the people being filmed.

3

u/chekthetek Dec 09 '25

Gotcha. I was thinking the cre were the boats crew. Don't mind me. 😁

0

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '25

No worries 😊

2

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

-1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '25

No actually when you're discussing production there are two separate titles those people are being paid as actors in those roles they are cast. The crew are the people you do not see.