Who is the REAL Hannah Ferrier from Below Deck Mediterranean – the answers will surprise you

You might think you know Below Deck alum Hannah Ferrier, but you don’t: she’s far more than the blonde bombshell you see on social media or television.

The Real Love Boat Australia star, 36, isn’t your typical media personality, influencer or even just a ‘waitress’; which bitter rival from Below Deck Mediterranean, Captain Sandra ‘Sandy’ Yawn, referred to her as.

She’s not just the fiery chief stewardess who famously sent Below Deck fans into fits of laughter after saying ‘Quack quack, b**ch’ to a customer who labelled a duck dish ‘ew’. 

Or just a cruise director who helped couples find love aboard the Regal Princess.

The married mother-of-one exudes an aura of gentle compassion for those she cares about – but with an underlying foundation of fierce inner strength – and it’s striking.

Hannah, pictured at the launch of The Real Love Boat Australia in October last year, was the first Below Deck alum to present on another show

If you’re looking for yet another boring update on a Bravo star, or some kind of influencer-style spruiking PR story: keep looking.

Want to know the real Hannah Ferrier? Keep reading.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia as guest of Princess Cruises on one of the stunning ships, the Real Love Boat Presenter is thriving after leaving the yachting world behind and moving into TV; but you don’t just get told that by words, you live it.

‘I hope to keep working in the industry, I love it,’ she said while on floating on the positively serene Majestic Princess cruise liner, which, it must be said, is very hard to feel anything but serene on.

‘It’s so nice to do something that you genuinely love. I always count my blessings every day because I think so many of the world go to a job that they don’t particularly like,’ Hannah told Daily Mail Australia.

‘I really loved it (The Real Love Boat AU) … because it was such a different show for me.

‘Obviously being on a reality show, you just do your job as you normally would, whereas this was having an ear piece and working with production and hosting.

‘I do get nerves, but I feel like a certain amount of nerves are still good, because it means that you’re trying and it means that you care.’

Just hours after doing a live cross to Studio 10 to talk about relaxing on the open seas with Princess Cruises, there’s no hint of nerves.

Just that typical calm, composed self. Though to be fair, that fierce inner strength bubbles to the surface whenever discussing her family or some sort of injustice comes up.

And it does. Often. 

Because no matter what you may think of someone’s life from social media or one of the world’s most popular reality shows: some doesn’t care.

Once the 15 minutes of fame are over – though Below Deck stars enjoy 15 hours for the most part – the world will tear you down. 

Of course the live cross went perfectly.

A Below Deck alum talking about enjoying the pleasures of cruising the open ocean sounds like a perfect match.

Hannah was an OG on Below Deck Mediterranean for five seasons before her controversial dumping 

But Hannah was the first from the insanely popular Bravo series to present on another show like this (though fellow chief stew Kate Chastain has since been on The Traitors).

So it’s safe to say this wasn’t handed on a silver platter.

Being comfortable in your own skin, and confident of what you have to offer as an engaging, natural television presenter is no mean feat. It’s natural, but it’s also acquired.

Let’s not talk about that grossly unfair portrayal of the Below Deck exit, or the many years in front of a camera for millions around the world to see.

We may not always like who we were, but we can always use it as fodder to enrich the rest of our lives, and others. That’s Hannah.

There’s no hiding from reality television.

Hannah recently spent a week spruiking the cruising life with Princess Cruises

But it was just one step in the captivating and beautiful life story that includes parents with Scottish and Zimbabwean heritage, siblings born in Papua New Guinea and England (she was born in Australia) and living on the uniquely wonderful and isolated Dangar Island, on the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney.

There’s a story or two to tell, though you can’t hear all of it – because anyone deserves to keep some cards close to their chest when it involves close friends and family.

Lucky for some, they will get to share in a bit of it.

There is plenty happening behind the scenes that fans can be excited for that can’t be revealed quite yet, aside from her podcast, Dear Reality, You’re Effed (she’s a reality television tragic like the rest of us) and super yacht coaching business, Ocean International Training Academy.

Of course the TV personality is two years into her most important role yet: motherhood – though it’s not to say the job is always a picture of Instagrammable perfection.

Hannah and Josh welcomed Ava in October 2020 – and enjoyed the solace of being locked down due to Covid

‘I found out I was pregnant in March 2020 … when we didn’t really know what was going on in the world … but I’m one of those people who will stress about what I have control over, or what I can change if it’s something I’ve done – but if it’s out of my control, I just leave it BE,’ said Hannah of welcoming daughter Ava into the world with husband Josh Roberts.

‘It was actually quite a special time for us. We moved from our two bedroom apartment into a big house (on the north side of the harbour), and had a big, beautiful backyard over a gully with water views.

‘So we just kind of cocooned in our house and spent so much time with the baby. I don’t think Josh would have the same connection (with Ava) if he was going to work every day like he is now. She’s a very much a daddy’s girl.

‘The other day, she was cuddling with him the night, and he said: ‘Do you want a cuddle?’

‘I said sure, so we swapped over and she’s like, ‘No, Daddy, I want back!’. My heart just bursts at that, she loves him so much,’ said Hannah, with a glint in her eye that belies how much she is missing her two favourite people in live while spending seven days at sea thanks to Princess Cruises.

Hannah says her daughter Ava’s relationship with father Josh is very special 

There are a lot of ‘mummy bloggers’ and mothers who love to share their journey, for a variety of different aims.

Some are airbrushed perfection, some are more centred in the reality of life. 

It doesn’t matter whether you are poor or rich, straight or gay, white or black – being a parent is the most special, but sometimes the toughest – job in the world.

‘On my motherhood journey, as much as it is magic, I’m very real about it. I think those people on Instagram that say every step is beautiful and cherish every day … it’s bulls**t,’ said Hannah, as the dry humour and openly honest sharing come back into play.

‘Your body changes, your mind changes, your priorities change, and it happens literally overnight.

‘I got a book called Cherish the First Six Weeks and I ended up burning it. It’s utter bulls**t. I did not enjoy the first six weeks … they’re hard, you’re exhausted and suddenly this little thing just relies on you 24/7.’

Motherhood can be tough, no matter how beautiful it is. So can social media. Even when you have 844,000 followers, or look to have the perfect life.

The Aussie tradition of Tall Poppy Syndrome, sadly, remains alive and well.

The Below Deck Mediterranean star has often faced brutal takedowns on social media – but it is water off a duck’s back

Horrid small patches of social media enjoy trying to tear Hannah down, like they do to many successful women of all walks of life.

They did collectively rally behind her after the exit from Below Deck Mediterranean; but as soon as that died down, for a small portion of miserable people, it was back to bullying, abuse and downright creepiness. 

If only people could get so united in support.

‘Somebody commented the other day ‘I really wish that I could fast forward to episode 17 where you get fired’ and I just commented back: ‘Would you like some help using the remote?,’ said the hilariously sassy Below Deck star.

‘If you’re that desperate and you have got enough time to come on my Instagram and tell me that, go right ahead and watch it.’ 

Keyboard warriors usually thrive on replies. 

It fuels their insecurity, but sometimes it is just too easy for the Queen of Sass. 

Sit down and talk to her for 10 minutes, you’re likely to cop it, and it’ll make you cry with laughter.

Hannah sports another iconic Camilla piece, with a cut out shoulder jersey dress in animal print

Unfortunately, it doesn’t always have a funny ending.

‘I have people say to me you shouldn’t be sharing photos of her (Ava) running around in a nappy or videos with her in a nappy (on social media), but I just can’t live like that,’ Hannah said of the ever-delicate balance with social media.

‘I don’t want to live in a world where I think that everyone is after me and my child all the time and I want to have a little more faith in humanity than that.

‘(But) the one thing on social media, I’m so used to people degrading and calling me every name under the sun. The only time it really bothers me is when they attack my friends and family: that I can’t deal with.

‘They’re sitting in a computer in their mother’s basement with greasy fingers from eating a bucket of KFC, and they’re really just unhappy human beings.’

And alas, here comes the Tall Poppy Syndrome again.

Hannah with fellow The Real Love Boat Australia stars (L-R), Captain Paolo Arrigo, Darren McMullen and Daniel Doody 

‘I was so excited to release the promo photo (of The Real Love Boat) on my social media, and then I came back after we’d gone to film something, and I looked at these comments and it was like ‘You’ve abandoned your child’, ‘I can’t believe a mother would like leave her daughter like this for TV and fame’,’ said Hannah.

‘And I was like, ‘guys, she’s 18 months. I’ve spent 18 months with her … and this is also my job. I’m just going to work’.

‘It was both heartbreaking and funny, too, because even when I was filming, lots of people were saying ‘Oh, who’s looking after the baby?’. I’m like, ‘Who do you think is looking after her? Take a wild guess’.

‘Josh went away for work a few weeks after, and when he came back, I said to him: ‘How many people asked you who was looking after the baby?’ And he said, ‘No one. That would be a dumb question’ … I don’t think men get that. It’s just women.’

When you hear this, it’s obvious why Hannah and Below Deck’s Captain ‘Sandy’ clash publicly.

You get the sense it stems from the fact Hannah will stand up to disrespect, lack of basic human decency and injustice. It’s not just a personality clash.

It’s certainly not done for fame either, which Sandy continues to assert.

Hannah and Below Deck Mediterranean captain Sandra ‘Sandy’ Yawn have a long-running feud, which exploded with the latter controversially sacked her

At the end of the day, a mother and wife wants to be fiercely protective of all the people around her, and all she’s built of a life. A life lived hard, to be fair.

Husband Josh, who works in real estate, is more content to remain in the background than the public spotlight; and a wide smile and twinkle in the eye appear almost instantly when she talks of the man she married in March last year after meeting in 2018.

‘We have very different jobs. I can’t think of anything worse than dating or being married to someone else in this industry. I like the fact that he has a normal, stable job while I go up and down a little bit,’ said Hannah.

‘He can be happy in his industry, and I can be happy in my industry … we have plenty of stuff to talk about that isn’t in our own industry!

‘I think we definitely balance each other out. He’s just such a good husband and father because I’ll literally get on the phone with a girlfriend at 7pm and she’ll be having a little meltdown or being a bit lonely or whatever.

‘The baby’s asleep, and I’m just like, ‘Hey babes, I’m going to jump in an Uber and go to my girlfriend’s house and have a few glasses of wine. He’ll say, Awesome, say hi’,’ said the fiercely loyal friend, who met Josh at a bar in 2018. They’ve been inseparable ever since.

Hannah says her and husband Josh balance each other perfectly after meeting in a bar in 2018

Don’t know the real Hannah Ferrier yet? Fair, because there is so much of the story you don’t know, and would really love hearing.

The story you don’t hear on Below Deck re-runs (we all watch them), The Real Love Boat or the social media skirmishes that always seem to pop up.

In Sara Bareilles hit song ‘Brave’ are seven powerful words: ‘Let your words be anything but empty.’ 

Some people say it, some people live it. Hannah Ferrier is the latter.

Sometimes it’s sass, sometimes it’s wisdom. Sometimes it’s asking you about how you’re going.

Sometimes it’s some insane story that doesn’t feel real to the rest of us about life sailing for years on the Mediterranean.

But the words are never empty.