Below Deck producers are no strangers to intervening when things get out of hand on the hit reality series. Since its debut in 2013, the show has followed the lives of crew members working on a superyacht during charter season. With spinoffs like Below Deck Mediterranean, Below Deck Sailing Yacht, Below Deck Down Under, and Below Deck Adventure, the franchise has only grown in popularity.
During season 6 of Below Deck Med, tensions reached a breaking point when Lexi Wilson got into an altercation with Mzi “Zee” Dempers. First officer Katie Flood revealed in a 2021 interview on Watch What Happens Live that the situation was even worse off screen. Production had to step in to prevent it from escalating further, with Katie stating, “They actually stepped in and like lost our s—t like, ‘This is not what we are about.’ And if it goes any further I’m pretty sure Lexi would have been removed straight away. But I guess she reined it in at that point.”
Malia White, another crew member on Below Deck Med, also expressed concern about the incident, adding, “If anything, she was edited nicely that night. She was much worse.” The behind-the-scenes drama that unfolded during filming often doesn’t make it to the final cut of the show.
Executive producer Nadine Rajabi has also hinted at moments when she had to intervene to maintain the safety and well-being of the crew. On the “Group Text” podcast in 2021, Nadine shared, “Something happens this season, which we don’t show, where I’ve had to go out and stop the situation. So there’s a lot of times like that where I will not tolerate that. It’s unacceptable and those are the times when I will step in and go this isn’t OK or you’ve got to let people go in those situations.”
From heated arguments to physical altercations, the producers of Below Deck have had their fair share of challenges to navigate. Each season brings new drama and unexpected moments that require quick thinking and decisive action behind the scenes.
