Chris Miller: The Truth About Below Deck Sailing Yacht's Newest Member

It only set sail a little while ago, but already Below Deck Sailing Yacht is causing some serious waves — even Kate Chastain is a fan of the hot new spin-off. The news deckhand Parker McCown would be abandoning ship signaled trouble was afoot, but Captain Glenn Shephard, who's a mixture of Captain Lee and Captain Sandy according to Chastain, handled the departure like a champ.

Bravo's Daily Dish notes Shephard quickly lined up Chris Miller to take McCown's place prior to the next charter, gushing about his wealth of experience to the other crew members. He also made sure they were going to welcome him accordingly but, given the newcomer's remarkably sunny disposition, the captain had no reason to worry about him rocking the boat.

Miller admitted, during an interview on the show, that he was worried about making a good first impression since joining mid-season can be difficult. "I either make friends for life or enemies that I want to throw off the back of a boat on a dark night," he quipped. The deckhand, originally from the south of England, also noted his cheery demeanor isn't typical for a yachtie as, "Once you've been in the industry for a while, it gets under your skin and you just become a grumpy bastard."

Paget Berry, his superior aboard the Parsifal III, described Miller's attitude as "really refreshing," noting how impressed she was with how well he fit in. Captain Glenn was impressed too, acknowledging Miller "obviously knows what he's doing." According to the Daily Dish, Miller has been working in the yachting industry since 2011, starting off in Antigua and traveling the world on super-yachts from there with the likes of Stephen Colbert. He was also a respected sailing racer at one point, too.

In an interview with Cheat Sheet, Miller described the crew as, "the right level of crazy," explaining nobody who's too normal will survive for long on a boat. The newcomer admitted to being nervous, but confirmed everybody was very welcoming. He's a fan of Below Deck himself and was scouted for the show when a casting agent reached out on Facebook.

Once he booked it, Miller had just hours to pack up and take off for Greece. Miller was just about to become a second officer on Creole, the world's biggest wooden sailing yacht, but naturally opted to join the Below Deck Sailing Yacht crew instead. He enjoyed working with Berry, Shephard, and deckhand Ciara Duggan especially, and said rooming with chef Adam Glick was a breeze.

For those wondering whether his sunny disposition will keep the new deckhand out of the fray, Miller promises there's plenty of drama to come. "There's a lot of fun that goes on onboard and a lot of banter. It builds up definitely in intensity. There's definitely some interesting episodes to come," he teased.