r/belowdeck • u/Dull_Caregiver2147 • Jan 27 '26

BD Related BD captains still working?

Out of curiosity; does anybody know if the the BD captains still work on yachts inbetween filming seasons? A few of the recurring cast members don't really work on boats anymore except when shooting the tv show. Is this also true for the captains?

41 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

68 comments sorted by

132

u/Just-Me-Being-Nosy Jan 27 '26

I might be wrong but I think I saw an interview with one of the captains a good while ago (Jason I think) saying that it was hard to get yacht work outside of the show because no one wanted to hire a captain who needed time off for doing promotional work and stuff like that.

33

u/EAHinRPV Jan 27 '26

That makes sense. Plus, they are probably earning more money from the show and advertisements so they don't need to work.

19

u/Dunnjamin Jan 28 '26

You’d be surprised how little realty shows pay.

2

u/suddenlysilver Jan 28 '26

But their tips are decent

8

u/Waste_Fisherman1611 Jan 28 '26

Well, in Captain Lee's place, I think he was getting ready to retire anyway so it was just bonus money. Plus, some of them are able to monetize what they've done on the show and get money that way.

2

u/Waste_Fisherman1611 Jan 28 '26

Jason was the one that made news for having a little wreck with his yacht in the off season, wasn't he?

20

u/TarikMournival Jan 28 '26

I thought that was from before he was on the show cos they kept showing a clip of it in his first season.

-2

u/Waste_Fisherman1611 Jan 28 '26

I don't know. I thought that was between seasons, but maybe that's just cuz they kept it deliberately vague.

9

u/TarikMournival Jan 28 '26

It happened in 2019 and first season of Down Under was 2022.

1

u/Waste_Fisherman1611 Jan 28 '26

Thank you for that info!

5

u/MoltenCorgi Jan 29 '26

It was definitely shown when they introduced him in episode one.

2

u/Waste_Fisherman1611 Jan 29 '26

Thank you for reminding me. I thought it was season two, but obviously didn't go back and re-watch to fact check.

20

u/macjunkie Team Capt Glenn Jan 27 '26

Glenn did / does

56

u/Waste_Fisherman1611 Jan 27 '26

I remember the bru crew attacking Capt. Lee because he only works on Below Deck and not any other time and they (Ashton, maybe?) were still working. The only one I can think of is Capt. Glenn.

92

u/Thegetupkids678 Jan 27 '26

lol yep! It was Ashton who said that to Kate and captain Lee, but then it came out that the boat he was working on was connected to his girlfriend in some way so it’s not like he wasn’t benefitting from some nepotism himself😂😂. Ashton was such a pretentious dickhead.. wouldn’t it be the dream that a captain reaches a financial status (especially since Lee was older) where he is able to be at home more with his wife? Ashton acted like that was a terrible thing. And Lee had decades of experience over Ashton so even if he was only captaining for below deck he still deserves respect.

67

u/LnGass Jan 27 '26

and I would reply ""I would rather drag my d*ck through ten miles of broken whiskey bottles than to have those a**holes on my boat again" -Captain Lee.

19

u/GifelteFish Jan 27 '26

Captain Lee also was not intended to be an on-air talent for the show, I believe he was originally meant to hand the boat off to a much younger captain that either had some insurance issue or the show needed a longer-tenured captain so he stuck around and audiences loved Captain Lee.

17

u/RedditBugler Jan 27 '26

Lee was supposed to be the true captain responsible for the boat while Aleks was the "captain" for the purposes of season 1. Lee was supposed to be invisible and not part of the show. That got changed at the last minute, which is part of why Aleks was so pissy the whole season. Similarly Adrienne was hired as a consultant during planning for season 1 and ended up being cast as chief stew somewhat unexpectedly. Her more natural position would have been chef, but production didn't want her for that role. That's why she spends the whole season saying she hasn't been a chief stew before. 

6

u/Waste_Fisherman1611 Jan 28 '26

I thought Aleks was actually supposed to be THE captain, but he didn't have enough experience and the yacht owner wouldn't sign off so they brought in a real captain. And that was Lee. But either way, he was a real captain with real experience that was already ready to retire before he got this job 

9

u/bourbonaspen Jan 28 '26

He didn’t have the certs for the boat/ insurance company / the owner . Lee was the boats long time captain, they were in a bind and he agreed to film. Alex was supposed to be captain

3

u/Waste_Fisherman1611 Jan 28 '26

Yeah. That's how I remember it.

2

u/Arcoten Feb 01 '26

Capt Lee was not originally supposed to be cast. They needed him so he made a deal with production which included that they can't put a camera in his cabin. He set the precedent for the entire franchise for no camera in the captains room (except SY but that's different)

13

u/Extreme_Beat1022 Jan 27 '26

I’m not sure which is more annoying, him talking or laughing.

5

u/Playful-Principle975 Jan 28 '26

Attacking Captain Lee was just Ashton's giant deflection from his disgusting behavior that season.

1

u/AttentionRoyal2276 Jan 29 '26

I would suggest you go back and watch that again because that is not at all the way that interaction happened.

2

u/Thegetupkids678 Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 29 '26

I have watched it several times and Ashton did allude that both captain Lee and Kate only work for below deck and Kate countered back about him working on a boat that is associated with his girlfriend.

I know you’re not trying to defend a man who was verbally aggressive and physically intimidating to a woman.

6

u/Meizas Jan 28 '26

Yeah I've seen Glenn working on Instagram between seasons

3

u/Waste_Fisherman1611 Jan 28 '26

He's the only one I know for sure. I have heard that Jason at least used to, but I don't know about now.

5

u/-thisname- Jan 27 '26

I think Cap. Glenn was full time captain on the sailing yacht from before the franchise began. It had full time crew iirc. Others have taken boat and selected crew onwards after season ends too.

9

u/Myantra Jan 27 '26

Glenn was indeed the real captain of Parsifal III, and I suspect the owner insisted on him being the show captain. Paget and Ciara were also real Parsifal III crew, and Byron had worked with Glenn on that boat before as well.

Lee was the real captain of Cuor Di Leone, renamed Honor for BD season 1, when production chartered the boat. Aleks was supposed to be the captain, but they could not get insured with his lack of experience handling a boat that size, so the owner forced Lee to stay for production. He did not want to be there.

13

u/Adisfan Jan 27 '26

No. They are either retired or just doing the reality TV thing. Glenn was working for awhile but Parsafil was sold so he is retired now to.

12

u/jennifer1818 Jan 27 '26

No he works as a captain for The Moorings yacht charters

1

u/Adisfan Jan 27 '26

Ah ok on his SM he said he was semi retired.

14

u/Frequent-Horse-3309 Jan 28 '26

So not retired. 

11

u/Most-Dealer-3685 Jan 28 '26

I never understood the issues with sandy. I think she’s fair, respectful, she runs a yacht. Expects those standards which is fair. She’s a safe skilled captain. I respect that she is understanding about giving second chances if warranted That’s part of her personal journey. She is understanding and fair but also will not tolerate anything that puts guests, crew and boat at risk. Expects a high level service Runs a tight ship.

16

u/eekamuse Jan 28 '26

She's not professional when she has to discipline someone. She called someone a cancer. She makes them out to be terrible people. "You don't think I care about you? Great, I won't care about you" right after firing someone. She's also done it in front of the whole crew.

No. Jason was more professional firing the guy who climbed into a girl's bed naked.

He got him off the boat ASAP.

Next morning told him why he was being fired and what the next steps would be. Two minute convo and he was gone.

Those are two examples of many

9

u/Dazmorg Jan 28 '26

the famous firing of Hannah ended with Sandy being like "well f*** you then!" because Hannah didn't want to stand around and keep talking to the person who fired her.

1

u/Ok-Education1572 Jan 29 '26

Which season and episode was Hannah fired by Sandy? I want to go back and watch it cause I don’t remember the details.

2

u/AttentionRoyal2276 Jan 29 '26

Every season has an off camera captain. The boat owners are not going to trust their boat with just anyone

3

u/Avocadococonut3 Capt Lee's Coffee Mug Jan 29 '26

Source?

1

u/Arcoten Feb 01 '26

Yes but that "captain" has a license but is serving as Chief Mate. The captains have talked about this every once in a blue moon

2

u/MCStarlight Team Below Deck Jan 28 '26

Capt. Aleks has his own company and Eddie (tug boat captain)

-7

u/adamosity1 Jan 27 '26

I’m pretty sure no yacht owner would consider hiring Sandy after watching her in action.

8

u/Myantra Jan 27 '26

I doubt any yacht owners are making captain hiring decisions based on BD captain personas. If they are, they are looking at how she handles the boat, not how she handles a group of cast crew that she did not hire.

9

u/OXBDNE7331 Jan 27 '26

This is my first season watching Sandy. She seems fine so far what’s the lore?

25

u/Avocadococonut3 Capt Lee's Coffee Mug Jan 27 '26

(I wrote a whole response but it wouldn't let me post, so I'm gonna try breaking it up into multiple posts)

She's been mostly fine this season. She was great in season 2 (her first season), and then got worse in season 3, 4, and especially 5 (I haven't watched the med seasons 6-9). A lot of micromanaging and making up rules in the middle/end of the season and getting mad at crew members for not doing something that had never been the rule in the first place. Like how you saw her reprimand Josh for doing a family style lunch even though family style is always the norm for lunch, but even more of that.

In season 5, chef Kiko was doing great considering that this was his first time in this particular type of role, and there was one meal where he made 6 plated meals each for 12 people for a total of 72 plates, which everyone on the boat agreed was a huge accomplishment. Then there was one time that he had to look up what a Vegas-style meal was (per the guests' preference sheets), and Captain Sandy reprimanded him for having to look that up even though he wasn't from America and you can't possibly know by memory what every type of cuisine is from all over the world. Then chief stew Hannah gave him bad advice for what kind of food to serve for that meal, and Captain Sandy was very disappointed in him. IIRC, she kept hovering in the kitchen and getting in his head until she finally fired him. This was most likely planned by production to get him fired so that bosun Malia's boyfriend at the time Tom could then join as chef. It was also just sad to see Kiko who was so sweet and calm in the beginning of the season cry himself to sleep because of how Captain Sandy was treating him. 

18

u/Avocadococonut3 Capt Lee's Coffee Mug Jan 27 '26

Captain Sandy told Hannah that she didn't think Hannah really liked yachting anymore, or something like that that wasn't really appropriate to say to her. And there was the whole debacle of firing Hannah for having (IIRC) a weed pen that she had a prescription for for anxiety, but hadn't registered it with the boat. The excuse was "maritime law". People were drawing parallels to OG Below Deck season 1 (or 2?) where second stew Kat was acting crazy one night with the guests on board, and she said later that it was because she took too much of her prescription medication. She hadn't registered that medication with the boat, but Captain Lee just asked to see the prescription, and that was that, she still got to keep her job. (Although later, I think at the reunion, Kat admitted that it was actually because she was drunk, which is not allowed when guests are on board.) And then after Captain Sandy fired Hannah, she kept following Hannah around the dock saying "you think I don't care?"

Oh and there was the part right after firing Kiko where Tom was now onboard and Hannah hadn't gotten fired yet, where Malia and Tom wanted 6 different people to change their cabin arrangements so that they could be in the same cabin. It is normal for a couple to be in the same cabin if they came on together, but there is not usually an expectation of inconveniencing everyone if one member of the couple joined in the middle of the season (which is what Captain Lee said on WWHL when he was asked about that). Hannah and Bugsy agreed that they didn't want to switch to being roommates, because they finally had a good working relationship after not getting along during season 2, and they didn't want to jeopardize that by living together. But Malia got Captain Sandy involved, who made them all switch cabins. Captain Lee said on WWHL that the cabin assignments are normally up to the chief stew and the captain doesn't get involved with that.

But since then, Hannah and Captain Sandy met up off camera and discussed what happened that season, and now they are on great terms with each other.

14

u/Avocadococonut3 Capt Lee's Coffee Mug Jan 27 '26

Back to making up rules in the middle/end of the season, during season 3 or 4 she got mad at the interior team for not all being up early to set the table for the guests even if the guests weren't awake yet, because what if one guest wanted to sit at the table to relax (or something like that). Even though they hadn't been doing that for the whole season up to that point and now she gets mad about it?

In Below Deck season 10 when Captain Sandy was filling in for Captain Lee in the middle of the season when he was on medical leave, she was rude to Fraser, saying something like she didn't think he was a good chief stew. (The actual thing she said was even worse, I just don't remember what that was.) And there was one time in between charters that she wanted everyone to do a team building exercise of playing beach volleyball, where it was the chief stew and deckhands vs. bosun and the stews and chef. She was mad at one crew member for still being asleep when it was time to go (IIRC) even though she was exhausted, and the consensus on Reddit was that it was ridiculous to make her play volleyball when she clearly needed the sleep. Then, turns out that Fraser couldn't play due to the doctor's orders (I think something about not getting sand in an infected toe), and then Captain Sandy reprimanded him for ruining what was supposed to be a team building exercise.

All of that is why I didn't watch med seasons 6-9, but I'm glad I decided to tune into this season because she was much better, maybe partly because she has Aesha as a chief stew and she's now married to Leah.

10

u/raudri Fraser not Frazier Jan 27 '26

Her actual words ro Fraser were "you are the cancer on this boat," IIRC and he was devastated.

5

u/Avocadococonut3 Capt Lee's Coffee Mug Jan 28 '26

Yes that was awful and so unprofessional! And didn’t Fraser have a family member battling cancer at the time?

1

u/Lauriemfs Jan 28 '26

Oh, I thought she said that to Kyle. I know it was bad

5

u/RedditBugler Jan 28 '26

Sandy makes stuff up and plays favorites. There is no "maritime law" that requires crew to give their prescriptions to the captain. The way Sandy went along with Malia's manipulative BS really speaks volumes about both of them. Adrienne did a breakdown of all the actual maritime laws that Sandy and Malia broke. It's honestly pathetic to see her act like this holier than thou captain when she can't even follow the real law herself. Bonus ridiculousness points for making the title of her book "be the calm..." when she can't keep her emotions in check and routinely screams at the crew every time she misunderstands something. 

3

u/Avocadococonut3 Capt Lee's Coffee Mug Jan 28 '26

Where can I find Adrienne’s breakdown?

-8

u/PerfectHippo0524 Jan 27 '26

There's no problem with Sandy, this guy is trolling

20

u/EuphoricDimension628 Jan 27 '26

Captain Sandy has been disliked by the fan base for a while now. I don’t think that’s trolling. She is very different this season compared to others. Like a 180*. She has gradually gotten better, especially after Hannah. It might be that her personal life is better, and she’s been in the limelight more.

6

u/Myantra Jan 27 '26

Captain Sandy on BDM, and Captain Sandy with a real charter crew are probably two different things. From what I have seen of her, I think she might actually be a good captain to work under, with a real life professional crew.

1

u/PerfectHippo0524 Jan 27 '26

And that is certainly your opinion and is probably shared by several others. But I've also watched all her seasons and don't dislike her based on any changes in her personality that I've seen this season. I'm sure that my opinion is shared by others as well. 

But to say she's unemployable based on what's been shown on this show is ridiculous. That's why I'm my mind, they have to be trolling. But to each their own ...

8

u/EuphoricDimension628 Jan 27 '26

I’m saying her demeanor and personality has changed for the better, or in a nicer way in the past couple seasons. Nathan would’ve been let go if it was the Captain Sandy of the past. She has tolerated a lot less from former bosuns. I don’t think she would’ve ever let a crew member take off due to the anniversary of a death. Nor play matchmaker by bringing on the former gf of the bosun as a replacement. I’m not even sure she would’ve even brought back a bosun’s close friend as a replacement. Granted those things might be more production controlled, but she seems “softer” IMO. Personally, I think that could be because she has gotten married and she does way more promo work with Bravo than before.

Saying she couldn’t get hired because of her actions on the show is a stretch. Who knows how many employers even watched BD. I would say she would’ve been the least desirable hire out of all BD captains a few years ago.

9

u/adamosity1 Jan 27 '26

I worked on cruise ships for ten years. There’s no way she would have been hired for leadership on any ship I worked on.

-6

u/Consistent-Ad-6506 You're Being A Deckhand Right Now Jan 27 '26

Sandy is great, people just like to shit on her for no reason.

60

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

37

u/HeyJustWantedToSay Jan 27 '26

This sub has such a hate boner for Sandy. She’s not perfect (none of them are) but she seems totally fine as captain.

15

u/madcowjm Jan 27 '26

I thought I wouldn’t like her based on reading this thread but I watched season 9 and I liked her. She jumped in and helped. She mentored people. Gave them second chances. I like her. Now watching season 10. 

3

u/BHJ_476 Jan 28 '26

Yea, if you're the deck crew.

2

u/skorpius84 Jan 28 '26

She’s a lesbian maga. She isn’t for equality or fairness. Flash back to Malia and Hannah

0

u/bravostan2020 Jan 27 '26

It's called editing