I have tired to watch the show a few times, way too staged and too much drama for me. I guess that is also why I watch very little TV.
There are a few actual crew but the rest is all directed.
As usual, those of us who work hard in the industry find it pretty silly.
I have 'watched' it a couple of times with the sound off, so I could see SXM, without the stupid commentary. When they were filming in the BVI, I heard that they were advertising somewhere to be guests on the ship, for prices which were a fraction of the normal cost for such things. That part of it makes sense anyway. The people that you see on there as guests, I often go, "say what???"
We arrive in a month. We'll see if they are still around.
Could you imagine spending 200,000 on a charter and every time you felt like eating, sleeping, talking, or whatever, someone would be in your ear to say "can you do that again, but sound like you're mad st your sister/husband/crew member?"
I guess that's why they subsidize it so heavily I wonder if the characters get paid at all?