This Below Deck Mediterranean Moment Changed Production on the Series Forever
Below Deck producer Nadine Rajabi spilled all the behind-the-scenes secrets at BravoCon 2019.
What goes on behind the camera is just as jaw-dropping as what appears onscreen in your favorite Bravo shows.
That was confirmed during BravoCon's The Real Tea with Bravo Producers panel presented by Pure Leaf at Skylight Modern in New York City on Saturday, November 16. Bravo TV producers Aaron Rothman (Southern Charm), Bill Langworthy (Vanderpump Rules), Lorraine Haughton Lawson (The Real Housewives of Atlanta, The Real Housewives of Potomac), and Nadine Rajabi (Below Deck, Below Deck Mediterranean) revealed all the insider secrets of their respective series in a panel moderated by The Hollywood Reporter's Evan Real.
Of course, with so many seasons under all of these beloved series' belts, they have each gone through some changes since they first hit our TV screens. The way Below Deck and Below Deck Med have evolved over the years has especially given fans more access to the yachties' lives during the charter season.
Rajabi explained that production has greatly expanded the scope of coverage of the high-seas series since their first seasons.
"I think with Below Deck, it's funny, aside from the cast because we have fresh yachties and a lot of turnover because that's how the yachting industry is, for us, it's more the evolution of production because back when we first started, we didn't have that many surveillance cameras because the boat's not that big. How much can you actually cover? We had like eight to 10 surveillance cameras. And then we started missing things," she said. "We realized if we put more cameras and the boat was always running audio, we could hear everything. And so, that's how the show's evolved. You guys have seen the show has grown and there are more stories coming out because we're able to hear more and more stuff's happening. Before it was happening, and we just couldn't hear it. Now we have close to 18 surveillance cameras, so we're always rolling 24 hours a day, and we don't miss anything."
She added, "Our show's just kind of become on steroids because everything is being covered."
Season 2 of Below Deck Med really changed the game for how the production team documented the crew. Rajabi recalled how she and the rest of the production team had no idea that Adam Glick and Malia White had previously met before they stepped foot on the yacht during their SCTW yachting certification course. "They came on the boat, and they pretended to just meet for the first time. So we had no idea," Rajabi said. "All of a sudden, I hear Adam say, 'What about Santorini? What about all this stuff?' And I'm like, 'Wait a minute, a person who just met another human being like a week-and-a-half ago would not be talking about these elaborate trips unless he wants to wear her skin to his birthday party. He's not that crazy.' I'm like, 'They know each other.'"
When Rajabi first confronted Adam and Malia about this, she said they initially both denied knowing each other prior to Season 2 of Below Deck Med before ultimately coming clean.
And then Malia said she wasn't hooking up with Adam or Wes Walton during interviews with producers during the season. "So I didn't trust her, so I put a camera up in the bridge, which is where they do their anchor watch. The reason there's a camera now in the bridge is actually because of that one season. So we put a GoPro before I left the boat, and we planted a mic, and we see Malia and Wes [kiss]," Rajabi revealed (check out the show moment, above). "I was like, 'I knew it!' I was so disappointed in Malia for not telling me the truth. I was like, 'God, I trusted her!'"
Rajabi wasn't alone in her feelings about Malia. "Adam finds out. He overhears, and I remember in an interview he was so upset, so distraught that he didn't even want to have an interview. So I said, 'Adam, let's just talk.' And he just sat there and was like going off. 'Look at this text message, look at this text message.' He just went off," she said (check out the moment from the show, below). "And you know what, at that point, we just had to air that interview because it was so real and raw and the way we showed it, we found out as producers, and that was the biggest thing, like, you have to break the fourth wall or else it doesn't even make sense."
Sounds like we have Malia, Wes, and Adam to thank for many of the juicy Below Deck moments we've seen ever since!
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