A successful lawyer who appeared on Bravo's Below Deck franchise has urged other potential guests not to do the show after his law firm was targeted by angry viewers of the series.
Background on the Show
Charles Sanders and his reality TV star wife Erica Rose both appeared as guests on the Below Deck spin-off Sailing Yacht in 2022. The popular series follows a crew of young yachties working on a luxury superyacht during charter season. It's notorious for its wealthy and eccentric charter guests, who often put the crew through the ringer with their diva demands and outrageous antics.
Unexpected Controversy
When Sanders signed up for the series at the behest of his wife, who had appeared on Sailing Yacht the year prior, he was expecting a breezy, drama-free getaway on the show's 54-metre luxury superyacht. Instead, he became a lightning rod for controversy after dramatically melting down over the chef's cooking and getting into a fight with another couple on board. Once his two-episode arc finally aired, Sanders was dubbed 'the worst guest in Below Deck history' by outraged viewers, who spammed his law firm with negative reviews online. One viewer even sent Sanders a vile death threat.
Law Firm Targeted
'I just wanted to have fun – how they edited it was a complete surprise to me,' the personal injury attorney told Daily Mail. Sanders said that the hateful messages started pouring in as soon as his first episode aired, and that he still receives vile comments to this day due to how often the show is replayed on Bravo and across the world. While the mean messages were bad enough, Sanders said that things went too far once viewers started targeting the Google page of his law firm. 'It was a barrage. Probably like over sixty or seventy one-star reviews,' he said.
His wife Rose, who is a partner in her husband's Texas-based firm, said that she was 'upset' to see their family business targeted by fans of the popular franchise. 'That had never happened to us before,' she explained. 'Even when I went on Below Deck the first time with my girlfriends, that never happened.' The couple's business originally had a 4.9 rating on Google, but disgruntled Below Deck fans eventually pushed the rating down by spamming the page with vicious feedback.
Fake Reviews and Prank Calls
'If you read our reviews it'll be a bunch of good ones, we were getting five stars, and then it'll be like, one star... but they're not real clients,' Sanders said. One 'made up' review said, 'They're vile human beings. If you need a good lawyer, please use anyone else. Screams at service industry staff and anyone else they think is below them to get what they want.' Things got so bad that Sanders and Rose even received prank calls from viewers at their workplace who wanted to talk about Below Deck.
The Omelette Incident
Much of the backlash Sanders received stemmed around a scene in which he rudely complained about a breakfast order. The attorney ordered an omelette with bacon, cheese, and onions, but became incredibly frustrated when it came back with tomato in it. He said that the food, courtesy of renowned celebrity chef Marcos Spaziani, was 'worse' than fast food chain Chili's, before calling the omelette 'putrid' and refusing to eat it. Head stewardess Daisy Kelliher defended Spaziani's food, before calling Sanders 'uncultured, unmannered, and untravelled'.
Aftermath and Expansion
Sanders later issued a public apology for his behaviour, but he now says that some of his antics were hammed up for the cameras and to please producers. 'There were times when I was like, "Okay, if you want me to complain I'll complain about the eggs," but I wasn't walking around the whole time complaining,' he said. 'I maybe complained for ten minutes, that was it, but they kept showing it and going back to the same scene!'
Despite the backlash to their business, the couple recently expanded the Rose Sanders Law Firm from Texas to California with their first Los Angeles office. And in a surprising twist, the lawyer working for their Los Angeles firm is none other than Rose's ex partner, Galen Gentry, who is the father of Rose's first daughter Holland. 'We have a couple of cases and it's going well,' said Sanders, before adding, 'Galen does a good job!'
Warning to Others
Both Sanders and Rose say that they have no interest in returning to Below Deck for another trip, with Sanders warning other prospective guests to stay away from the hit series – especially if they have a successful business. 'I would say don't go on. It's not gonna be worth it,' said Sanders. 'For the same price you can go on fantastic Ritz-Carlton cruise for $15,000 per person and live in the lap of luxury.'
As for Rose, she now has her sights set on becoming a Real Housewife. 'I want to do the Real Housewives. If they ever brought it back to Texas again... that's my ultimate thing,' she gushed. 'So I would go back on Bravo, but not the Below Deck franchise. I did it twice and I feel like that ship has sailed.'
