Below Deck: Has Bravo show exposed a problem in yachting?
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Yachting can be an amazing way to travel the world and rub shoulders with the elite
Sun, sea, global travel and massive wads of cash. It's not hard to see why working on a superyacht is attractive.
It can be a glamourous job, taking you to impossibly beautiful locations where you rub shoulders with celebrities and influential people.
But a darker side of the industry was shown this week on Below Deck Down Under - the Australian spin-off of the hit reality TV show.
Two cast members were seen making unwanted sexual advances towards crew-mates.
Both were sacked, and the captain thanked the TV crew for "stepping in" to prevent things escalating.
But it's sparked a conversation about the industry - particularly about what protections are in place to keep staff safe.
Current and former "yachties"- as crew members are known - have been telling BBC Newsbeat about their experiences, and changes they want to see.
Leah Tennant, 27, from Dorset, spent five years working as part of the deck crew on super yachts in the South of France, Italy, and the Caribbean.
"It's an amazing experience but also there's definitely bad things and good things at the same time," she says.
"You're constantly away from home, working in a very high-paced environment but you're also living with crew and you can't escape each other."
Leah Tennant says crew members can be scared to speak up
Leah says she's had very positive experiences on the majority of boats she's worked on.
But she says crew can sometimes be scared to speak up as they are worried about losing their jobs.
"One of the first ever boats I worked on, the captain on there was just an absolute creep and ended up actually walking in on me in the shower," says Leah.
Crew are usually expected to raise complaints with a person of higher rank, but Leah says there was no-one above the captain.
She ended up leaving the boat and, according to others in the the yachting industry, her experience wasn't uncommon.
Jenny Matthews, 34, is a chief officer who set up She of the Sea - a community for women working in yachting.
She says the organisation receives "frequent" reports, ranging from "micro-aggressions" against crew, all the way up to full-blown assaults and rapes.
"We've had appalling incidents of cameras being set up in boats where they shouldn't be, drugging of crew by other crew members and even a sex trafficking ring that got exposed last year," says Jenny.
She says that experiences can vary, and some vessels "really prioritise" safeguarding and protecting crew members.
But she says there's "another end of the spectrum where it is absolutely appalling."
Jenny Matthews says she hears shocking reports from across the industry
Both Leah and Jenny think positive changes are being made in the industry and they think Below Deck has played a big part in this.
"I think there is a really powerful thing that is happening with Below Deck," says Jenny.
"It's exposing things that our industry would like to pretend don't happen."
One former cast member is also among those hoping to bring about change in the industry.
Conrad Empson, 29 from Southampton, starred in Season 3 of Below Deck Mediterranean and says a lot of problems stem from yachting's "secretive" nature.
He says many vessels are owned by rich individuals and "everything is kept very private".
"You have some crew that aren't allowed to post on social media or aren't allowed to tell anyone where they are until they've left," he says.
"So the the nature of everything on board is to keep everything very private."
Conrad Empson says crews don't often undergo background checks
He says this is slowly changing thanks to people sharing experiences via things like Facebook groups.
But another big issue, and one Conrad says he's trying to change, is the industry's "broken" recruitment system.
He says there are few, if any, background checks, so captains "genuinely have no understanding" of who they're putting on board.
Conrad says these people are then free to mix with not only "the most powerful people in the world" but "other crew members that they have to sleep within six feet of".
"If you're not checking who that person is, you're genuinely putting the rest of those people in danger," he says.
Conrad has set up a company offering crew members a full background check in return for a digital passport as proof.
He says they can give this to captains to show "they can be safely placed on board and work with others".
Conrad is less convinced than Leah and Jenny that the industry will change as a result of the Below Deck controversy, but agrees it will bring attention to it.
Where he does agree is that, with the right conditions, yachting can be "an amazing world to be in".
"It is an amazing culture," he says.
"And when you get the right people running these boats as they should be, it's a great environment to be in."
Yachtworker union Nautilus International told Newsbeat: "Inappropriate sexual behaviour is not uncommon within any workplace, including the superyacht industry."
"As the union representing yacht professionals we are working to ensure yacht crew are aware of the support and guidance they can receive if they have been the victim of inappropriate sexual behaviour.
"Sexual assault/harassment is a crime and we would encourage anyone who has been sexually assaulted or sexually harassed to report this to the relevant authorities, either in the flag state or the port state where the incident took place."
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- Published10 August 2023
