Charles Sanders, Below Deck's nightmare guest, leaves one of the cheapest tips in franchise history

Charles Sanders, Below Deck Sailing Yacht guest, Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 3
Charles Sanders, the Below Deck Sailing Yacht guest. (Image credit: Bravo)

The crew of Parsifal III weren't happy to see Erica Rose and Charles Sanders, Below Deck Sailing Yacht's memorably bratty season-two guests, when the couple returned for another high-maintenance charter this season. And they were even more perturbed when they were given a suspiciously light tip envelope at the end — not only one of the lowest on Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 3 but in the entirety of Below Deck history. 

Charles and Erica on Below Deck Sailing Yacht were already on the receiving end of fans' disapproval with their incessant complaints about the food during the March 7 episode, and their inelegant behavior during the March 14 edition further stoked the flames. 

The guests damaged the boat's $50,000 couch with spray-tan stains ("Who puts on body makeup and sits on a white couch on a superyacht?!"), awkwardly serenaded Captain Glenn Shephard with a 'sexy' Marilyn Monroe rendition during dinner and, yes, had more finicky food specifications — which chef Marcos Spaziani fulfilled even after withstanding a horrific head injury during meal prep. Even a member of their party said of Charles: "He's the biggest douchebag you've ever met."

Despite Charles and Erica's bad behavior, the Below Deck crew went above and beyond to meet their every demand — which made the tip they received even more insulting.

"I don't personally feel this tip reflects the quality of service we gave these guys," Captain Glenn began the crew's regular tip meeting. "You guys worked really hard and pulled out all the stops to make this the best charter for them." 

Despite all that, Charles Sanders and Erica Rose gave the crew a paltry $6,500 tip for the charter. Jaws dropped and chief stew Daisy Kelliher said: "I honestly think I'm about to burst into tears."

For comparison, the average tip on Below Deck is between $15,000 to $20,000 per charter, customarily 20 percent of the full-price fee for chartering the yacht. This comes out to about $1,600 to $2,200 per crewmate — a hefty chunk of change more than what Charles Sanders left them. 

"They could have given us 30 grand, 40 grand, 50 grand — no money in the world would make me happy to work for people like that," Daisy said in a confessional.

Fan reactions to Charles Sanders on Below Deck:

New episodes of Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 3 air on Bravo on Mondays at 8 pm ET, and are available to stream the next day on Peacock (US) and Hayu/Sky TV (UK). 

Christina Izzo

Christina Izzo is the Deputy Editor of My Imperfect Life. More generally, she is a writer-editor covering food and drink, travel, lifestyle and culture in New York City. She was previously the Features Editor at Rachael Ray In Season and Reveal, as well as the Food & Drink Editor and chief restaurant critic at Time Out New York. 

When she’s not doing all that, she can probably be found eating cheese somewhere.