Like a lot of people locked indoors during the pandemic, Adam and Louisa Sax found themselves vicariously travelling to distant shores as they binge watched hit show ‘Below Deck’.
The surprisingly addictive reality television show about luxury yachts has made celebrities of glamorous guests and catty crew members from Fort Lauderdale to Fiji.
But when they sat down to watch the latest episode at their South Sound home on Monday, there were a handful of new characters to run the rule over – themselves and their friends.
“I’m not too nervous,” Louisa said, almost to herself, as she watched between the splayed fingers of her hands, as her on-screen image was welcomed aboard.
“OK, I am a little bit nervous.”
Adam and Louisa and six of their friends were guests aboard the luxury yacht St David for three days sailing in the shadow of St Lucia’s forested Piton mountains in February last year.
They wore microphones and were followed by camera crews for the whole trip.
Aside from the stunning backdrops, the show derives its drama from the tensions between the wealthy guests and the hardworking crew, below deck, as they scrub plates and decks, and scramble to deliver five-star service round the clock.
Demanding, or ungrateful, guests make the best villains, but Adam and his brother Alessandro, both Cayman residents, originally from Toronto, appeared unruffled about the prospect.
“I think they liked us,” said Adam, though he admitted to a few nerves about the edit.
A text from a friendly cast member – the second stewardess or ‘stew’ on the boat, Alissa – wasn’t exactly reassuring.
The gist of it was, ‘don’t worry how it comes out, we loved you guys’.
With the right, or wrong, editor, three days of footage can be shaped to tell almost any story and the brothers rack their brains for anything they might have said that could be misrepresented.
“It’s too late now, we are all in,” Alessandro acknowledged as the opening credits rolled.
The end result, at least after the first episode, was ‘all clear’ on the embarrassment front.
There was a minor controversy over who poured the soup at dinner. Then there was a guest, plugging in her ear pods to dance to her own tune as a 10-course tasting menu dragged on. And there were a few moments of tension over the culinary demands of Louisa, who was 26 weeks pregnant at the time.
“I think they wanted me to be a bit meaner about the service,” Adam reflected.
In the end, he is pictured stressing about how hard the crew seems to be working and offering to help.
‘Treated like kings’
Being on the show was a hastily hatched plan that came together quickly for Adam and his friends.
In the parlance of the show – Adam was the ‘primary’ – the main guest whose ‘preference sheet’ was the blueprint for the chef and crew to cater to his and his guests’ every whim.
“The whole experience was cool,” he said, “We were treated like kings for three days.
“I thought it would be a lot more produced but they just told us to treat the yacht like it was our own and do our own thing.”
After a short while, he said, the ubiquitous camera crews faded into the background and they were able to relax and enjoy the beauty of St Lucia.
Louisa said they had watched series after series of the addictive show during COVID and beyond.
“We’ve seen all of the seasons in the Med and the Caribbean. We are pretty die-hard, so I was so excited to meet the crew for the first time. We had to try not to be groupies.”
Adam, who is a serial entrepreneur and has founded multiple tech companies, said they had considered hiring a yacht, and decided it would be fun to blend the vacation with the chance to go on the show.
The producers greenlit their appearance pretty quickly and they put together a group of friends – Alessandro, Bianca, Jonathan, Imogen, Melanie and Justin – for the trip.
“It was a special experience. I think we came out of it OK so far” said Bianca after watching the first episode.
“We will see how it goes next week.”
Some of the moments the group were most worried about missed the cut, as the editors focused on the crew drama and the firing of ‘deck-stew’ Camille on the morning of their arrival.
With the next episode set to air Monday, 30 Jan., on Bravo at 8pm, the final worry is the tip.
Guests on board are known for tipping big and every episode features unvarnished takes from the crew on what they felt about the generosity or otherwise of the group. Adam said he had used what was given on previous seasons as a barometer, although this year some celebrity guests have upped the ante.
“We thought we tipped really well, so I hope they are happy,” said Adam.
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