In this bonus episode of The Real Pod, Alex Casey and Duncan Greive discuss the recent incident of misconduct on Below Deck Down Under. 

Over at The Real Pod we’re big fans of the Below Deck, a hugely successful reality franchise which follows the hardworking crews on super yachts around the world. Dealing with entitled guests, impossibly small living quarters, unpredictable weather conditions and inevitable love triangles, it has even been called the perfect amalgamation of every great reality TV show.

Although known for high drama and ridiculous fun onboard, Below Deck Down Under put the “real” into reality TV this month after a serious incident of misconduct made headlines around the world. In this bonus episode of The Real Pod, we discuss what happened on board, how the production reacted, and what it says about how far both reality television and society has come.

Special mention is also made of Tauranga-born chief steward Aesha Scott, who has used her platform on Below Deck to start important conversations around consent. “Women, and actually everyone, have the right to go out and have fun and feel safe,” Scott shared on social media following the airing of the episode. “There’s no questions or ifs or buts, that is the end of it.”

This is not the first time that Scott has spoken out about sexual violence on the show. In 2020, during Below Deck Mediterranean, she criticised her then-love interest Jack after he made a joke about rape, revealing that she had survived sexual assault. She told The Spinoff in 2022 that she still gets messages about that moment from women all over the world.

“They say watching me saying that was the first time they’ve been able to tell their partner or their family about it,” she said. “I never knew that I would be able to have that much power to let other women not feel ashamed about it.”

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