‘Below Deck’ Is the ‘Downton Abbey’ America Deserves

The recent departure of Downton Abbey from the airwaves has left a real vacuum in the lives of viewers who enjoy watching servants judge the rich people who employ them. PBS’ runaway hit series documented turn of 20th Century England through the eyes of the Crawley family for six seasons, but unbeknownst to many, Bravo has updated the series for modern times. Swapping the English countryside for the seven seas, Below Deck captures modern 20-somethings who have traded the luxuries of modern day life to sleep in the hull of a boat that caters to wealthy, sunbathing jabronis. When they’re done with their duties, the crew binge drinks until they’ve created their own drama. Really, this is the servant show our culture deserves.

While Downton Abbey was rich with tension between traditionalists resisting the pull of modern times, many of the standards and obsessions that chief butler Carson upheld were lost on modern viewers (Queen Elizabeth is probably one of the only people who could notice the inconsistencies he frets over). Meanwhile, Below Deck allows the rest of us to judge the nouveau riche of today for their frivolous spending habits and silly food requests. Gone are the brushes with royalty and trappings of Lords and Ladies of the English court, but the uniforms and the exacting standards for the crew of these yachts remain. They’re just punctuated by terrible decision making, skinny dipping and hookups during off hours.

Bravo has perfected the formula for drama on the high seas with the crew of yachties who have appeared on Below Deck for the past three seasons (available to stream on the BravoNow app, or you can purchase on Amazon or iTunes), and last week they launched the spin-off show Below Deck: Mediterranean. Below Deck takes the original reality premise from The Real World and twists it with seven (to ten) strangers were picked to live in a floating closet.

The series has thoroughly updated the upstairs/downstairs concept for the modern age. With the advent of social media, paparazzi no longer need to stalk celebrities for the rest of us to get access into the lives of the rich and famous. Celebrities do it themselves on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. But there’s something much more entertaining about viewing the lives of the upper class through the eyes of those that serve them. You get an entirely different view of someone when you see how they are observed versus what they choose to share with the world.

And just as the audience adjusts to the judgment that the yachties reserve for their employers’ terrible decisions, we’re quickly turning that lens on the crew, as the yachties begin to display horrible behavior of their own.

As much as reality television cameras should make people aware that they’re being watched, they often exacerbate bad behavior. It helps when there’s alcohol involved, and Bravo’s producers know enough to keep their reality stars well-lubricated. But while behemoth shows like the Real Housewives franchises seem designed to feature ladies who luxuriate in wealth rather than create it —working women are usually outliers in these casts— the crew of Below Deck have novel skills in the reality world. Which is to say, they have actual skills. Even Bravo’s other server show, Vanderpump Rules, seems designed to feature attractive young things who are rather unqualified to accomplish the things they were supposedly hired to do — like mixing cocktails and feeding people food. Meanwhile, the deckhands, chefs and stewardesses of Below Deck are well-trained and (usually) execute their responsibilities with precision.

Chef Ben, one of the only crossover cast members in Below Deck: Mediterranean, can create a six course, gourmet meal in the hull of a boat on choppy seas. The stewardess crew delivers white glove service more attentive than most four star hotels, and the deckhands keep their massive vessel humming in often dangerous waters. But as soon as they are off duty, the drama escalates. As Ben says this season, “Being on a yacht is a volatile social climate.” While the charter guests luxuriate above, the yacht crew sleeps, eats and (sometimes) gets it on in in the cramped quarters below. Their reward? Very generous tips, sometimes as high as $5,000, for the indignities they suffer at the hands of the charter guests. Past crew members have had to strip their shirts off, dress up like mermaids and wear degrading costumes to please the guests. This season is being teased with tears, crew hook ups and an EMT appearance after an electrical fire.

There is vague adult supervision in the guise of a captain who, in characteristic Below Deck fashion, threatens to send his staffers home with a plane ticket if they fail to meet his standards. But when the captain is off duty, well, “ship happens.”

[Where to stream Below Deck]
[Where to stream Below Deck: Mediterranean]

Meghan Graham (@keanesian) is a writer/editor in NY who really wishes she had fit some more puns about going “below deck” into this essay.