What first made you want to work on a yacht?
Travel, first of all, and the money. I really feel like I can do anything I put my mind to. As left-field as it probably seemed to my friends and family, for me, I was like, “This is perfect for me.” I bartend, I already work in hospitality. I’d rather do this on a mega-yacht in some exotic location and save money while I’m doing it.
How did being filmed, while you were making [“Below Deck Sailing Yacht”], how did that affect the work you do?
I definitely don’t think being filmed made my job any different than it normally is — only when I would bump into a camera person, or they would fall down the stairs backward on accident. I’d be like, “Oh my God, are you okay?” And then it’s like, “Oh shoot, I can’t talk to you.” That was a little weird, not being able to talk to my other off-camera coworkers in terms of the cameramen and the sound people. Aside from that, I did my job exactly how I would on any boat.
There was a little bit of pressure to do my job extra well because there’s an audience watching back home that would be like, “She didn’t do that right.” I wanted to represent all the boats I have worked on really well and all of the Chief Stews that I’ve come across during my career. I wanted to make yachties watching proud, like, “Oh, she really does know what she’s doing.” There’s a little bit of added pressure, but I forgot the cameras were there half the time.
It looks like, when you’re watching, that it’s already really close quarters. Was it ever hard when you have the cameraman added into where there’s already not a lot of space?
Yes, but mostly in the crew quarters, in the hallway going up the stairs to my cabin and in between the laundry room. That was the part where you’re like, “Ph, excuse me. I’m going to squeeze right past ya. Pardon me. Excuse me. I got somewhere to go.” In our cabins, when Ashley and I are talking while we’re getting ready, and then a camera guy comes in out of nowhere, and we’re like, “Ah! Oh.” It’s three of us in this tiny cabin and a huge camera. That was interesting.
Did you have any privacy at all while you were on the show?
There is no privacy in yachting. There is no privacy in boating. Where there are cameras in your cabin, and you’re sleeping, or changing, or whatever, climbing in the bed and with your underwear on, you’re just like, “Oh, there’s ten people in the control room that are seeing me naked right now.” You’re like, “Whatever. It is what it is.”
