Bravo Quietly Turned ‘Below Deck’ Into ‘Love Island’ at Sea — and the Vibes Are Drowning

Among Bravo’s many dramatic divas, Below Deck’s crew has always stood out—not for less conflict, but because their jobs drive the show. While romantic hookups occur, the workplace focus keeps behavior in check, even during nights off. But Season 12 is different. Now more “boatmance” than yachting, the series seems to have lost sight of its original premise: crew members serving wealthy guests at sea. With Instagram clips flooding every mention of a cast member, the show has shifted from a workplace reality series to a romance-driven drama—putting charters on the back burner and love front in center.

This Season of ‘Below Deck’ Is Like ‘Love Island’ at Sea

In an interesting change of series focus, this season, more than ever, is more like a spin-off of the popular Love Island dating series that has taken the world by storm than it is a workplace reality series. Each episode this season has dedicated a significant portion to the romantic exploits of the group of young co-workers, especially the self-focused actions of steward Solène Favreau, who has decided to put herself first in the wake of her break-up with Season 11 deckhand Dylan Pierre De Villiers. Solène, now in her single-girl summer era, is putting in overtime to make messy romantic connections that she can easily flit away from when emotions get involved.

Solène kicked off the season with a romantic connection with returning deckhand Kyle Stillie. But, determined to keep her options open, Solène also entertained hook-ups with Kyle’s co-deckhand, Jess Theron. In the most recent episode, when the crew went to celebrate on shore together, the rambunctious steward also stole a kiss with deckhand Damo Yorga. Which, in turn, inspired Jess to initiate a romance with steward Bárbara Kulaif, while also causing chief steward Fraser Olender to side-eye the whole situation, considering he had already shared a spicy hot tub kiss with Damo himself earlier in the season. The romantic interludes from Below Deck this season need a network diagram to make the connections clear.

‘Below Deck’ Doesn’t Need Romance to Bring the Drama

Considering the charm of the series lies in the workplace interactions between charter guests and the crew, Below Deck doesn’t need all this romantic drama. And it seems some of the crew are suffering under the change in format more than others. During a staff dinner on one of their nights out, second steward Rainbeau De Roos, who had been picking up the slack from Solène, finally lost her cool in a hot mic moment that had been building up all season. The two got into an argument over a miscommunication about Solène’s wrap time, and Rainbeau initially walked away to avoid the confrontation. But when she returned to the conversation and Solène still rebuffed her attempts to figure out their differences, the rejection pushed her over the top, and her true feelings came flowing out.

Rainbeau stormed away after Solène accused her of picking on her, going on a tirade against her co-worker. As she stormed away from the conversation, she let out a barrage of insults against Solène, saying she was “lazy,” accusing her of being solely interested in appearing on TV, rather than a career in yachting, and calling her “wannabe famous.” This drama about slacking shared work duties is more interesting and more in line with Below Deck‘s traditional format, which tends to focus on the workplace confrontations that naturally arise from yachting, and less about the romantic behavior of the crew. Leave the dating game up to shows like Love Island, since Below Deck fans are here for the yachting.

Below Deck is on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.