If you’re looking for something to fill the void left by Selling Sunset and you’re all caught up on the current Below Deck drama, Hot Yachts: Miami could be the programme for you.
The new reality series, which will air on Paramount+, will transport viewers inside the extremely gorgeous world of super-yacht brokering.
Of course, there will be some rough seas ahead as brokers compete to obtain their customers the largest boats in the harbour and will go to any length to please them.
Even if it takes chartering a jet for a single loaf of bread.
Yes, I’m serious.
In an interview ahead of the UK release, the cast, which includes Katya Hall, Vika Avramchuk, and Fotis Geranios, revealed some of the most bizarre requests they’ve received, as well as how luxury the profession truly is.
Spilling the beans on demands from customers, Katya, aka the ‘queen of super yachts’, told us: ‘We all have plenty… From having to fly provisions to chartering a plane to put a loaf of bread on it and fly it to the Caribbean…
‘I had a client calling me saying, “I’m heading to an airport – when I land I expect a 70m yacht and I want to charter it for three weeks, ready to go.”
‘We’re talking about a multimillion-dollar charter and he said, “I’m going to be unavailable for 10 hours as I’m flying. When I land, I sure hope you have a yacht for me to go on.” Things like this do happen, this is real, and we manage.
‘We get it done every time. Sometimes it seems like a miracle, but we pull them off.’
Katya sounds like someone we should have on quick dial right now.
Many have compared Hot Yachts: Miami to a cross between Selling Sunset and Below Deck, with the latter revealing the inner workings – and controversies – of the crew as they strive to impress extremely wealthy charter clients.
Kaile Justine, who worked on boats for years before switching to brokering, explained how the programmes are shedding light on quite disparate themes.
‘People who work on the boats, they’re more like a family,’ she said. ‘It’s not drama like that.
‘But being able to put lines on the boat, really stressful situations, when you have wind hitting you and the people on deck don’t know what they’re doing. Of course, that is definitely realistic, because I’ve seen it.
‘We see boats crash in Miami Beach Marina all the time, so definitely that’s realistic.’
‘I think the idea has been around for such a long time to do a TV show on the world of super yacht brokers,’ Katya continued. ‘Obviously [it’s] very glamorous, especially on the outside.
‘Sometimes [there are] dirty engine rooms and loud noisy shipyards on the inside, but it appears very bright and shiny from the outside, and that’s what we aim to do.
‘We want our clients to only have bright and shiny experiences and we’ll deal with the noisy, dirty shipyards on our end.’
The cast of Below Deck has been vocal about the unfavourable reception they received from their other yachting colleagues prior to joining the programme, with Captain Lee Rosbach saying that he was warned his “career was done” for participating.
After the show – and its spin-offs – became famous, many people changed their tune and rushed in to get a piece of the action.
When asked about whether they had a similar reaction from their industry colleagues regarding Hot Yachts: Miami, Katya added: ‘Fotis and I have got mixed reviews, the vast majority of people love it, they think it’s a funny show.
’It is good to shed some some light on what we do, and when we introduce more people to yachting. Statistics say that only 5% of people that can afford to buy a charter yacht actually do. So for us, exposure is good, PR is good.
‘Then we had a couple of people saying, “We’re a lot more serious and we’re a lot more corporate than it looks”.
‘Sure, that’s true. But do we want to film boardroom meetings and sitting in front of a computer writing long emails? Of course not. It’s a juggling act.’
Hot Yachts: Miami is available to stream on Paramount+ now.
Source My Celebrity Life.
