‘Below Deck Mediterranean’ Season 5 Makes History With Three Females Leading The Yacht

By Lea Palmieri @littleleap
Published June 1, 2020, 11:00 a.m. ET

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Below Deck Mediterranean is back for Season 5, and while the Bravo series is typically the perfect summer escape show, this season, it’s also making history. For the first time across the Below Deck franchise, there is a female leader in all three of the yacht’s top positions: Captain Sandy Yawn as the captain of the boat, Hannah Ferrier as the chief stew, and Malia White as bosun.

Decider spoke with all three of the women about the season ahead, the pressures they faced in each role, and how they worked together. “These three women are all natural-born leaders,” executive producer Nadine Rajabi told Decider. “They command respect and are respected. They have put in the work and really know what it takes to run a tight ship, while still taking time to have a laugh. I love that they all possess a really human side to the way they lead, but at end of the day, they don’t take any sh*t from their crew.”

She also said, “I think now more than ever is the time to have women in a leadership position. What I love about it all is that gender doesn’t matter. Captain Sandy isn’t a great female captain — she’s a great captain, period. The yachting industry is very male-dominated, but every year more and more women are becoming involved. I’ve actually talked to a lot of fans that have told me that they’ve signed up for their yachting certification courses to pursue a career in yachting just from watching the series. It’s so inspiring to see. What’s crazy is you can look at the show and think, ‘Oh, this is a show about a yacht with the one-percenters and the people who work on the boat,’ however, you can relate all of these situations to any workplace. Often times when I’m with Captain Sandy, people stop her and say how they try to put her leadership philosophies into practice. Now that’s cool!”

“I love our show because it shows that women can achieve a deck role,” Captain Sandy said, adding that she gets emails from females in the industry frustrated that they’ve been placed in interior roles — and she encourages them to pass on those positions until they are granted the exterior roles they deserve. Malia, who previously appeared on the show during Season 2 as a deckhand but is now serving as bosun said, “I think it’s a growing part of the industry, to have girls on deck.” She knew all eyes would be on her in the leadership role and admitted, “There’s a lot of anxieties stepping up into a bosun’s position, especially on the vessel that we are on. Also, because I have been on the show before, I wanted to come back and show what else I’m made of. I’m better as a bosun.” She didn’t take for granted that she was stepping into what has typically been known as a male-dominated role on the boat, but with help from Below Deck Med, she is now able to show people that females in the industry, “We are out there, and that we do do these roles. We can keep up. We can do it just the same. It’s not a gender thing, it’s a skill thing. Which is the same for a lot of industries, and I think a lot of women are fighting for that same thing.”

And viewers will learn she is more than capable of doing the job, explaining that after her first season on the show she “jumped into a lot of coursework” which means earning her 100 Ton Captain’s License, 200 Ton Captain’s License, on top of deck courses and engineering courses. Oh, and then there’s the part where she’s worked on boats to gain first-hand experience. “I worked on a range of different size boats all over the world now. I think what a lot of people don’t realize is, to be on deck, you actually have to do a lot of schooling if you want to succeed.”

She continued, “I think this time around I understand the yachting industry a little bit more. The first season, I was green. I was super worried about knowing the boat and being able to keep up. Now, I have a few years under my belt and I felt a lot more comfortable with the yachting knowledge and terms and rules.” And she’s not stopping at bosun either, explaining that she is on track to be a yacht captain. “The next step for me is I want to become a first officer. I’m continually doing courses when I have time. Once I finish my courses, I can sit my exam to be a chief officer, which is basically the right-hand man to the captain. Or woman, I guess.”

“My first season with her, I witnessed some things in Malia that I thought she’d make a great captain, as a leader,” Captain Sandy said. “She’s a great diffuser. She’s direct. She’s funny. She’s smart. And having her back, for me, is incredible. Now I’m curious to witness how she leads. I think the viewers are really going to enjoy witnessing Malia transform into a leader.”

“Captain Sandy’s definitely a huge role model,” Malia said. “I think that having her as the first captain I worked under has really changed my career trajectory. Had it been a male captain, I might not have been as influenced to pursue yachting. She’s definitely always pushed me to keep succeeding and keep trying, pushing boundaries. That’s been huge because it’s not often you get another female role model in this position.”

Malia admits that stepping into the bosun role was “A huge challenge and it’s one that I didn’t know if I was ready for. It’s one thing when other people tell you… Captain Sandy, said, ‘You’re ready, you’re ready’. But until you actually do it, you don’t really believe in yourself. I wasn’t very confident going in, but then I found my rhythm, I think. We’ve seen guys in this position so much that we forget that there could be another way to do things.”

So will the three male deckhands (Pete Hunziker, Alex Radcliffe, and Robert Westergaard) that work underneath her listen and respect her as their superior? “They don’t always want to learn from a girl, and that’s life.” But Malia was sure to give them the same opportunities and experiences she was afforded as a deckhand and said, “I think guys are getting used to girls being in charge. Hopefully they are. I think it does take a little adjustment period, just getting used to having the female presence around. Not as much guy talk all the time. Sometimes they have to clean it up a little bit. But also, I think it’s new and exciting for them as well.”

Though she did try to take most of the “guy talk” in stride, as she’s been around it her whole life. “I grew up with five brothers so I’m definitely used to just hanging with the boys. But there’s also a respect thing. As much as it’s just, ‘Hey, treat me as one of the boys,’ what I mean by that is, you don’t have to be on eggshells because you’ve got a girl around. There has to be a level of respect that’s going to be in any professional atmosphere. Whether it’s on deck, or in an office, it has to be respectful.”

That means, as some will learn the hard way, not using terms of endearment on your damn boss. “There’s no calling me sweetie on deck,” Malia stated. “Unless they all want to be called sweetie, then we can all be sweeties. But I don’t think they’d like it either. You definitely wouldn’t call a male bosun sweetie, or a male captain sweetie. So Captain Sandy and I definitely aren’t going to be sweethearts. Some people come from different backgrounds. The way you’re raised, or where you’re raised, you’re used to calling women sweetie or ma’am. It might not be in a negative way, but they do need to realize it sometimes doesn’t feel nice.”

In a way, the tables have turned for Malia, who spent her first season on the show fielding romantic interest from her bosun Wes and chef Adam. She’s now in a long-term relationship with yacht chef Tom Checketts, but reflected back on what she’s learned from her previous boatmances. “After my first season, I had this, ‘Oh my gosh, you shouldn’t hook up with people on boats.’ And then I joined the yachting industry and it’s like, everyone hooks up with people on boats. That’s just what happens. I don’t really think I would have done it much differently. Maybe not hurt people as much.” So while it won’t be her engaging in new romances on the boat, it will be other crew members. “I guess my advice is that you’re only human,” Malia offered. “Do what you want to do, especially when you’re young. Girls shouldn’t feel any weight to not play the field. That’s a total double standard, and I still stand by that.”

The only relationship she will need to worry about on the boat is that with the chief stew. “I think Hannah and I, we’ve always not really known how we feel about each other. We’ve gone through roller coasters. I have nothing against Hannah. I think she’s a cool person. To be honest, I felt more comfortable having Hannah as the chief stew than a complete random one. Because at least I know Hannah, I know her work ethic and I know what I’m dealing with. It was kind of comforting to come back to people I knew.”

When I asked Hannah if she was optimistic about working with Malia again, she replied in her signature blunt fashion, “I wouldn’t use the word ‘optimistic.’ But I wasn’t pessimistic, so, progress.”

“I think there were definitely some reservations,” Hannah continued. “I found her a little bit snakey last time I worked with her. But at the same time, it’s a very long charter season. As bosun and chief, she and I work very closely together. So you just kind of have to let bygones be bygones and hope for the best. You can’t start a charter season with beef with someone. It’s just not going to work, and it’s exhausting.”

“As long as they’re doing their job, the thing with the bosun is that it’s a lot about safety. It doesn’t take a lot to remember to put the water toys out, and bring them in, and do night watch,” Hannah said. But where it matters between the two leaders, she said of Malia, “Yeah, she was fine in terms of communication.” In fact, the whole “girl power” vibe wasn’t quite Hannah’s focus as she stated, “I just want to work with people that aren’t assholes. I don’t really care if you’re a man or a woman, just don’t be an asshole. That’s where I focus.”

And her new stews, Lara Flumiani and Jessica More, will surely give her enough to focus on. I asked if she was hopeful she’d have two great stews that she got along with, as she did with Anastasia Surmava and Aesha Scott last season. “I was a little nervous that wouldn’t be the case,” Hannah admitted with a laugh. “Out of the four [previous] seasons, it’s only happened once. So I figured I’d have a 25 percent chance of that happening again.”

She also had her relationship with Captain Sandy to consider. At the end of Season 4, Captain Sandy pushed Hannah to care more about tablescapes, telling the chief stew she wasn’t passionate about her job. “It was a little frustrating because I feel like I really just put my head down, worked hard,” Hannah said. “What I am passionate about is making sure the guests have the most amazing time. I might not be passionate about how the engines work, or I might not want to stay in yachting for the rest of my life. But if I’m coming on the boat, and I’m going, ‘My job is to give the guests the best experience,’ then I am passionate about the service side of my job, and making sure they have fun. With every season with Sandy, I kind of hit the reset button and hope for the best.”

“Her passion is to be the client, not to serve them,” Captain Sandy said of Hannah. “I believe Hannah’s coming back this season because she not only wants to prove to herself that she’s got these tablescapes, but also show me. I don’t care what anyone says, you want to impress your boss. It does feel good. It does feel rewarding. She always starts on a good, strong note. If she can keep all her stews, and carry this through and wow the guests with the table settings, that would be epic for me.”

And while Hannah said she did come armed with photos, research and ideas for this season, she explains of designing tablescapes, “You either have that or you don’t. It’s like somebody picks up a paintbrush — I can do a stick figure with some pigtails. That’s me. Whereas some people will pick up a paintbrush and do a beautiful painting. That is the artistic side of it. It just doesn’t come naturally to me. There are other priorities that really affect the guests’ experience, and that’s what I prioritize over table decor. I look at it like what I would want? If I was on a yacht, I wouldn’t mind too much what the table looked like. I would want my champagne glass full. I don’t know how to work with fake flowers.”

She’s also less concerned with putting together a table than she is with putting together a smile — her way of showing she takes her role seriously and does have passion for taking the guests’ experience into consideration. “It doesn’t matter what’s going on in my life, I have to go and be smiley and happy, even if I just got reamed in the galley by Sandy.”

And that’s not the only reason Hannah’s got a smile on her face — this was also the first season she’s filmed while being in a committed relationship with a boyfriend back home in Australia. “I actually met him the day after I landed from filming Season 4,” she revealed of her mystery man who she’s been with since the fall of 2018. “It was definitely hard to be away from him. By nature, I’m quite a flirtatious person. I’d been single for such a long time that I think I was more conscious just to be respectful of him. I think that you should treat someone how you would like to be treated.”

“I think this season will have a lot of ups and downs,” Nadine said. “As a producer, I don’t love seeing the downs, but it’s real life and just like the viewers, we are watching it unfold in real-time. It’s the takeaway that’s important. I truly hope the viewers of the show will find it as fascinating to watch as it was as fascinating to capture. I really do believe the Below Deck franchises are such a great study of human behavior. I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks. We are all in for a wild ride. Maybe the wildest yet!”

It’s true — Below Deck Mediterranean is taking on a new location this season sailing around Spain, which Captin Sandy described as “Epic, incredible, beautiful, and sunny,” but when it comes to the new sailing vessel, The Wellington, well, she had not so many positive adjectives to use. She did admit it was “beautiful,” pointing to the fact that it’s so large it even comes with a cigar room. “Obviously the boat’s gorgeous. But it was a tough boat. It was just hard for me,” because of its massive size. “Grateful for the boat, for our filming. But other than that, I will never drive that thing. To me, it’s not worth the stress.” It’s a good thing she doesn’t feel that way about managing the personalities on this boat because those are sure to cause her some stress this season as well.

Below Deck Mediterranean airs Monday at 9pm ET/PT on Bravo. 

Where to stream Below Deck Mediterranean