‘Below Deck Med’: Katie Flood Says ‘Below Deck’ Guests are ‘Trash’ Compared to Real Yachting

Katie Flood and Malia White from Below Deck Mediterranean said the superyacht charter guests on the series are nothing like the guests they encounter in the real yachting world.

During a live podcast of White’s Total Ship Show, Flood and White said the type of service seen on the series is night and day compared to real yachting. “A really common question I get about Below Deck is are the guests a good depiction of what’s on our –,” White began.

Flood finished White’s sentence, “Actually they’re trash on the show,” she said about the guests.

Real-life superyacht charter guests don’t act like ‘Below Deck’ guests

White laughed and replied, “That was harsh but … yeah.” Flood stood by her remark and compared the differences between Below Deck charter guests versus her experience as a superyacht chief stew off-camera.

“Like we work for the top 1%. The 1% do not act like the guests you see on Below Deck. Like, yeah they party, they’ll get loose but …,” Flood said. She joked that some of the charter guests on Below Deck are “worse” than the yacht crew on one of their wild nights off.

Differences between ‘Below Deck’ chefs and real-life yacht chefs

White noted that superyacht chefs in real yachting experience far less drama from the guests too. “Food doesn’t get sent back as much as on the show. I mean, we work with some incredible chefs,” White said. Of course, a few Below Deck chefs have shared that they usually have a team or at least another chef to help on a yacht. Whereas Below Deck chefs are the sole provider on the series, which opens the door for more drama.

“Top-tier chefs,” Flood added. “That’s also a really hard thing about working on a yacht. There’s always f***ing food around 24/7. Every yacht I’ve worked on, they cater to vegans. They cater to lactose-intolerant, like any food allergy you have. Like they will cater to it and they take it seriously as well. And they label everything so you know.”

“And I know we talk a lot of s*** about it like it’s exhausting long hours,” White said. “But truly, I mean, five years ago, I was working in a corporate office in Denver, Colorado. And yachting, I wouldn’t change a thing. I love yachting. I absolutely love it. It is hectic and it’s exhausting. But I absolutely love my job. I love the family I work for.”

Real-life charter guests can damage the boat like the ‘Below Deck’ guests

While Flood and White said real-life charter guests are not like Below Deck guests, they both can do the same amount of damage to the boat. Below Deck guests have stained superyacht furniture with red wine, food, and sunless tanner. But Flood and White recalled a recent guest who had a dog with a urinary incontinence issue that cost the guest a lot of money.

“We had this little Chihuahua on our last season. Basically with the charter contract, when you bring an animal on board, they have a clause right? So they put down I think it’s like a €10,000 deposit for damages,” Flood recalled. “This dog peed on the carpet and the carpet we had on board is a hemp carpet. So you cannot clean it.”

“The pee literally bleached this carpet and it ended up costing the charter guests, I think really close to €70,000 because they have to replace pretty much all the carpet on the boat,” she said.