‘Below Deck’: Kate Chastain Shares Why the Series Is So Exhausting for the Cast

In addition to working nonstop to meet the guests’ needs, the Below Deck crew members have to exhaustively try to get production lights to turn off at the end of their day. And it’s no easy feat.

Former chief stew Kate Chastain shared a video of how long it took for her to get bright lights to turn off in her tiny bunk every night. She waves at the infrared beam to trigger the massive light above her desk to extinguish. The sensor doesn’t immediately respond either.

“Going through my phone,found this fun video….I feel like everyone should know #BelowDeck is one of the most difficult shows out there for cast members.Every night, after working 16+ hours, we’d get into our tiny bunk, & have to wave to the camera so they’d turn our lights off,” Chastain tweeted along with a video.

‘Below Deck’ means almost 24-hour surveillance

Chastain and a number of cast members have shared that unlike other shows, Below Deck is filmed around the clock. Producers affix cameras in strategic spots so when camera operators are not on the boat, producers can still capture footage. Being on the show even means being filmed while you sleep.

A fan asked Captain Lee Rosbach if the crew can simply turn off the cameras, especially when the crew sleeps. But he said, “Nope.” But Rosbach admitted though that he forgets cameras are constantly monitoring him.

Below Deck Mediterranean third stew Jessica More shared that crew members have virtually no privacy. “There’s zero privacy unless you’re going to the restroom,” she told In Touch Weekly. Adding that cameras are all over the boat, “it’s an actual cameraman or it’s placed on the wall somewhere or propped up somewhere.”

Producers film more because yachties work long hours

Producer Courtland Cox said the production crew didn’t realize the breadth of camerawork and footage needed to fully capture the series at first.

“We had a very small filming and production crew in Season 1. We didn’t really know what the scope of the show was going to be,” Cox told Bravo.

He added, “We very quickly realized the yachties that are working on these boats, they’re not going to bed at 10 o’clock; they’re going to bed at 2 o’clock in the morning.”

Cameras are always rolling

“When our cameras pulled out of there at 10 p.m., there was still four hours’ worth of magic and mayhem and all that was happening,” Cox said. “We very quickly realized we have to actually bring in more crews and film longer. Going from, like, an 11-hour filming day to now what is essentially a 19 or 20-hour filming day, that’s one of the bigger changes.”

“We have surveillance cameras we didn’t have before. We have handheld cameras,” he added. “So production-wise, we’re capturing, I think, 125 percent more footage than we did in the first three seasons on Below Deck.”