‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’: Parker McCown Reveals the Details of His Underwater Engagement (Exclusive)

Deckhand Parker McCown from Below Deck Sailing Yacht may have pulled off one of the most romantic proposals ever.

First, he shocked viewers by resigning from the show. Then later he is seen asking his former girlfriend Kaiti Brauer to marry him while they are scuba diving. McCown often called Brauer while he worked on Parsifal III. He referred to her as his “ex-girlfriend,” but she clearly still had his heart.

So when viewers witnessed the magical proposal, Brauer went from “ex-girlfriend” to fiancée in a matter of minutes. McCown told Showbiz Cheat Sheet the proposal was actually not filmed for the show. Instead, he set the scene with a local scuba instructor and only wanted it captured on film as a keepsake for the couple. However, when producers caught wind of the engagement, they couldn’t resist including it in the episode.

McCown says the engagement was a spontaneous moment

Although Brauer was his ex-girlfriend, McCown said they remained connected even when they were apart. “We had been together for years and then she went to Thailand and started doing yoga teacher training,” he recalls. “And I started going into yachting.” The couple met when they were both working and living in Hawaii. They did some traveling but then pursued careers in different locations.

They continued to talk and when she decided to come to Corfu, Greece, McCown was really just excited to see her. “At the time I wasn’t really thinking about a proposal,” he admits. “I just wanted to see her again. I hadn’t seen her in seven months. I’d been in Florida and on Parsifal. And yeah, it just kind of happened. I just had the thought one day and it was pretty cool.”

A GoPro camera captured the couple scuba diving and then McCown pulled out a ring box and proposes. He arranged the proposal with a local scuba company at the Corfu Palace hotel. “And I got a ring and I just gave it to [the scuba instructor],” McCown says.

McCown first went on a test dive with the instructors before taking Brauer out for the momentous dive. He says the ring was actually in the box and he just placed it on her finger while they were underwater.

Brauer did not see the proposal coming

McCown said Brauer was in total shock at the proposal. “She had no idea,” he says. “There’s other footage we have when we come to the surface and Kaiti’s just laughing. I really think she was in shock. I don’t think she knew what was going on.” But it all sunk in once the scuba instructor congratulated the couple. “It was a very ‘in the moment’ ordeal,” McCown says.

The proposal also took place around McCown’s birthday, so the couple had plenty to celebrate. They ended up traveling and visiting friends along the way. “So we have my birthday and I proposed to her the next day,” he says. “And then we were in Corfu for like a week and then we went to Albania and drove up the coast. Kaiti’s best friend was in Albania coincidentally so we took a boat over and went up the coast and hung out with them.”

McCown and Brauer then just hung out for a while in Greece and embarked on a wine tour before heading home.

Like many engaged couples, wedding plans are in progress

The couple now resides in Colorado. Brauer has her own yoga company, The Travel Shala. McCown says he’s working on a few new projects to be revealed in time.

But they are also in wedding planning mode while being quarantined together in a remote area off the beaten path in Denver. He says wedding planning is in the works and the couple is looking forward to tying the knot in 2021.

McCown also hopes this won’t be the last viewers see of him too. “I’m there when Glenn needs me,” McCown says.

Below Deck Sailing Yacht airs Monday at 9/8c on Bravo.