‘Below Deck’ Producer Reveals Whether Hannah Ferrier Return for ‘Down Under,’ More Cast Secrets

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‘Below Deck’ Producer Reveals Whether Hannah Ferrier Return for 'Down Under,' More Cast Secrets

Navigating choppy waters! Below Deck producer Mark Cronin dished to Us Weekly about the Bravo series, its spinoffs and whether Hannah Ferrier could return to the franchise. “I wouldn't have any trouble with her back on the show,” the longtime Bravo producer exclusively told Us on Friday, August 5, while promoting Below Deck Mediterranean’s two 2022 Emmy nominations. “I don't think she could work for [Captain] Sandy [Yawn], but yeah, she could work for another captain.” Ferrier, 35, and Yawn, 57, made headlines in August 2020 after the chief stew was fired for having Valium and a CBD vape pen in her cabin during the season 5 Below Deck Mediterranean charter. On Friday, Cronin weighed in on the two women’s ongoing drama which first started when Yawn replaced Captain Mark Howard for season 2 of the reality series. “They're two very powerful people, very opinionated, both very good at their jobs. It is possible for two very powerful, opinionated, good at the jobs people to not agree and clash and butt heads,” he explained. “Hannah didn't like a lot of Sandy's management style. Sandy didn't like a lot of Hannah's management style and they tolerated each other for a little while, but eventually it came to its inevitable end.” [sendtonews type="float" key="MECA5nTZfZ-2832758-14453"] Cronin added: “A captain can't keep a person in the highest service position on the boat, who they don't completely, you know, buy into. … It doesn’t mean I think Hannah couldn’t step onto any yacht she wants anywhere and be the best chiefs stew that yacht ever had. And likewise with Sandy she could step onto any boat and be the best captain that boat ever had. It really just comes down a personality issue.” The Emmy-nominated producer explained that a lot happens on the yachts that the TV crew doesn’t control, nor do they want to interfere. That rule includes personnel changes like Ferrier’s firing as well as on-yacht hookups. While fans have seen many crew members get romantic on the Bravo series, the TV stars are very aware of where to go to get privacy, according to Cronin. “Their cabins have surveillance cameras in them all the time. And they know that they're not hidden cameras. They're sitting there,” he told Us. “So it's not like there's a secret that there's a camera. And that's why often a lot of the hookups happen in the guest areas where there are no surveillance cameras.” Scroll down to learn more behind-the-scenes secrets from the Below Deck producer: [podcast_block]

Credit: Laurent Basset/Bravo

When Do the Hookups Really Go Down?

“It's up to the captain to some extent, you know, how the boat gets used. Different captains have different feelings about using guest areas,” the producer explained, noting that most of the show’s hookups take place when there aren’t guests. “The truth of the yachting business is that when there's no guests on board or no owners aboard the boat, that the boat really is for them. They do use the hot tub and they do use the guest cabins occasionally.”

Cronin noted that if the reality stars want to use the guest cabins or other locations when they aren’t occupied they are in charge of cleaning up after themselves. The same goes for any and all hookups. “People who wanna hook up there's no — we don't control that. That's up to them,” he continued. “We don’t shoot. We're not doing a porn show.” Cronin explained that when they do see a couple going into a room they briefly step in to make sure everything’s on the up and up and then let it play out accordingly.

“The way that works is if two cast members go into a cabin to hook up a guest cabin where we have no camera, we actually stop open the door and say, ‘Is everybody consensual in this situation? Is everybody comfortable?’” he said. “And if we get two yeses, it's all good. We'll back out and shut the door and that'll be that.”

Credit: Laurent Bassett/Bravo

How Scripted Are the Shows?

Cronin told Us that the Below Deck series are “zero scripted” unlike many reality TV shows. “These are Yachtys, they're real kids. And it's very important to us that they have a real experience, a real yachting experience,” he said. “The way we look at it is we have a six week shoot and we have to capture everything that happens.”

The Bravo employee confessed that it’s “really hard to capture everything” during that time span which doesn’t leave room to stop and direct the workers on what to say. “We don't spend any time telling anybody what to do. That's for sure. If we say anything to them about how they could help us out or be better it's, ‘please talk,’” Cronin explained. “The most common thing is the, like, you'll have two stews making a bed and they're in total silence. So, we'll go the cameraman and say, ‘Guys how about a conversation?’ And then we'll leave.”

Credit: Laurent Basset/Bravo

Are There Replacements on Standby?

The Below Deck Mediterranean producer revealed that while they do fire some stars, it’s not always easy to find a new crew member to fill their spot. Usually, it takes time to sort out a proper replacement. “We always had cast members who didn't quite make it and we'd always, like, keep them in the back of our mind that if we needed [someone they were an option],” Cronin said, noting that some of the ship’s roles can’t be swapped out as easy as others.

During the COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions, however, Bravo took extra precautions for possible personal changes. The network chose to have people on call because of the quarantine rules. “Bravo spent the extra money to have replacement cast members waiting in a hotel in case somebody got fired,” Cronin told Us. “I think it was like one deck, one stew and a chef and we just stuck them in a hotel and they had to sit there and quarantine and if nobody got fired, they never got on the show.”

Credit: Karolina Wojtasik/Bravo

Could We See Hannah Ferrier on ‘Below Deck Down Under’?

While Ferrier was fired, Cronin told Us it doesn’t affect her eligibility to appear on another show in the franchise. When asked whether she would join the Below Deck Down Under cast now that she’s in Australia, the producer said he was open to the idea.

“She could be [part of the show],” he said, revealing, “She's not, but she could be. She's actually kind of retired from yachting and has a baby and kind of a new life.”

Cronin teased, “She may come back. It happens sometimes if people take some time off of themselves and then come back to yachting and there's nothing wrong with Hannah's qualifications to be top class chief stew.”

Credit: Laurent Basset/Bravo(2)

Where Do Dani Soares and Jean-Luc Cerza Lanaux Stand?

Following their time on season 2 of Below Deck Sailing Yacht, Jean-Luc Cerza Lanaux and Dani Soares made headlines for their paternity scandal. In April 2021, Soares revealed she was pregnant and news quickly spread that it was Cerza Lanaux’s child. It wasn’t until January 2022 that the North Carolina native confirmed he was the father of Soares baby girl, Lilly Rose.

“It's such a personal thing between the two of them,” Cronin told Us of the drama. “I will say I'm sad, you know, I'm glad there's a new person and all but I'm kind of sad that they have to live, you know, in different continents and that they didn't have it sorted.”

He continued: “Those two did not have this sorted out. They didn't have a plan for how they were gonna be a family. That never existed on either one of their parts.” Despite all the controversy surrounding the arrival of Lilly, Cronin said he’s happy to see Soares “thriving as a single mother.” He noted that Cerza Lanaux is “doing the best he can.”

Credit: Laurent Basset/Bravo

What’s the Pay Scale on the Show?

“They get paid their yachting salary and then we give them a little extra because we interview them. The truth is they also get to keep their tips,” Cronin said. “And the tips are getting better and better. So they're all making, I don't know, tens of thousands more for six weeks of work. I mean that's pretty great.”

The TV worker explained that they recommend the guest tip the crew 15 to 20 percent of the full charter cost. He noted that the stars’ base salary does vary based on how many seasons they’ve worked with Bravo and their role on the ship.

“The cast is hired based on their position on the boat and paid what a Yachty would get paid for that position. Plus, like a little extra for the fact that we have to bring them out for extra interviews,” Cronin continued. “If a cast member gets to, like, season 3, they start saying things like, ‘Can I be making more than this because I'm giving up other work?’ And it's a negotiation and you come to an agreement with them about what we can pay them.”

Credit: YouTube

What Can Fans Expect From ‘Below Deck Adventure’?

Cronin dished on the upcoming Below Deck spinoff, which filmed in Norway, but has yet to get a release date. “Even Norway's warmest months are colder than you're used to seeing on Below Deck,” he told Us, explaining that the series will highlight expedition yachting on specific “icebreaker yachts” that fans haven’t seen before. “They’re for the people who are not quite the sit with a cocktail on the beach [type of people]. They wanna climb something and jump off it.”

With reporting by Diana Cooper