Below Deck Sailing Yacht’s executive producer Courtland Cox has dished Jean-Luc Cerza Lanaux’s STD scare and Dani Soares pregnancy news that left production shocked.
There’s no question unexpected things happen in the Below Deck franchise that significantly impacts a storyline. Below Deck Season 8 ended abruptly due to the coronavirus pandemic, and that’s just one example.
Season 2 of Below Deck Sailing Yacht has featured a lot of chaos, including a love triangle, two boat crashes, over-the-top guests, and an STD scare. The latter was something production did not expect while filming the Bravo show.
Below Deck Sailing Yacht producer weighs in on Jean-Luc STD scare
Courtland has produced all three shows in the Below Deck family, which soon will include Below Deck Adventure and Below Deck Down Under.
Even though Courtland has seen it all through the years, Below Deck Sailing Yacht left his jaw on the floor for many reasons. One, of course, was the Parsifal III crashing into the dock.
Another OMG moment is Jean-Luc thinking he has chlamydia again. Courtland shares his thoughts on that in an interview with Vanity Fair.
“I’m a fossil who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s,” Courtland shared. “What was going through my head was, ‘There’s a very easy way he could have prevented this—by using some kind of protection. If you roll the dice, you kinda gotta accept what happens to you. I’m not a heartless monster TV producer. I don’t want anyone to ever suffer or go through something they have an existential crisis over. In that moment, you’re hoping that it’s at least one of the lesser STDs that is easily treated.”
As fans know, Dani was furious at the prospect of Jean-Luc giving her an STD. Dani even told chief stew Daisy Kelliher she wanted to leave the yacht at the end of the current charter.
Courtland opens up about Dani’s pregnancy
Speaking of Dani, no interview is complete without asking about her pregnancy, and Courtland opened up about that too with Vanity Fair.
“Dani brought it to our attention when we were pretty far into the postproduction process,” Courtland expressed.
“Even once Dani found out, I think she kind of wanted to sit with the news herself. Then she let us know and said, ‘Hey, just so you know, I’m pregnant.’ We said, ‘Okay, great.’ I left that up to her and how much information she wanted to give us. My first reaction was, ‘That’s fantastic. Congratulations.’ Because she made it clear throughout the season that she wanted a family. The rest of that is for Dani to figure out.”
Fans are convinced Jean-Luc is the father of her baby, but Dani is keeping the father’s identity a secret for now. She even opened up about all the public interest in her pregnancy, baby daddy speculation, and her desire to keep things private.
Only a handful of episodes remain in Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 2. It certainly appears that Bravo has saved the best for last. Charter guest Erika Rose and friends are high-maintenance and the crew drama has exploded mid-charter.
Below Deck Sailing Yacht airs Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo.
It’s obvious from the way oh-so-innocent Dani acted about it that she was the culprit who gave poor naive JL an STD! She even made sure to rush around to every female on the crew and put on her big fake act that she was oh-so-surprised that JL had an STD.
What a seasoned liar she is !