Jerry O’Connell and Rebecca Romijn Said ‘Yes’ to Hosting ‘The Real Love Boat’ Because of Their Love of ‘Below Deck’
Jerry O’Connell and wife Rebecca Romijn are excited to host The Real Love Boat but admit that their heart is still Below Deck.
The couple appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and said even though they were working “above deck” making love connections with the guests, they couldn’t resist going below deck of the cruise ship. The couple has always been vocal about their love of Below Deck, including Romijn’s crush on bosun João Franco. And they credit Below Deck for the main reason they wanted to host The Real Love Boat.
Jerry O’Connell and Rebecca Romijn wanted below deck crew gossip on ‘The Real Love Boat’
Romijn and O’Connell told WWHL host Andy Cohen that they snuck below deck to chat with the crew while filming The Real Love Boat. “I’ll tell you a funny story about working on The Real Love Boat,” O’Connell said on the WWHL After Show.
“So Rebecca and I working on an actual Princess Cruise,” he continued. “And it’s a cruise and there’s 4,000 people on the cruise ship while we’re filming this. And Rebecca and I kept going into the center of the ship and being like, ‘So who’s hooking up with who down here?'”
“Like we wanted to go below deck,” Romijn said. “They wouldn’t let us down there [laughs].” O’Connell joked about how they observed a dirty pantry in a nod to the current Below Deck Mediterranean season.
Jerry and Rebecca said yes because of their ‘Below Deck’ love
Cohen said the difference between a “huge cruise ship and a yacht is extreme.” Romijn agreed. But O’Connell said, “Yeah, but you know what’s so funny is when we did Real Love Boat, I’d never been on a cruise,” he said. “The only yachting experience I had was 18 seasons of Below Deck.”
Romijn said the main reason they said yes to host The Real Love Boat is because of their love of Below Deck. “We were like, it’s gonna be just like Below Deck!” she recalled.
“But by the way when you’re on a ship the quarters are closer,” O’Connell shared. “It was my first cruise ever. And I was a little trepidatious about it. I was wary of like, ‘Oh this is gonna be another relationship show.’ But when you get out on the Mediterranean, and you put a bunch of singles who have all been wronged in love. And don’t want anything to do with falling in love again and you’re out in the Mediterranean. And they’ve had a spritzer … love happens. It was pretty crazy.”
Jerry O’Connell believes the new show was inspired by ‘Below Deck’
“When we see our first kiss on the show, Rebecca and I are hosts and we have to be hosts,” O’Connell said. “We sort of have to be [Jeff] Probsting it up like, ‘The tribe has spoken.’ But we were like, ‘Oh! They’re kissing!'”
“We were going crazy!” O’Connell added. “It was a really fun experience. But I gotta tell you, you are the OG Andy. It all comes back to us watching all these seasons of Below Deck. I’m not sure there would be a Real Love Boat if it wasn’t for Below Deck. So kudos to you.”
