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Captain Lee Rosbach, who launched the original Below Deck series, shaded the new series Below Deck Adventure, mainly toward the production company Shed Media.
Below Deck Adventure is the first iteration of the Below Deck franchise produced by a different production company. Production company 51 Minds launched the original Below Deck and its spin-offs, Below Deck Mediterranean, Below Deck Sailing Yacht, and, most recently, Below Deck Down Under.
And while Below Deck Adventure is derived from the same premise, Rosbach and former Below Deck Mediterranean chief stew Hannah Ferrier said it is obvious the new series isn’t from the original production company.
‘Below Deck Adventure’ production is in new territory, Captain Lee says
Rosbach said 51 Minds has filming Below Deck down to a science. “51 Minds, to their credit, really developed it to where we have it down to not what I call a plug-and-play, but we know what we have to do with the boats,” he said on Ferrier’s Dear Reality, You’re Effed podcast.
“We know what it takes to get a boat and know how we have to go about dealing with the owners. We know how we have to go about dealing with locations and where to put the boat, dockage, and all of that sort of thing, because we’ve made all the mistakes over 10 years,” he pointed out.
“And so we pioneered all that and now we know. I guess we served our apprenticeship,” he continued. “Yes, we have earned our stripes. We know what we’re doing. And then when you bring a new production company into the mix, I’ve got to think that [they thought], ‘These guys, we could do this better. We can do that better, we can do all this.’ And then they get into it and they go like, ‘Jesus Christ, what the hell did we get ourselves into?’”
Captain Lee says ‘Below Deck Adventure’ production had ‘no clue’
Rosbach wondered if Below Deck Adventure producers bit off more than they could chew. “And they have no clue,” he said. “Because as you know, everyone else involved with Below Deck knows that the yachting community is a tough world. It truly is. And so if you’re going to jump in with both feet, you better have your fins on. It’s gonna get ugly quick, if you don’t.”
Rosbach admitted he has not seen Below Deck Adventure but has met Captain Kerry Titheradge. Ferrier viewed a few episodes and said the difference between 51 Minds and Shed Media’s production is obvious. “You can kind of see where the little slip-ups are at the start,” she said.
“They’re in waters, no pun intended, that they had no clue about,” Rosbach added. “And I didn’t get a reach-out call. And I don’t know anybody in my realm that got a reach-out call, like ‘How do we deal with this? Or ‘How do we deal with that?’ Or ‘How do we select a vessel’?”
Too many ‘Below Deck’ spin-offs?
Rosbach said Below Deck doesn’t exactly compete with Below Deck Adventure but it would have been nice to have been called. He also isn’t sure about all the spin-offs in general.
“It’s flattering to have so many things have morphed from season 1 of Below Deck,” he said. “Sometimes I wonder if maybe we’re not oversaturating and I hope not. Because we’re on Bravo and there are only so many timeslots available that we have to share with the Housewives and other Bravo shows.”
“So all the rest of our franchises, where are you going to put them?” Rosbach wondered. “You know, that’s way out of my wheelhouse. But I sincerely hope that doesn’t happen. And should it happen I hope that network executives realize that maybe they need to dial some things back. Maybe not. Maybe put it on a different platform, which we have several available.”
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