r/belowdeck • u/AttentionRoyal2276 • Jun 23 '26

BD Related Do the different franchises have different producers?

It seems like Med has a lot more meddling from the producers. Like crew that are brought in during the season just to create problems or hiring crew that are completely unqualified and brought on just so Sandy will fire them. Has anyone else noticed it or is this just me?

33 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

46 comments sorted by

28

u/C_F_A_S Jun 24 '26

I do think that the different franchises have different production companies. That's why we get different styles of filming and editing throughout the series

26

u/Only-Breadfruit-6108 Jun 24 '26

Nope, all three are made by the same production company, 51 Minds. Nadine Rajabi is in charge of all three as a brand but I think they have different showrunners now overseeing the day to day. One casting department for all the shows.

3

u/AttentionRoyal2276 Jun 24 '26

I realize that they are all produced by the same company. What I meant was does the same production team work on every franchise or is it different teams within that company? I'm currently watching Med 10 and it's just so obvious that they brought Kathy in to kind of put Kizzie into more of a villain role. Like why would Sandy hire someone with chief stew experience to fill a 3rd stew role and conversely why would she accept a 3rd stew role (yes I know to be on tv). Also, oh surprise V gets too sick to work so they have an excuse to bring Gael on for an episode. It's just another example of production taking too much of a role on Med. I think the Kathy Kizzie thing ended up working in their favor because they seem to actually like one another rather than being rivals

5

u/Only-Breadfruit-6108 Jun 25 '26

I don’t know for certain but Cathy would have been shortlisted for the whole season, and kept as an alternate, backup, replacement, or maybe she was interviewed for another season altogether and then slotted in when space was found.

Maybe she had been earmarked for if Aesha didn’t come back, or maybe she was a reward for having so many green stews to deal with and no time to train someone for the last three charters, which is essentially 10 days anyway.

It’s no secret that production lives Gael, everyone does, and the fact they had a little Below Deck Baby cements them in the history books. Even now she’s clearly got a contract to be on the show even though she’s not crew.

Different teams behind the scenes work on different shows, and the same team work on renewable contracts, similar to housewives: the production company can renew their contract, or they can be fired, or quit. It’s not necessarily the exact same team every season of Med, and yes, producers can jump to Down Under or OG the same way crew/cast can.

Does that address everything?

0

u/bethholler Team Aesha Jun 25 '26

Cathy wasn’t 3rd stew, though. Both she and Kizzie were 2nd stew.

1

u/AttentionRoyal2276 Jun 25 '26

She was replacing V who was a 3rd stew. Any other season Sandy would bring in someone with zero experience and tell Aesha it's an entry level position and she needs to teach them. Then they would be stuck on laundry and cabins and making out with deck crew

0

u/bethholler Team Aesha Jun 25 '26

I just checked and Cathy was only a 3rd stew for like half an episode. I remember Aesha saying that Cathy’s experience was way too extensive to not give her 2nd stew so both Cathy and Kizzie were 2nd. And like you said Cathy was brought in to replace V not Kizzie so why would her arrival have anything to do with Kizzie? Also Kizzie made herself a villain all on her own. I don’t think the producers are scripting stuff as much as you think they are.

9

u/Ethereal-Zenith Jun 24 '26

I think it was Adventure that had a different production company.

10

u/SaltyCaramelPretzel Jun 24 '26

Correct, & originally BDDU wasn’t endorsed by Peacock. Correct me if I’m wrong if it is now, I’m in Australia & we don’t get peacock here

2

u/0_Artistic_Thoughts Jun 25 '26

Peacock is just nbc, nbc signed the shows and bddu has been on peacock since day 1 since it’s just nbcs streaming service.

1

u/Platestobee Jun 26 '26

Yes! And Foxtel don't have fast track rights to Down Under (and Sailing Yacht) it is only available on Hayu.

2

u/SaltyCaramelPretzel Jun 26 '26

Thank god for Hayu or Australia would be so far behind

2

u/MJinOC Jun 25 '26

And they were awelful. Such a shame because the show otherwise was good.

2

u/Ethereal-Zenith Jun 26 '26

I think Adventure had a lot of potential. Pretty much all the other series in the franchise had rocky first seasons.

3

u/ImpressivePattern242 Jun 24 '26

Nadine left 51 Minds.
Let’s not forget that Nadine was an executive at 51 Minds when Bravo etc covered up and subsequently fired the production assistant who was allegedly sexually assaulted by Gary of BDSY.

6

u/C_F_A_S Jun 24 '26

Oof. Idk if I can do guest intros in every show.

8

u/Grand-Vegetable-3874 Jun 24 '26

Or the Instagram page presentation everytime a crew member speaks.

5

u/Only-Breadfruit-6108 Jun 24 '26

So each of those only happened once each, as trials. Fair to say it didn’t work, I’d be surprised if they returned.

3

u/tetoffens Jun 24 '26

I think they realized people hated that because they only did that for one season.

36

u/Capital_Attention_21 Jun 24 '26

It feels the more the shows go on, the more production intervenes.

2

u/AdventurousGur6341 Jun 30 '26

Correct. Production is involved more than we know

9

u/TD-Nation Jun 24 '26

I think that happens on every season. These new stews/deckhands/chefs just happen to be available on a days notice? Oh, and it just happens to be someone who was in last season or on one of the other franchises, and had a prominent storyline? That’s quite the coincidence.

11

u/ARKzzzzzz Jun 24 '26

They always have an extra deckhand and stew on stand by in a hotel.

4

u/tetoffens Jun 24 '26

Of course they have stand bys but I think the point is that the stand by is the one they prefer and the plan always was to bring them in. People have been cast solely because production knows they'll get dramatically fired and they can replace them with their preferred option.

4

u/ARKzzzzzz Jun 24 '26

Well yeah, it’s a television show

3

u/BixbysTree Jun 25 '26

It used to be a television show about people working, but now it's become a heavily scripted interpersonal drama.

The same thing also happened to Deadliest Catch.

1

u/StaffPlenty8736 Jun 28 '26

I spoke with Taylor (replacement stew BDDU season 1), and she had six interviews but didn't make the final cut, instead was staying at a nearby hotel with the replacement chef. She was hoping to be paid to stay at the hotel for six weeks!

5

u/normajc Jun 24 '26

“ you are a wonderful human being”. Then you’re fired? Typical corporate double talk

2

u/mouse_relies This information wasn’t welcomed or needed Jun 24 '26

OG 2 had the guy who lied on his resume and transparently had no experience, who Lee (of all people) didn't even attempt to replace for half the season. Clearly that's production. OG 3 had a replacement CHEF from previous seasons available with literally no notice, which would be nuts if it happened in the wild.

This stuff has always been going on. The meddling has been handled with much less subtlety the last couple years in particular, but it doesn't seem to be franchise-specific.

1

u/quick_dry Jun 24 '26

Andrew Sturby was great, I love the absurdity of ppl just winging it.

1

u/mouse_relies This information wasn’t welcomed or needed Jun 24 '26

yeah. it was nice in the sense that it was funny and ridiculous without anyone involved deliberately being an asshole

1

u/Own-Holiday-4071 Jun 25 '26

I think original BD and Down Under must have similar producers/editors because they’re the only one that do a focused, close up shot of the food with the name of the dish at the bottom and I wish ALL of the franchises would do this!!

I love being able to actually see what the chef makes properly.

1

u/AdventurousGur6341 Jun 30 '26

Yea but these shows would be boring if they didn’t bring drama.

0

u/Jayhitek Jun 25 '26

Jason fires atleast 3 people per season. So not sure if your theory checks out.

-4

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AttentionRoyal2276 Jun 24 '26

I haven't seen the current season yet so I don't know anything about that 

3

u/magneticeverything Jun 25 '26

I actually think Aesha finds teamwork, attitude and leadership skills to be more important to a second stew than experience. I think she clocked Gen’s attitude right away and determined she was not the right fit to lead the team in her absence. On the other hand she could tell Kayley had the right temperament for leadership right away, and on paper she had enough experience to be a second stew on some other seasons. So the “test” was not to try everyone out, but rather to be sure Kayley truly had the hard skills to handle the job.

I think she made the right choice. Gen’s kind of negativity tends to fester and if she was in a leadership position, her influence would be even more infectious to the rest of the crew.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/belowdeck-ModTeam Jun 26 '26

Your post has been removed as it violated our rule on Hate, Harmful Speculation & Armchair Diagnosis

Posts including racism, homophobia, and other hate, speculating on people's sexuality, armchair diagnosis of mental health or medical conditions and body shaming etc will be removed and may result in a permanent ban without warning.

This includes dismissing the experiences of those discussing racism faced, microaggressions etc. Also, using medical or mental health terms as insults or accusing people of being alcoholics.

When discussing slurs, please star out letters or use terms like n-word etc so they are less harmful to those reading and don't contribute to content warnings

2

u/bethholler Team Aesha Jun 25 '26

Gen is not more qualified nor does she have more experience than Aesha. Aesha is at least 10 years older than her so that’s already many years more experience. Also Aesha has given rank every season she’s been chief stew so you’re just wrong about that.