The Below Deck franchise is about to celebrate its 10th birthday on Bravo.
When the series sailed onto our screens in 2013, the idea that I’d still be invested a decade later didn’t float.
The year is 2023, and any quasi-successful series has countless spinoffs, but it’s rare for a spinoff to outshine the original.
Enter Below Deck: Sailing Yacht, the dark horse of the franchise.
When the show kicked off in 2020, it was an utter disaster, with many believing it wouldn’t survive into a second season.
Thanks to more people at home due to COVID-19, the show garnered decent ratings.
Thankfully, Bravo understood that finding the right cast is the key to delivering drama worthy of the high seas.
Producers thought we were interested in watching a cast built around Below Deck: Mediterranean’s Adam Glick, and it was hands down one of the worst seasons in franchise history — even worse than Below Deck: Adventure’s sole, disastrous season.
Something tells me the latter will NOT see a second season, which is a shame because Below Deck: Sailing Yacht Season 2 rose like a phoenix from the ashes of its messy freshman season.
Below Deck: Sailing Yacht got a second shot at life, albeit with some big changes, and it’s blossomed into the best show in the franchise and one of the best shows on TV.
The fun didn’t really begin until Below Deck: Sailing Yacht Season 2, which revealed Glenn Shephard was the lone returning star from the freshman season as the captain of the Parsifal III.
We were introduced to Chief Stewardess Daisy Kelliher, Chief Engineer Colin Macrae, and First Officer Gary King, among others.
The trio remains on the series two seasons later for one reason:
Fans have connected with them.
On the current Below Deck: Sailing Yacht Season 4, fans have been given a front-row seat into what can only be described as a love triangle, complete with some twists and turns you’d expect to be reserved for primetime soap operas.
It’s hard to take the love triangle seriously, but when you have Gary telling Daisy it’s always been her after she moved on with Colin, it makes for great TV.
You do have to suspend your disbelief at some moments, including Daisy wrongly calling Colin Gary and the apparent fact that Colin didn’t know about Daisy and Gary’s past.
He clearly hasn’t been watching Below Deck: Sailing Yacht online!
We kid, mostly.
There have been questionable moments throughout this latest plot, but thanks to the nature of the show filming constantly, we’re seeing all the nuances of how the trio and their inner circle are reacting.
Had this happened any other season, it would have probably been covered more extensively, but thanks to Scandoval, anything not named Vanderpump Rules is getting little coverage.
It’s no secret that Daisy is off her game this season.
She was excellent at her job in her first two seasons, but she’s starting to resemble Hannah from Below Deck Mediterranean in her final seasons, albeit far more approachable.
The final episodes of the season will be critical to the show’s future prospects, but it seems like the show is already filming another season of drama in Ibiza.
The question will be whether Daisy, Gary, and Colin will return after all the hoo-ha from on-board drama.
Glenn has been mostly unimpressed with the performance of Daisy and stewardesses Lucy Edmunds and Mads Herrera.
While the shows typically focus on the complicated dynamics between departments, there is quite a bit of unity between them this season.
Yes, there have been some blow-ups, but for the most part, the editing is taking us on a journey to show how far Daisy can push Glen, and I’m here for it.
Glenn has a reputation to keep up, and the most recent charter guests on the Bravo hit were less than impressed with the lack of service.
It’s doubtful Glen would fire Daisy with the season beginning to wind down, but it’s hard not to wonder how Daisy would fare if she was under the purview of Captain Sandy.
Sandy has a much different managing style than Glen, and something tells me she would have plenty to say about the current formation of the Parsifal III.
The beauty of Below Deck: Sailing Yacht has also been the charter guests.
For some reason, the producers find more vocal guests than the other shows in the franchise.
My best guess is that the smaller nature of the Parsifal III in relation to the other shows is that it’s a more confined space, leading to — you guessed it — more conflict.
On Below Deck: Sailing Yacht Season 4 kicked off with the boat being broken for the first charter, meaning the interior staff had to bend over backward to deliver the seven-star service.
In the charters since, we’ve had near-misses, guests talking to Glenn while he’s trying to dock the boat, and a less than stellar service from the interior.
All these ingredients combined have allowed the season to keep Sailing Yacht as the finest show in the franchise.
With a handful of episodes remaining, it’s hard to imagine things changing, but we’re sure there’s plenty of drama set to hit the seas.
What are your thoughts on the series?
Are you watching?
Catch new episodes on Mondays at 9 p.m., only on Bravo.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.