Below Deck cast salaries have become a hot topic — again — these past two weeks.
Captain Lee Rosbch has set the record straight after Below Deck Sailing Yacht alum Ashley Marti called out the show and Bravo for low pay.
As Monsters and Critics previously reported, Ashley and other Below Deck alums sounded off on the pay and treatment of cast members on the show.
Below Deck pay has often been compared to the Real Housewives with allegations the yachties make far less.
This week, the stud of the sea entered the chat to clarify how the yachties are paid when they appear on the show.
In true Captain Lee fashion, he didn’t hold back from addressing a topic that keeps coming up every year.
Captain Lee Rosbach sets the record straight on Below Deck salary uproar
On his podcast Salty with Captain Lee, he talked about Below Deck salaries with his co-host Sam DeCavalcanti. Captain Lee mentioned that recent alums — not on his show — talked about the pay, claiming it was only $6,000 monthly.
“Not completely true, but see, people have a tendency to lump when they hear Below Deck. They lump it all into one category, correct? And my show was totally separate from the rest of them,” the captain responded. “Do I think that they make as much as the housewives? No, but the Housewives for a long time carried Bravo.”
Captain Lee explained what the yachties are paid, referencing the $6,000 a month comment and the industry standard.
“They got paid industry standard,” he stated.” Plus, whatever it is, they negotiated with the network, whoever knows whatever that is.”
Like other reality TV shows, recurring yachties make more on Below Deck than newbies, which, as Captain Lee pointed out, is how it works in any industry.
Below Deck alum Captain Lee Rosbach defends how much cast members make
The stud of the sea made it clear he has no idea what Bravo pays other Below Deck stars. Captain Lee only knows what he negotiated during his ten seasons on the show.
However, he did admit that, at least on his show, the crew made great money in tips. Below Deck Season 10, for example, the crew made $250,000 in tips for six weeks of work.
“$1,000 to $1,500 for a three-day charter that’s pretty good money,” Captain Lee expressed.
Again, the captain feels the crew should be compensated more, but he wants to reset the narrative that the yachties on Below Deck make $6,000 a month because it’s more than that.
“I know what a deckhand makes is $7,000 a month. That’s industry standard,” he spilled. “Plus, whatever the network decides to pay them for being on TV on top of that. Plus, whatever tips they generate which are usually pretty good. At least they were on our show.”
Captain Lee shared a clip from his podcast on Instagram discussing the Below Deck salary on Instagram.
The comments section had Tiffany Copeland from Below Deck Med stating she made $3,500 monthly as a third stew during Season 1, plus tips. Tiffany shared she made $15,000 for six weeks but did not reference anything about the stipend she got from Bravo.
In 2022, Eddie Lucas admitted that the cast members on Below Deck got paid better than normal yachties but not even close to the Real Housewives money.
Captain Lee Rosbach doesn’t disagree with the statement that the Below Deck cast members make much less than the Real Housewives. The stud of the sea just wants to clarify a few other things as the salary subject came up again.
What do you think about Captain Lee’s words?
Below Deck Season 11 premieres on Monday, February 5, at 9/8c on Bravo. Seasons 1-10 are streaming on Peacock.