American network Bravo has made its way onto Aussie shores with its next instalment of the Below Deck franchise, Below Deck: Down Under.
The spinoff was spotted filming in and around Queensland’s Airlie Beach back in September, and has now officially docked on streaming service hayu.
What Is Below Deck?
Below Deck follows the lives of those working as crew aboard a glamorous superyacht and believe us when we say it’s a hell of a lot more dramatic than you’d expect!
The original series premiered in 2013 and has just finished airing its ninth season.
Below Deck: Mediterranean already has five seasons under its belt and Below Deck: Sailing Yacht produced its second season in Croatia in 2020.
Is Below Deck: Down Under Different to the Other Franchise Iterations?
To set itself apart from the other franchise iterations, Below Deck: Down Under focuses on underwater activities.
In an interview back in 2021, Bravo’s senior VP Noah Samton revealed that one of the stars of the show would be Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
“Not only is it down under in terms of being in Australia,” he said. “But a lot of the show is literally being filmed underneath the water in the sea paradise that is the Great Barrier Reef.”
“There’s a lot of diving, scuba diving, snorkelling spearfishing and the cast actually gets involved in a lot of the diving excursions.”
When Will We Be Able to Watch Below Deck: Down Under?
While promo posters spotted around Sydney — and posted on Reddit — originally announced a January 28 air date, fans were left in the lurch after it failed to premiere.
Below Deck: Down Under officially kicked off on March 18, 2022 so if you haven’t watched it yet, what have you been doing?
The Cast
Prior to its release, no names were confirmed for the new season. However, one So Dramatic! spy saw past yachties Tumi Mhlongo, Benny Crawley, Magda Ziomek and Aesha Jean onboard during filming.
Ashling Lorger (from Below Deck season eight) may also be making an appearance.
Commenting on a So Dramatic! Instagram post, she said: “I’ll guess we’ll just have to wait and find out!”
In June 2021, we also revealed that Below Deck season three chef, Leon Walker, was spotted in Hamilton Island. An awesome edition? Yes, Chef!
And while we don’t have confirmation on who the exact captain of the Airlie Beach charter is, we can confirm that it isn’t our beloved Captain Lee. Sad reacts.
The Charter Guests
Fans of the original series would be familiar with the wealthy guests that charter the multimillion-dollar boats.
According to Yacht Charter Fleet, the average Below Deck yacht costs $170,000 USD to hire per week.
While in the US we see some very rich guests, rumours bobbing around say that guests on this season aren’t loaded at all!
One So Dramatic! source told us that her friend isn’t “well off at all”. And even though she doesn’t have much mulah, was “approached by producers” to appear as a guest.
“By the sounds of it, production are covering everything,” the source said.
What Does It Require to Be a Charter Guest?
In episode 73 of the So Dramatic! podcast, we revealed an email from producers, outlining the requirements of being a guest.
The group will have “exclusive use of the superyacht at a highly discounted rate”. Intrigued? We sure are!
“The discounted rates for the superyachts would be: three-day charter is $52,000 (AUD), a four-day charter is $59,000, plus a tip, which is a minimum of $19,500.”
“We understand times are hard, so the network are happy to consider the offer of just the tip.” WTF?!
Another source confirmed this, saying they split the tip at the end of the charter.
“They would fly us up to [Queensland] and we just had to share the $20,000 tip between eight of us.
“Just” share a $20K tip between them? We can barely afford to share an Uber home!
Are there Any Famous Faces Coming Aboard?
According to several drama army members, The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise alum Jimmy Threthewie will be a guest in one of the eps.
“He is there with the Boss Hunting publication,” our source revealed. “They were approached by producers…so the Boss Hunting crew agreed and took a few friends along with them!”
The Guests will Boared Super-Yacht, Thalassa
The stunning vessel, the “Thalassa” — which means “sea” in Greek — will be home to our yachties.
And it won’t be the first time the Below Deck: Down Under superyacht is the main character on camera.
Originally named Keri Lee III, it was used in the 2008 film Fool’s Gold starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.
It houses a beauty salon, a massage room and a hot tub with a movie screen.
Alright, alright, alright! If Bravo! can throw in Matthew McConaughey as part of their “just the tip” deal, you’ll catch us on the next flight to Airlie Beach.
Are we excited to watch Australia act as the backdrop to some titanic drama? Yeah buoy!
Want even more goss? Listen to episode 176 of the So Dramatic! podcast with Megan Pustetto below!
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