A blowup over cigarettes, X-rated texts, and more cheating than a high school math quiz.
If you’ve ever wondered why there are cameras in the laundry room, keep watching.
These scandalous “Below Deck” couples are proof that what happens at sea doesn’t
always stay at sea.
When you're welcoming a new bundle of joy into the world, lawyers ideally should be
the last thing on your mind.
But for former "Below Deck Sailing Yacht" couple Jean-Luc Cerza-Lanaux and Dani Soares
and their new baby, things aren't so simple.
In May 2021, Soares announced on Instagram that she'd given birth to a baby girl.
At the show's second season reunion that aired one month later, she confirmed that Jean-Luc
was the father.
During the episode, Jean-Luc, or "JL" as he was known by the crew, was quick to say he
wanted to be in the little girl's life, pending a DNA test.
"If that is my child, I want everything and anything to do with that child's life."
The former couple's relationship was never smooth sailing.
As "Below Deck Sailing Yacht" viewers will remember, they went through a lot on the show,
including an STD scare.
In January 2022, "JL" took to Instagram to reveal that he is ready to be a dad to Lilly
Rose.
He wrote,
"As I look forward to this new year with new opportunities, I will be striving to be the
best man and father that I can be."
The men of "Below Deck" seem to have a tough time staying faithful to their onshore girlfriends,
and "Sailing Yacht" star Gary King is no exception.
"Sydney, he flirts with me all the time."
The first mate hooked up with coworkers Alli Dore and Sydney Zoruba a few weeks apart.
As if that wasn't awkward enough, he also had a girlfriend back home when all of this
happened.
In fact, Alli called Gary out for it during the "Below Deck Sailing Yacht" reunion on
"Watch What Happens Live."
"Gary had a girlfriend when he came onboard and Sydney slept with him."
Gary offered up… a confusing response.
"We were in a very complicated relationship.
I hadn't seen her for eight months prior to me coming on the show."
Alli has since left all of the Gary drama behind her, and welcomed her first child with
her new boyfriend.
Meanwhile, Gary has been up to some of his old tricks on "Below Deck Sailing Yacht" Season
3.
On the third season of "Below Deck," barely a drama-free minute went by thanks to Raquel
"Rocky" Dakota.
But before Rocky infamously jumped ship and swam to another boat, she and bosun Eddie
Lucas were enjoying a secret affair, frequently in the ship's laundry room.
Eddie actually had a girlfriend at the time, and they attempted to work through his infidelity,
but ultimately broke up.
Following the season, Rocky reportedly moved to Hawaii and became a massage therapist.
It's undeniable that the ill-advised dalliance left a lasting impression on "Below Deck."
"We now have cameras in the laundry room."
"I know.
They ruined it for everyone.
That's why we can't have nice things, Eddie and Rocky."
Getting dumped via text is bad in any context.
But getting dumped via text by someone you work and live with might just be worse than
the infamous "Sex and the City" Post-It note dumping.
"Uh huh.
Uh huh.
Yep.
Read it and weep, my friends."
While they were just a room apart on the yacht, "Below Deck" Season 7's Brian de Saint Pern
texted Courtney Skippon to tell her their hook up was casual.
Courtney was obviously horrified by the whole exchange, and told him so at the reunion.
"My issue was you decided to text me in the middle of a workday so I couldn't talk to
you about it."
Courtney later said on fellow former "Below Deck" star Hannah Ferrier's podcast that she'd
never return to the show because it was too "embarrassing."
Hannah Ferrier and Christina "Bugsy" Drake's reality TV feud could rival the "Real Housewives."
But it's a lot harder to avoid your arch nemesis when you both work on the same boat, no matter
how big it is.
Lucky for us, the Bravo cameras caught sparks flying between the two stewardesses on "Below
Deck Mediterranean."
One of their first big dust-ups occurred when Bugsy caught Hannah flirting with — and
then kissing — a paying guest on one of their trips.
Hannah was never shy about her attraction to the client, which definitely irked Bugsy.
"I've never heard of a chief stewardess who flirts with a charter guest."
Hannah later confirmed to Bravotv.com that she'd kissed the guest while she was on the
clock.
Bugsy wasn't just peeved at Hannah for flirting: she later discovered they'd been using the
yacht iPad to text one another after the guest dropped his phone in the hot tub.
Stewardess Elizabeth Frankini and deckhand James Hough started dating in Season 8 of
"Below Deck."
However, their partnership was no picnic, as James openly complained about Elizabeth
instead of dumping her.
In one episode, Elizabeth lamented the fact that James hadn't kissed her on her birthday.
"It was so hard yesterday to, like, not celebrate my birthday."
Later on, James complained that, at 26, he was in the "prime" of his life, while 30-year-old
Elizabeth was looking for more.
When a producer asked if James was planning on telling Elizabeth this, he claimed that
she should be old enough to figure it out for herself.
Their doomed relationship actually ended in Elizabeth's firing.
The pair decided to sleep in a guest cabin one night, without getting permission first.
While James got a slap on the wrist, Elizabeth was fired shortly after because she'd been
allowing her relationship to trump her duties.
After a romantic season full of guest-cabin stays and promises to travel to Bali together,
it looked like Robert Westergaard and Jessica More might be the rare "Below Deck" couple
that would go the distance.
But, as Jessica later shared on "Watch What Happens Live," they made it to Bali, and then
Robert attempted to "back out" on her at the airport.
They somehow surmounted that obstacle, but would break up soon after.
The reason?
According to Jessica, "his M.O.
apparently is ghosting."
"I think I was stuck on wanting what we had in the beginning, and I should have just accepted
that it wasn't going to be that again."
To make matters more complicated, at the reunion, Jessica claimed that Robert had sent steamy
texts to fellow crew member Aesha Scott.
Robert claimed that Aesha felt more like a sibling to him, but the X-rated text suggested
otherwise.
Either way, Robert and Jessica's relationship was seemingly not meant to be.
News travels fast on the "Below Deck" yachts.
So when Jennice Ontiveros told some fellow crew members that she wouldn't mind moving
in with deckhand Kelley Johnson, it was only a matter of time until it got back to him.
Unfortunately, the information caused a big misunderstanding.
Kelley told Bravo's The Daily Dish,
"I was told she wanted to move in and all these weird rumors, but instead of talking
about it with her, I put up walls.
I have a tendency to hop into relationships and get too serious too quickly, so I wanted
to go slow.
[...] Instead, it came out all wrong and she got hurt."
"You took me for granted but you didn't treat me well either."
"Well, you needed constant attention and I couldn't do it.
Yes."
After her time on "Below Deck," Jennice settled in Los Angeles and has since moved into TV
production.
Johnson, meanwhile, followed in Captain Lee Rosbach's footsteps and has stayed busy working
as a yacht captain, while also working as a photographer.
"Below Deck Mediterranean" chef Adam Glick let slip that he and Malia White had hooked
up before the charter season started.
However, as "Below Deck Med" fans saw, Malia ended up starting a relationship with fellow
deckhand Wes Walton instead.
Later, Malia implied that Adam liked her more than she liked him, telling Bravo's The Daily
Dish,
"I realized, oh wow, this guy is far more invested.
[...] We weren't in a relationship.
We never dated.
We hung out one time.
So I think he was latching onto something that wasn't actually there."
At a "Below Deck Mediterranean" reunion on "Watch What Happens Live," Adam even admitted
that he'd told Malia he loved her early on, but had since gotten over it.
Chef Adam Glick became luckier in love when he started seeing chief stew Jenna MacGillivray.
Basically, Adam's move to "Below Deck Sailing Yacht" turned out to be a fortuitous switch.
Adam joked that if the chef and chief stew were to "go "go belly-up," it'd lead to "disaster."
They decided to take a whack at it anyway.
Other members of the crew even complained about Adam and Jenna's touchy-feely vibes.
But Jenna thinks they were being unfair, telling Bravo's "The Final Word,"
"I would go in in the morning and give him a kiss, and no one was there.
Or I'd be doing whatever in the galley or the crew mess, he'd come over and give me
a hug. [...] that was when I was finished with my shift.
Some people have a problem with that, I get it, but I'm also not working."
Despite starting strong, Adam and Jenna have since gone their separate ways.
Yet another crew couple reduced to ships passing in the night.
Hannah Ferrier's relationship with a crew member was no less scandalous than her fling
with a charter guest.
The perennial chief stew and her one-time bosun boo fell out due to an argument over
cigarettes.
"You owe me a 50."
"Sorry?"
"You owe me fifty euros."
Conrad Empson bought Hannah about 50 euros' worth of cigarettes and was peeved when she
failed to pay him back in a timely manner.
It exploded into Conrad insisting that Hannah had to decide whether she wanted a man with
money or someone she had chemistry with.
"Which guy do you want?
Because if you pick the other guy, that ain't me."
Hannah asked him not to give her an ultimatum while they were drinking on a night out, but
it seemed the damage was done.
The couple ended up going their separate ways soon after.
Onscreen, Bosun Malia White was adept at handling her chef boyfriend Tom Checketts' temper tantrums.
But after COVID-19 disrupted the yachting season, Malia and Tom ended up on different
boats, and in Tom's case, in someone else's bed.
Malia told Us Weekly,
"Yeah, we were, you know, working on different boats.
It was in the pandemic [that] had just happened.
So, it was impossible for us to see each other.
[...] And, yeah, he found someone else on his boats, and I didn't know for a couple
of months."
What happens at sea doesn't always stay at sea, after all.
Tanner Sterback and Simone Mashile got together on "Below Deck" after she confessed she had
a crush on him and he openly told her he'd like to hook up.
Tanner then told his coworkers what may or may not have happened between the two of them.
Simone protested that things didn't go as far as Tanner claimed, while Tanner maintained
that he didn't kiss and tell.
As for who's telling the truth, that remains a mystery.
One thing we all can agree on is that Tanner probably won't be asked to join a dance troupe
anytime soon.
Even he admitted on an episode of the "Below Deck After Show" that the moves he showcased
at a resort pool were enough to turn off any potential fling.
João Franco and Brooke Laughton's love story started during the third season of "Below
Deck Mediterranean."
However, it seems that Ross and Rachel from "Friends" aren't the only TV luminaries who
have trouble agreeing on what a "break" is.
On the Season 4 premiere, João gave viewers an update on their relationship status, and
claimed that Brooke had cheated on him.
"I really, really loved her.
I wanted to make it work even so, but she didn't want to.
So, what can I do?"
In an episode of the "Below Deck After Show," João alleged that Brooke had begged him to
come see her while they were figuring out whether they should stay together or not.
However, he soon learned that Brooke had apparently connected with another guy.
In a statement to People, Brooke explained,
"Although it initially hurt to hear João blamed our relationship break down on a false
claim that I cheated on him, it is very true to his character and allows him some relief
for his ego."
João went on to become a boat captain, and Brooke's moved on too.
She announced in July 2021 that she was engaged.
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