‘Below Deck’ Romance Revealed

There is a new romance on Below Deck Mediterranean, but fans may not see much of it on camera. In a new interview on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, bosun Malia White confirmed she is dating engineer Jake. She answered a few rapid-fire questions about the relationship for curious fans.

Below Deck fans got a brief glimpse of Jake at the beginning of Season 6, when Captain Sandy Yawn introduced him along with chief officer Marten. After that, he and fan-favorite White apparently got pretty close. Through bouts of nervous laughter, White told Cohen that she and Jake spent plenty of time together that was not documented on camera, and that he “made the first move.” She declined to say when exactly the romance first started but laughed: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Like, I needed a lot of oil changes.”

Things only got more scandalous from there. White previously dated Below Deck Med‘s Season 5 crew chef Tom Checketts, so Cohen asked her about “the biggest difference” between the two men. White answered: “the biggest difference…?” which got her a big laugh from Cohen, the audience and deckhand David Pascoe, who was also in on the interview.

Speaking of Pascoe, he did not seem perturbed by White’s discussion of her behind-the-scenes romance, despite the fact that he admitted to having a crush on White during the filming of Season 6. Filming is now over on the series, but White confirmed that she and Jake are still together, which seemed to please viewers and Cohen, who said, “Nice!”

Ironically, White said that she had no interest in a “boatmance” at the beginning of Season 6. She told Bravo Insider: “Well, I think you see, like, I talk to Tom on the phone at the beginning of the season. Our relationship had – it was still pretty fresh, like the breakup and everything. So I was not really open to relationships or romance or anything. You know, I’d just [gotten] out of a pretty bad breakup, so [I was] pretty closed off.”

Of course, that was never a hard and fast rule for White, who continued: “I mean, I’m open to it. I mean, I’ll never say, like, ‘I won’t date someone on a boat again.’ I think in our industry, it makes the most sense for you to date someone in the industry. So I’m not against it. I’m not saying no. I just think I needed time, like a little mourning period.”

Hopefully, knowing the happy ending for White and Jake won’t spoil the rest of the season for fans. Below Deck Mediterranean airs on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo, with early access to new episodes on Peacock.