Crossover alert! Below Deck has followed various relationships and flings throughout the franchise — but some stars found love with one another outside their seasons.
Malia White‘s introduction to Below Deck Mediterranean in season 2 came with a love triangle between Adam Glick and Wesley Walton. Although Malia and Wes gave their romance another try offscreen — the couple later pulled the plug on their relationship.
When the now-bosun returned in 2020, she revealed that she was dating chef Tom Checketts. The twosome were reunited when the U.K. native joined season 5 of the show after Hindrigo “Kiko” Lorran was fired by Captain Sandy Yawn.
After the season aired, Malia confirmed that she was no longer dating Tom. “Yes, Tom and I have split,” she said via Instagram in September 2020. “The details surrounding all of it I am trying to keep a little private just out of respect to him and I. But yes, I am single.”
The Florida native later opened up about her reason for initiating the breakup. “Yeah, we were, you know, working on different boats,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in July 2021. “It was in the pandemic [that] had just happened. So, it was impossible for us to see each other. It was right when the show is coming out, it’s obviously a lot going on in our lives. And, yeah, he found someone else on his boats and I didn’t know for a couple of months.”
Tom, for his part, hasn’t commented on the split or on the infidelity accusations publicly.
At the time, Malia admitted that she wasn’t “in a place to look for romance” when she joined season 6 of Below Deck Med. “I think I even told David [Pascoe about the split, explaining] that everything with Tom and I was falling apart right before we filmed this season,” she added. “I was a mess coming into it and I was just like, ‘You know, I don’t really want to even see men right now.’”
The Bravo personality noted that she wasn’t ruling out a future boatmance, saying, “The people you work around are the ones you build these close relationships with. And for us, these may be the only people we meet for months at a time. So, you naturally develop feelings toward people.”
In August 2021, Malia hinted that she was dating an engineer that worked alongside her on season 6. That same month, Jake Barker, who only appeared on camera once, posted an Instagram photo of the duo kissing with a heart emoji.
Scroll down to find out which other Below Deck stars found a connection with someone outside their season: