Even Jeremy Allen White Loves ‘Below Deck’

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | December 15, 2023 |

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | December 15, 2023 |

Last night I was at a holiday party, chatting with a coworker. We’d covered the cursory holiday party chat and were looking for a new subject.

“I don’t watch a lot of Bravo,” she started. My ears perked up and I took another sip of my Prosecco because I knew what was coming next. “But I love Below Deck.”

We immediately started volleying back and forth.

“Natalya was crazy but Kyle needs to chill.”

“Jess is too sweet for Luca. He’s a Scorpio!”

“Have you seen Sailing Yacht?”

At some point more people gathered ‘round to join in. Men, women, children—good people of all ages, stopping their idle chit-chat to talk about what really matters. Just kidding, it was just us, but I’ve had that exact excited exchange with people of every race, religion, and creed because even reality TV haters can get behind Below Deck. Even, apparently, Jeremey Allen White.

White and his Iron Claw co-stars, Zac Efron and Harris Dickinson, did a “puppy interview” with BuzzFeed, which is exactly what it sounds like. When asked about their guilty pleasures, Dickinson said, “I do love reality, reality is interesting,” which could have meant something else entirely, but then White jumped in to say, “Below Deck. I watch Below Deck often.”

“There’s so many seasons of it,” Dickinson said.

“You can pop in at any time,” White added.

Efron, for his part, said The Bear was his guilty pleasure, but that’s not why we’re here.

Below Deck is so universally liked because yes, there are so many seasons of it and yes, you can pop in at any time and be entertained. There are recurring characters (like Natalya and Kyle), but you don’t need to know anything about them or their previous seasons to enjoy watching. It’s the one reality show that can’t be staged, scripted, or made up in any way. A luxury yacht is a treasure trove of interesting processes and occurrences, and the people it attracts are treasure troves of personality and potential for conflict. That rarest of combos is reality TV gold.