Which Crew Members Hooked Up on ‘Below Deck?’
Working on a superyacht means personal space comes at a premium. Crew members often double up inside coffin-like bunks, pairing men with women in the same room. The combination of close quarters with young, single crew members is a recipe for massive hookups, many are a big part of the storyline on Bravo’s Below Deck.
But crew hookups can be disruptive, especially when the couple experiences drama. Captain Lee Rosbach, the curmudgeonly, no holds barred leader gave Life and Style Magazine his take on yacht romances. “You know what’s amazing to me? Sometimes when — and I don’t know if it’s because some guys don’t get it — like when they crash and burn, they don’t realize they crashed and burned. It’s like, ‘Dude, she’s just not into you! Forget about it! Cut your losses and take a walk!'”
Lee said unfortunately many crew members keep coming back for more. “They just keep running back in — and I think that’s kind of comical. There’s a lot that I don’t see and trying to prevent them from hooking up on a boat is a total exercise in futility. It’s never gonna happen.”
So who hooked up on the show and how do crew romances impact how well a charter runs or flops (and the all-important tip)?
Adam Glick and Malia White (and Wes Walton)
One of the messiest entanglements in Below Deck history occurred aboard the Sirocco. Adam and Malia broke one of the cardinal show rules–they hooked up before filming and lied about knowing each other, Bravo’s The Daily Dish reports. But as Adam fell for Malia hard, her eyes wandered to bosun Wes. She secretly dated both crew members for a while until she finally chose Wes, which threw Adam for a loop (and compromised his work too). While Adam and Malia left on sour terms, they are “cool” with each today, according to Bravo.
Eddie Lucas and Raquel ‘Rocky’ Dakota
https://www.instagram.com/p/70XkjNwnW1/?hl=en&taken-by=raqueldakota
Were they really doing laundry or doing some “laundry?” While Eddie wanted to keep the romance under the sheets, Rocky had other plans. Since Eddie was trying to repair a frayed relationship with his girlfriend back home, he didn’t want his many hookups with Rocky in the laundry room going public, ENews reports.
And while Eddie played his part pursuing Rocky, he eventually backed off when he began to reconcile with his girlfriend back home. Rocky wasn’t having it, eventually spilling the affair to another crew member. Unfortunately, Eddie flatly denied the affair until he admitted ultimately it as the charter season ended. Not a good look for Eddie.
Ben Robinson Kate Chastain
Chef Ben and chief stewardess Kate admit they “hooked up a few times,” according to Bravo. But their relationship seemed to be very “off and on” as they often clashed in the galley and Kate took time off to date a woman at one point. In fact, Ben had a discussion with another crew member saying that a long-term relationship wasn’t really possible because they were, “too similar.”
Even Kate said that Ben told her if they ever got married it would be “Armageddon.” Good thing that was understood! And although it seems like maybe Ben and stew Kat Held hooked up too, Kat insists they didn’t. Ben did, however, have a quick fling with stewardess, Tiffany Copeland.
Emily Warburton-Adams and Ben Robinson
https://www.instagram.com/p/BNsslXvhC6P/?hl=en&taken-by=benstogram
Ben and stewardess Emily Warburton-Adams’ forged a full-fledged relationship during and post charter, Bravo reports. Although Ben and Emily seemed to have a pretty chill on-board relationship, Ben annoyed Captain Lee by diverting his attention toward Emily and away from his food. He also sent Emily an over the top bouquet of flowers that he parked in a guest area.
Fans rooted for the “Bemily” relationship to make it, but it seems as though the couple are now just friends, Bravo reports.
Hannah Ferrier and Conrad Empson
The Hannah-Conrad relationship may be one of the more disastrous couplings on the show as Captain Sandy seemed extremely irritated with the pair throughout the season. Despite their age differences (Hannah is about seven years older than Conrad), the couple went for it, full force. Cracks began to show in their work and Captain Sandy threatened each individually with termination.
In fact, Sandy told Conrad during the season reunion he’d never make it in this business because he was so distracted and his heart was not in his work. “I guess at the start of the season, I could see something happening between me and Hannah,” Conrad told Bravo’s Daily Dish. “And then when everything happens so quick, you don’t look at everything else,” he explained. “As our relationship grew and then smashed to pieces in some of the arguments, I kind of then soon realized that there was not gonna be anything more than this boat romance.”
Kelley Johnson and Jennice Ontiveros
Definitely a Dog and Pony show @capthlr @BelowDeck #Critterfreepool pic.twitter.com/gpAEi7QBik
— Kelley Johnson (@KelleyWJohnson) September 21, 2016
This was a case of deckhands in love. Kelley pursued Jennice hard for a while. She ultimately succumbed and then went all in too, Wetpaint reports. But Kelley changed his tune as the season came to an end after making plans to move in with Jennice post charter. By the time the defunct couple made it to the reunion, they were hardly speaking, according to Bravo.
Nico Scholly and Brianna Adekeye
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYjjBQln4LE/?hl=en&taken-by=nico_scholly
The bosun – stew relationship heated up quite a bit but seemed to fizzle once the couple made it “official” after allegedly hooking up in Barcelona. Nico was dealing with the aftermath of his brother’s sudden death and was clashing with a new bosun who Captain Lee brought on board. In the end, the couple had an amicable parting. “I see it more as a little boat fling,” Brianna said crewmate, Kate, Bravo recounts. “A boat fling for me is something to pass the time by. If you have to spend so long on a boat for a period of time, you need something.”
João Franco and Brooke Laughton (and Kasey Cohen)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjdoLDOg9LZ/?hl=en&taken-by=brookelaughton
This bizarre love triangle caused even more issues between stews Brooke and Kasey. From the beginning, João pursued and flirted with both stewardesses, ultimately hooking up with Brooke. However, that didn’t stop him from overtly flirting with Kasey, which finally ended up blowing up in his face.
Post charter, João and Brooke had a rocky relationship and Kasey revealed during the reunion that João was in touch with her, according to Bravo’s The Daily Dish. While João seemed emotional when Kasey shared this information with Brooke during the reunion, he eventually said, “I’ve still got a lot to learn.” Brooke and João went their separate ways.
How much do crew romances impact charter success?
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Lee doesn’t mince words about how crew romances impact the charter. “You can try to limit it, and the only bad thing about it is, if they stay a couple or stay friendly with each other throughout the whole course of the season, you’re good,” he told Life and Style Magazine. “But they have a big blowout fight in the middle of the season, and the rest of the crew gets involved and they start taking sides — then it affects the guests, which affects the tips, which makes nobody happy. You always run that risk.”
His advice to future crews with regard to hookups? Don’t do it. “Somebody’s gonna sneak, somebody’s gonna do it, and I’m at the point where I’m gonna have to come down with some disciplinary action — why put yourself in that corner?”
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