Malia White’s ‘Total Ship Show’ Explores Life Beyond ‘Below Deck’ (Exclusive)
When Malia White from Below Deck Mediterranean decided to launch a podcast, she wanted to host a show that took listeners beyond what they see on the hit Bravo show.
“The podcast is called Total Ship Show,” she told Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “And I wanted to talk about the industry, but not surrounding Below Deck. So like, not me as Malia from Below Deck, but me as a deckhand. Or me as a bosun and a woman in the industry.”
‘Total Ship Show’ focuses on the yachting industry
White said the podcast takes listeners deeper into the industry and into the aspects that aren’t explored on Below Deck. “I think there’s a lot of people who watch Below Deck because they love the show for what it is, all the drama and whatever,” she said. “And then there’s a big chunk of people that love watching it because they love learning about the industry.”
“Because it’s such a cool, fascinating industry. I didn’t even know about it five years ago, and now I’m like, obsessed. So I just wanted to kind of share other parts of the industry that you don’t really see on this show,” she added.
Like many yachties, White got into the industry on a whim. Her first job in yachting was when she applied to be on Below Deck Mediterranean. “I worked on dive boats, but it’s not comparable at all,” she recalled on the Hollywood Raw podcast. “So I remember the day before like the week before, I was like Googling like ‘what is the bow?’ and ‘the stern?’”
Malia’s podcast will feature stars in yachting (and ‘Below Deck’)
White plans to feature professionals who work in yachting but also Below Deck cast members who can talk about real-life yachting.
“For the most part, my podcast won’t focus on the show at all,” she said. “It will be outside of reality TV. Because a lot of people have the perception that I work for six weeks on camera and then that’s it. That’s not true. I’m a full-time yachtie now. I work full-time on a yacht, so it’s kind of just telling more of that side of the story and how that works.”
She offered an example of a guest. “We interviewed Eddie [Lucas] and talk about not him as Eddie on the show, but him as a tugboat mate. And there’s wild stories. I’m like, ‘Eddie, you have a crazy job.'”
“And in future episodes, we’ll have Captain Kate McCue, one of the first American female mega cruise ship captains,” she continued. “And interview different captains and [people who work in] different jobs throughout the industry. And, like engineers, everyone sees them on the show, but they have no clue what they do.”
Also, “We have Kate Chastain on, and I learned so much about Kate that I never knew, and I was like, ‘Dude, you’re so fascinating as someone outside Below Deck.'”
Malia partnered with her landlubber college pal for ‘Total Ship Show’
White’s co-host is someone who does not work in the industry. “My friend from college, Amanda is my co-host,” she explained. She partnered with pal Amanda Logan because she didn’t have a background in yachting.
“I could have gone and gotten another Below Deck yachtie. But I wanted someone who is, like a lot of the fans, has no clue what yachting is, what port or starboard is. Amanda is a financial adviser. She barely swims [laughs]. So, it’s great because she asks the questions that a lot of the fans would have. And be like, ‘Hang on, tell me more about this. This is interesting.’ So we kind of just break down the industry and our different perspectives and talk about it.”
Total Ship Show launches on Tuesday, March 15.
