‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’ Producer Reveals if Any of the Show Is Scripted
Below Deck Sailing Yacht producer Jill Goslicky candidly shared that the most of series is not scripted and that producers don’t set scenarios up to create drama.
Some guests (and a few crew members) have asserted in the past that producers created scenarios to build storylines on the show. For instance, charter guest Charles Michael Yim from Below Deck Season 6 insisted on Instagram that his group was painted in a negative light because they weren’t exciting enough. But Goslicky shared in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” that production does not interfere with the shoot because drama naturally unfolds on the boat.
‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’ producer says ‘we don’t make drama happen’
A fan wondered what was real and might surprise viewers. “You would be surprised at how much of this show is completely real,” Goslicky replied. “We don’t do fake anything. The guests are truly paying for their experience, the yacht crew is genuinely doing this job. We don’t interfere in any way.”
She added that producers do not script anything. “We don’t make drama happen,'” she added. “We have a saying on the show – ‘The boat provides.’ Boats are difficult, they encounter problems all the time. The seas are hard to predict and don’t cooperate. So we are doing nothing to make things happen. Things pop up, and we chase those stories. We are constantly behind what’s happening – just trying to keep up. It’s the most unique show I’ve ever worked on in that sense.”
Goslicky added that the cast is highly scrutinized before they join the show. “The cast gets hired through an extreme vetting process that both we the producers and the Captains have to sign off on,” she said. “I can’t say how much each of them gets paid because each position makes a different amount. After the show, many of the cast members do continue working on yachts. Sure, some don’t, and they try their hand at other endeavors. But many that I’ve worked with continue their yachting careers after Below Deck.”
Do producers tell charter guests to complain for a storyline?
Another fan asserted that a Below Deck Mediterranean charter guest said a producer suggested that he complain about the food during season 5.
“We do not tell the guests what to do – ever, at all,” she replied. “The guests are actually paying for their vacations, so we don’t interfere with their time there. Now, being on camera may cause some people to act more heightened than they normally would. But we’re not goading them to do this.”
Goslicky also shared that the entire production crew are highly seasoned professionals who have a deep understanding of what it takes to film a reality show. “Many of the cam ops and audio crew have worked on multiple shows before working on [Below Deck],” she shared. “The crew also actually physically trains to some extent to get into what we call ‘shooting shape.'”
“Running around that boat all day lugging equipment requires that the crew be in good physical shape as well as know how to handle their equipment on the fly,” she added. “I’m not exaggerating when I say that the crew that works on this show is the best in the business. We also do a boat walkthrough when we arrive on a new boat with the crew so everyone knows the lay of the land, and we map out how we’ll handle shooting in some of the trickier, smaller areas of the boat.”
