Below Deck fans can’t help but wonder how much money the cast can make during one season of the Bravo show.
The yachting franchise now has three installments and nearly 14 seasons under its belt. Viewers have become obsessed with Below Deck and its spin-offs over the years, wanting to know every little detail available about the show.
Along with filming secrets, curiosity regarding the amount of money the cast makes has become one hot topic. Fans can’t get enough information about those two subjects, so let’s take a look at the amount of money the crew can earn.
Tips are the name of the game
One reason the crew puts up with the long hours and demanding charter guests, like Charley Walters, is because of tips. At the end of each charter, the crew receives a lump sum of money for a few days of non-stop demanding work.
The tip amount does vary, depending on how the guest feels the crew did during the charter. Charley, for example, left a $25,000 tip for the My Seanna crew. Unfortunately, the second group of charter guests on Season 8 of Below Deck only left the crew $12,000.
Those cash amounts add up per person over the six weeks Below Deck films. The Valor crew members from Season 7 walked away with $14,063 per person in tip money.
Crew salaries and payment to be on Bravo show
While viewers are privy to the tip information the crew receives each season, the salaries and stipend paid to appear on the Bravo show are a bit of a mystery.
The cast does make a salary based on their position on the superyacht. According to Yahoo News, a chief stew working on a yacht the size of My Seanna would earn around $6,000 a month. Since the show films for six weeks, that means a chief stew could earn $7,000-$8,000 as a base salary.
Depending on the overall tip value for the season and combined salary, the chief stew could bring home as much as $25,000. The amount doesn’t include what the cast receives from the network to be on the show.
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Bravo doesn’t disclose if cast members are paid a stipend or not. However, it is common knowledge in the reality TV world that cast members earn monetary value for being on the shows.
The payment varies depending on the show. Below Deck doesn’t have a consistent cast, like say, Real Housewives, whose cast members earn a specific salary. Captain Lee Rosbach no doubt has a guaranteed amount that Bravo pays him each season.
When adding up tips, crew salary, and Bravo payment, cast members can earn quite a bit of cash for six weeks of hard work. Based on the numbers for a chief stew, Francesca Rubi might be making as much as $30,000 for her first time on the show.
Whatever the end amount adds up to, one thing is for certain: The Below Deck cast makes good money.
Below Deck airs Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo.