Producers behind Below Deck Down Under are being sued by the owner of the M/Y Thalassa for more than $9 million in damages to the superyacht.
The 55-meter Thalassa is actually named the M/Y Keri Lee III and is owned by Australian beef baron Trevor Lee and his wife, Australian fashion designer Keri Craig-Lee.
Trevor and Keri’s company, Keri Lee Charters Pty Ltd, claims that the superyacht sustained damage in the course of a charter with Mountain View Productions, LLC. (Mountain View Productions is headquartered in North Hollywood, California and is a producer of Below Deck Down Under.)
The lawsuit is being handled by an independent arbitrator, per the companies’ contracts, so the original documents do not appear to be available to the public. However, there was a dispute about whether or not Mountain View Productions (MVP) could subpoena the businesses that inspected the superyacht before and after the alleged damage. That dispute was heard by a judge in Australian federal court, and those filings are available to the public.
According to the court order, Keri Lee Charters Pty Ltd (KLC) alleges that the superyacht Keri Lee III sustained damages in the amount of 12.85 million Australian dollars during the course of a charter that took place in May of 2021. That lines up with reports that Below Deck Down Under filmed in May and June of 2021.
Specifics about the damages allegedly sustained by the superyacht are not available, but it can be inferred that there was damage to the exterior paint and keel.
The judge and the arbitrator in the case wanted to limit the time frame for the documents required to be submitted by the inspectors. The judge specifically mentions in his ruling that the “keel of the vessel was laid in November 1998 and it was launched in 2002” in order to exclude any documents prior to that from being submitted. It is logical to assume that this would be because there was allegedly damage to the keel.
In another part of the filing, the judge talks about the timing of Keri Lee III’s exterior hull being painted as part of a refurbishment just months prior to the charter in question:
The vessel was most recently refurbished in 2020. Although the points of claim say that the refurbishment was “in or about late 2020 and early 2021”, the on hire survey report records that various areas of the hull paint (exterior) were newly applied in September 2020. I infer that that is likely to have occurred near the end of the refurbishment rather than at the commencement. In order to cover the refurbishment and the lead up to it, I consider that it is justified to require production of the categories of documents sought by items 4 and 5 of the schedule from 1 January 2020.
It would be logical to assume that part of the alleged damage estimates include having the exterior repainted.
MVP were granted the ability to subpoena the information from the inspectors. Arbitration for the case “is listed for a three-week hearing commencing on 11 April 2022 in Brisbane.”
Did Captain Jason Crash Thalassa?
As Below Deck Down Under viewers are aware, Captain Jason Chambers is no stranger to a superyacht sustaining damage while under his command.
Jason was the captain of the 45.6-meter superyacht Moatize when it crashed into a Queensland marina in 2019, narrowly missing a restaurant trawler. Videos of the frightening crash went viral, and Jason spoke with an Australian news outlet to explain what happened.
Hunky #BelowDeckDownUnder Captain Jason Chambers is no stranger to media attention – he made international headlines back in 2019 when he was captain of a 45.6-meter superyacht that crashed into a marina! Get details and watch videos of the crash!
🙀💥⛴️https://t.co/SOYELKlzSx— Starcasm (@starcasm) March 17, 2022
It’s unclear if Captain Jason was in charge of Keri Lee III (Thalassa) when it allegedly sustained the damage mentioned in the lawsuit.
During the inaugural season of Below Deck Down Under, there are multiple scenes referencing the difficulty of maneuvering Thalassa through the shallow waters of Airle Beach’s Coral Sea Marina. The clearance is so close that there are times during low tide that the superyacht is unable to enter or leave the marina.
If the alleged damages are to the keel and exterior paint, then running aground seems like a very likely explanation. Of course, the charters on Below Deck Down Under often visit coral reefs and other potentially dangerous areas, so keel damage risk is certainly not restricted to entering and leaving the marina.
The Below Deck franchise is no stranger to yacht damage, just ask Below Deck Sailing Yacht’s Captain Glenn Shephard! However, whenever there is some sort of crash (or near crash), it is almost always featured in the season’s preview trailer. There doesn’t appear to be any sort of crash or instance of running aground hinted at in the Below Deck Down Under preview trailer.
Perhaps that could be due to the lawsuit? Or perhaps Peacock wanted to keep that as a surprise? To find out, be sure to tune in to new episodes of Below Deck Down Under streaming on Peacock!
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
