Every Below Deck Franchise Ranked — Which Show Is Actually Best

Ranking the Below Deck franchise has gotten complicated with all the hot takes flying around. Reddit threads, Facebook groups, group chats — Bravo fans have been relitigating this since at least 2015. As someone who has watched every season of every spinoff — some twice, one of them (Sailing Yacht Season 2) probably four times — I learned everything there is to know about this franchise. Today, I will share it all with you.

Strong opinions ahead. The kind that will genuinely irritate at least two specific factions of the fanbase. Good. There are currently five shows in the Below Deck universe: the original, Mediterranean, Sailing Yacht, Down Under, and the short-lived Adventure. They are not equal. Not even close.

Below Deck Original — The One That Started It All

Launched in 2013 on Bravo, the original Below Deck gave us the template. Motor yacht. Caribbean or Florida or somewhere with that specific shade of turquoise water. A rotating cast of type-A deck crew, exhausted stews, and at least one chef melting down by episode four. Captain Lee Rosbach at the helm — looking like your grandfather if your grandfather had zero patience for nonsense and owned exclusively collared shirts.

The original is the benchmark, and nostalgia is real, but that’s not actually why. It’s the benchmark because the dramatic cast moments during the Captain Lee era are genuinely some of the best reality television ever made. Season 3 alone — Eddie and Rocky, the “bosun overboard” chaos, that ethical spiral that made everyone slightly uncomfortable — felt like a scripted drama that forgot it was unscripted. Kate Chastain as chief stew defined what that role looked like across the entire franchise. Sharp, funny, occasionally terrifying in a way that felt earned. She’d actually worked those charter seasons. It showed.

Probably should have opened with this section, honestly, because it frames why every other show struggles to match the original’s energy. Captain Lee didn’t call crew meetings to cry. He called them to fire people — usually with one devastating sentence. The formula exists because this show proved it worked.

Seasons 6 and 7 are where it peaked. After that, without Kate and eventually without Captain Lee, the show started searching. Still watchable. Just not unmissable.

What Holds It Back

The rotating chefs became almost comedic. By episode two of any given season, you already knew whether that chef was going to implode. And when Captain Lee’s health kept him off the boat in Season 10, no temporary captain could fix what was missing. Sandy stepped in briefly. That transition felt like wearing someone else’s shoes — technically functional, deeply wrong.

Below Deck Mediterranean — Captain Sandy Polarization

Nobody in this franchise divides the fanbase like Captain Sandy Yawn. Not even close. But what is the Sandy Yawn effect, exactly? In essence, it’s a split between viewers who see a principled captain holding her crew to a real standard and viewers who see a micromanager creating drama for camera time. But it’s much more than that — I’ve been on both sides of that argument in the same week. Not a joke.

Below Deck Med launched in 2016. It immediately had something the original didn’t — European filming locations. Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Italy. That visual richness matters more than people admit. When you’re watching six strangers argue about who pulled their weight on service, the backdrop of Dubrovnik makes it feel like a movie. That’s what makes Med endearing to us franchise obsessives.

The Hannah Ferrier era is the best version of this show. Hannah was polarizing herself, which helped. Her friction with Sandy felt genuinely rooted in different philosophies — how a chief stew should operate, what accountability looks like, who gets to define professional. When Sandy fired Hannah in Season 5 for having undisclosed medication on board — a CBD pen and prescription Valium — the internet split into factions that still haven’t rejoined. Was it justified? Was Malia White setting up a colleague? The show never resolved it cleanly. That’s exactly why nobody stopped thinking about it.

I’m apparently someone who watched the Hannah firing episode three times and landed in a different place each time. Don’t make my mistake. Pick a lane and stay there. Your blood pressure will thank you.

The Post-Hannah Problem

After Hannah left, Med struggled. Several chief stews came and went — no impression, no friction, no foil for Sandy. The casting occasionally felt like it was assembled from a spreadsheet. Still, those locations keep delivering. A strong charter guest or two can salvage almost any episode. It’s the most debated show in the franchise. That counts for something even when the casting doesn’t.

Below Deck Sailing Yacht — The Underrated Favorite

Sailing Yacht has gotten a reputation with all the “it’s too slow” discourse flying around from people who gave it one episode and quit. Those people are wrong. This is the best show in the Below Deck universe — full stop, no hedging.

It premiered in 2020 aboard the Parsifal III and immediately felt different. Actual sailing changes the show’s rhythm. Guests engage differently when they’re on a working sailboat rather than a floating hotel. The crew actually has to know what they’re doing. Captain Glenn Shephard — quietly competent, never raising his voice, seemingly built from some material that doesn’t produce cortisol — creates an onboard atmosphere that makes the interpersonal drama feel real rather than manufactured.

And then there’s Gary King. First officer across multiple seasons. The most watchable crew member in the entire franchise — self-aware enough to know he’s the problem in certain situations, not self-aware enough to actually change. His dynamic with chief stew Daisy Kelliher is the franchise’s best slow-burn. They bicker constantly, obviously like each other, and neither will fully admit it for multiple seasons running. Season 3, filmed in the Mediterranean and Greek islands, might be the best single season any Below Deck show has produced. That was 2022, if you’re keeping track.

One mistake I made early: I skipped Season 1 because reviews were mixed and jumped straight to Season 2. Do not do this. The context matters. Go back, watch it in order, even if the early episodes are slower. By the midpoint of Season 2, you’ll understand why people talk about this show the way they do.

Why It Doesn’t Get Enough Credit

Sailing Yacht pulls fewer viewers than the original and Med. Part of that is scheduling. Part of it is that the sailing format makes it look harder to get into. It isn’t. Give it three episodes — at least if you actually want to understand what the franchise is capable of. The show rewards patience in a way that the others simply don’t.

Below Deck Down Under and Adventure — The Newcomers

Below Deck Down Under premiered in 2022 on Peacock, which immediately limited its audience. Captain Jason Chambers — Australian, experienced, more relaxed than Sandy while more exacting than Glenn — was a strong choice to anchor a new show. The Whitsundays and Coral Sea locations are legitimately stunning. Season 1 had genuine cast chemistry, particularly below decks, where the interpersonal drama felt earned rather than assembled.

Down Under’s problem is distribution, plain and simple. Peacock doesn’t have the Bravo-watching audience that made the original shows appointment television. Fans who found it loved it. Most Bravo viewers haven’t found it. Season 2 improved on Season 1 in almost every area — tighter editing, stronger cast dynamics, Captain Jason visibly more comfortable on camera. It deserves a bigger audience than it has.

Below Deck Adventure premiered in late 2022 and aired one season before Bravo quietly didn’t renew it. Set in Norway. Sounded like an interesting departure. Captain Kerry Titheradge was professional and measured — fine, genuinely fine — but the show around him never found its footing. The cold weather setting created logistical constraints that made charter activities feel limited. The crew drama existed without generating the investment that makes you care about the resolution. Norway in November is beautiful on a travel documentary. On a Below Deck show, where energy depends on outdoor activities and guest experiences, the format worked against the location in ways that weren’t obvious until you watched it not quite click.

The Verdict on New Entries

Down Under justifies its existence. Adventure probably didn’t — and the cancellation made sense, even if it wasn’t satisfying. Not every location works. That’s what makes the original locations endearing to us franchise fans in retrospect. They weren’t accidents.

The Final Ranking

Here it is. No diplomatic both-sidesing. No “it depends what you’re looking for.” So, without further ado, let’s dive in.

1. Below Deck Sailing Yacht — The best cast dynamics in the franchise, the most visually distinctive show, and the Gary and Daisy relationship is the only Below Deck storyline genuinely worth shipping.
2. Below Deck Original (Captain Lee era, Seasons 3–7) — The template for everything good about this universe. Captain Lee and Kate at their peak is some of the best unscripted television Bravo has ever aired.
3. Below Deck Mediterranean (Hannah era, Seasons 2–5) — Better locations than the original, a more contested cast of characters, and the Hannah firing remains the single most debated moment in franchise history.
4. Below Deck Down Under — Genuinely good television that deserves more viewers. Captain Jason is an underrated presence and the Australian setting consistently delivers.
5. Below Deck Mediterranean (post-Hannah) — Inconsistent casting drags down beautiful scenery. Still watchable. Rarely unmissable.
6. Below Deck Original (post-Kate, post-Lee) — The formula without the personalities that made the formula work. Affection for the brand keeps it going more than new reasons to watch.
7. Below Deck Adventure — One season, one location, zero franchise future. Norway was an interesting idea that the format couldn’t sustain.

The Sailing Yacht ranking will upset people who consider themselves original Below Deck loyalists. I get it — I was one of them. Frustrated by the idea that a sailing spinoff could top the show that built everything, I resisted rating it highly for longer than I should have. Then I rewatched Season 3 on a Tuesday night with nothing else going on. That was that. Glenn and Gary and Daisy on the Parsifal III represent the franchise operating at a level nothing else it’s produced has reached. The original built the house. Sailing Yacht figured out how to actually live in it.

If you’re new and someone tells you to start with the original, they’re not wrong. Essential viewing for context. But if you want to know which show is genuinely the best — the answer is Sailing Yacht. Watch Season 2 and tell me I’m wrong. You won’t.