How Much Money Do The ‘Below Deck’ Cast Actually Make?
Below Deck Down Under Season 2 is giving SO much drama this year – from misbehaving guests to a love pentagon (yes, five sides of mayhem) , and of course, Aussie hunk Captain Jason putting his foot down.
And while I’m usually just down to know about the drama, I have another burning question about this world: How much money do the crew on Below Deck actually earn?
Working (and living) on a luxury superyacht may sound like paradise, but it comes with a set of unique problems. Chef Tzarina Mace-Ralph mentioned that she’s had luxury guests throw her food overboard when it wasn’t to their liking.
Image Source: Bravo, Below Deck
Captain Jason, nicknamed Captain Cutie, told Punkee that there are a bunch of pros and cons when it comes to living the luxury superyacht life.
“You get to see the sunrise, you get to explore different places, you meet so many new people,” he said. “But in turn, you’re working a hell of a lot of long hours… the worst thing is now I’ve got a child, so I’ve gotta try and find time for fatherhood and yachting.”
He also mentioned that the captain and engineer on a boat need to be alert at all times, and it’s the captain’s responsibility to keep everybody safe. “We are in tune with noises. So as soon as we hear something, we’re out of our bed, we know there’s an issue that’s not normal. So we’ll investigate, lack of sleep and fatigue is part of our life.”
How much do the Below Deck crew members earn?
After some digging, I found a Refinery29 article that reported these rather juicy figures:
- Second and third stews make around $5,500 to $6,000 USD per month.
- Chefs take home around $7,000 to $10,000 USD per month.
- A deckhand makes around $3,500 to $4,500 USD per month.
- A bosun receives approx $5,000 USD per month.
Of course, crew members can also receive some pretty generous tips on the luxury charters, with the publication reporting that it could be around $15,000 USD per person for a six-week stint.
If I didn’t get seasick, I’d defs be researching how to work on a superyacht, because that’s looking like at least $13,500 USD in my back pocket every month.
Image Source: Bravo, Below Deck Down Under
How much does a Below Deck captain earn?
According to ScreenRant, captains usually earn between $150,000 to $210,000 USD per year – which means around roughly $12,500 to $17,500 USD per month. The higher pay comes with a bigger set of responsibilities, but it’s not always smooth sailing. And I mean that quite literally.
Captain Jason was involved in a yacht crash back in 2019 after his boat had a mechanical failure. The superyacht ended up crashing into a Queensland marina, but luckily nobody was injured.
“We used about thrust to come clear, went astern to try and exit the marina but it was still going ahead at all times,” he told 7News. “We took control in the wheelhouse to see if it was a control fault, it was still going ahead so we did what we’re trained to in collisions.”
“We shut down all engines, dropped an anchor and thank god we selected a nice spot where there was no personnel.”
Image Source: Bravo, Below Deck Down Under
Do the Below Deck cast get paid for appearing on the show?
ScreenRant reports that the Below Deck cast receives a small appearance fee, but the amount is unknown.
According to the publication, we can assume they get paid a “few thousand dollars per episode”. That doesn’t seem like much, but it’s possible popular crew members (like fan fave Aesha Scott), would be able to negotiate with Bravo before the start of each season.
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Image credits: Bravo, Below Deck, Below Deck Down Under