Meet Cooper Dawson, the latest addition to the dramatic deckhands of Below Deck Med season 11
He hadn't even had a job on a yacht before
The deckhands on Below Deck Mediterranean almost always turn out to be huge divas who start drama. Season 11 features several new crew members who are bound to cause chaos. Here’s an overly extensive deep dive on the new deckhand Cooper Dawson on Below Deck Med season 11.
Cooper is from South Carolina
Cooper Dawson goes by “Coop”. He was born on 13th September 2000, so he’s 25 now. His date of birth also means he is a Virgo, and we should be afraid of him.
Cooper hails from Hanahan in South Carolina. He moved to Sydney in Australia in February 2026.
He’s six foot five, believe it or not.
He used to be a football player
Cooper graduated from high school in 2019, then went to Syracuse University for two and a half years. He was on the football team there. Cooper then switched to Charleston Southern University, which describes itself as a ” friendly Christian university“. Cooper then played for the Charleston Southern Buccaneers.
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During his football career, he got involved with a non-profit called Uplifting Athletes.
Cooper likes fishing, exceedingly
Cooper enjoys extracting wildlife from the ocean and killing them. Or at least, he enjoys posting pictures of himself holding big dead fish, unironically.
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His yachting experience is rather limited
His bio on Bravo’s website says he had zero years of yachting experience. Dubrovnik was his first ever charter destination. It seems he didn’t have very much experience of working on yachts before he was cast in Below Deck Med season 11. He did complete a maritime firefighting course at Resolve Marine in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2025, though.
Does Cooper have social media?
Yup. Go forth and follow him on Instagram @cooper15dawson.
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