Former Beneath Deck star Emile Kotze is suing NBCUniversal for $850 million after claiming the community perpetrated a “coordinated marketing campaign of exploitation, harassment and deceit” throughout his time on the present.
Kotze, who appeared on season 3 of the Bravo sequencewas 23 years outdated when he labored as a deckhand on the truth present. Now 34, Kotze has been embroiled in a authorized battle with Bravo’s guardian community since June 2025, Us Weekly can verify.
Kotze claimed in his preliminary lawsuit that he was “sexually harassedmanipulated and subjected to degrading therapy” throughout and after he filmed the present in 2015.
The yachty filed a primary amended grievance on June 13, 2025, lower than two weeks after he initiated the lawsuit within the Southern District of New York.
In October 2025, Kotze filed a second amended grievance, claiming that after he was forged on Beneath Deck, the showrunners determined they needed him to be a part of a “showmance” with feminine crew member Raquel “Rocky” Dakota.
One govt allegedly pointed to Kotze’s South African background and attainable “conventional values” as one thing that may assist with the story line.
“We will get some fish-out-of-water stress with him. Plus, he’s not union or something, we are able to push him more durable,” the manager allegedly mentioned, in line with the courtroom submitting.
The Beneath Deck franchise has had its justifiable share of chaos over time, however there have been some moments that stood out extra. Throughout season 7 of the Bravo present, chief stew Kate Chastain and bosun Ashton Pienaar had a scary confrontation when the latter was drunk after an evening out. Ashton ended up punching (…)
Kotze additional claimed that after filming started, manufacturing “piled” him with alcohol throughout his downtime and was “encouraging him to ‘make a transfer’” on Dakota, regardless of his alleged hesitation about pursuing a romantic relationship together with her.
Kotze alleged that in forged nights out after chartersthe producers would encourage them to take photographs and do ingesting video games. He claimed that one such night time led to Dakota “in a distraught emotional state” climbing the yacht’s mast and leaping overboard.
Kotze claimed within the docs that he was “traumatized witnessing this, as he feared for Rocky’s life.” He alleged that manufacturing “handled it as a dramatic plot twist – cameras stored rolling, and so they later used the footage as leisure.”
“After filming, Defendants defamed Plaintiff by deceptively enhancing footage to painting him in a false and damaging gentle, misappropriated his likeness for continued industrial acquire with out consent, and engaged in a cover-up and retaliation marketing campaign to silence and discredit him when he sought redress,” the lawsuit learn, claiming that Kotez’s alleged mistreatment continued as soon as filming wrapped.
NBCUniversal had no remark.
Kotze is searching for between $633 million and $850 million in damages, claiming in his lawsuit that $123 million was misplaced in future earnings as a result of his “once-promising yachting profession was destroyed.”
Not all the time the right match. Through the years, the Beneath Deck franchise has shocked viewers with dramatic exits, together with firings and resignations. Mathew Shea set a file for Beneath Deck Mediterranean when he made a number of departures throughout season 6. The chef initially left the boat when he suffered a knee harm that required medical consideration. (…)
He mentioned he’s searching for “at least $10 million” in damages for emotional misery and proposed for punitive damages he be awarded $500 million.
Kotze additionally requested the courtroom to demand that the community take away or delete any “intimate pictures or pictures” of him from all platforms and cease future distribution or streaming of season 3 episodes “containing defamatory or unauthorized content material.”
If the episodes stay up, Kotze needs the community so as to add a disclaimer to the present “clarifying that sure portrayals of the Plaintiff had been manipulated.”
NBC, in the meantime, filed a movement to dismiss the primary amended grievance in October 2025, however a decide denied the movement on January 3, Individuals reported.