What’s the biggest ever tip there’s been on Below Deck?

Right I’m switching jobs


Tips are a big deal on Below Deck. It’s how the staff make the majority of their money and can either be a cause for celebration or disappointment. At the end of a charter the primary charter guest hands over an envelope with an unknown amount of money in it for the team’s work. Later on with baited breath they wait in fear to see how much they’ve been rewarded for their hard work. Usually the tips are around $15,000 to $20,000 for a single charter. But what is the biggest ever tip on Below Deck?

Since the series began in 2013 there’s been plenty of charter guests all giving various tips at the end of the trips. Though the staff all get paid a standard salary they can make extra by getting the big joint tip at the end.

via Bravo

The decision on how much the guests tip is entirely up to them although Kate Chastain said a good tip would be $5,000 per crew member for seven days of work. Depending on how well they’ve been treated on a trip is likely to impact how generous the guests are.

So across all the seasons what has been the biggest ever tip on Below Deck?

According to Captain Lee the biggest ever tip was $35,000. Excuse me but I need to go lie down.

Captain Lee spoke on the podcast Side Piece with Melissa Pfeister about the biggest tips and said it came from someone most people wouldn’t expect, repeat guest Timothy Sykes.

He said: “I think the biggest tip in history we got, it was $35,000. And from the most unlikely source… Timothy Sykes!

“He [left the large tip] on his second trip. Because his first trip, remember he took back five grand because [we] screwed up [his] 19-year-old date’s dinner.”

via Bravo

Timothy first made an appearance on Below Deck in season two where he chartered the yacht but gave the group a really small tip because of how they treated his date at the time.

Whilst everyone else was eating the food Chef Ben prepared, Timothy’s girlfriend wanted chicken fingers and quesadillas, however Ben didn’t serve them to her. With the food problem and bad wifi Timothy reduced the crew’s tip on his first trip.

When he returned for his second trip in season five Timothy claimed he gave them a bigger tip because their service had improved.

Season three and four of Below Deck and seasons one to three of Below Deck Mediterranean are available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

Featured image credit via Bravo

Related stories recommended by this writer:

Plan a Below Deck charter and we’ll tell you if you have any right to be on a super yacht

Below Deck: Take this quiz and we’ll tell you which rank you’d be on a charter yacht

Ranked: This is how much the Below Deck cast actually earn