Below Deck Season 12 keeps barreling right along, and the drama keeps heating up.
While most of the drama has been thanks to the crew this season, a tip left by one group of charter guests has caused a slew of backlash. There was a five-day charter featuring male adult entertainers that went off pretty much without a hitch.
The eight guests seemed very pleased with the experience. Even the primary gushed over the trip before handing Captain Kerry Titheradge the tip.
However, when the crew had their tip meeting, Captain Kerry admitted the tip did not reflect the crew’s fantastic job on the charter. The tip for five days and eight guests was $19,990, with each crew member receiving $1,500.
The low tip earned the guests a lot of backlash, but one of the guests, Tony Genius, has set the record straight. Tony appeared on the Above Deck Podcast to address the tip drama.
“What we were advised, let me say this from, and all that stuff was this was the kind of tip we, that should be, you know, given. So, we were like ‘okay cool.’ You know this is the amount of money it costs; here’s a percentage of the tip that you guys [production] say that we should do, and here’s what ends up,” he said, referring to the advice production gave them and the edit they got regarding the tip.
Tony’s in the service industry, so he knows how important it is to tip. That being said, he still places the blame on production.
“I just think unbeknownst to us, we thought what we were giving was appropriate. And we weren’t really guided any further on that,” Tony expressed.
The charter guest admitted the episode was filmed over a year ago, and the guests knew production wasn’t just going to let them be on a show without any drama. Tony does 100% agree that his group should have left a better tip.
It’s certainly not the first time there has been drama surrounding a tip on Below Deck, and we all know it won’t be the last.
What do you think of Tony’s tip explanation? Sound off in the comments section.
Below Deck airs Mondays at 8/7c on Bravo.
