What Happened To Sam From 'Below Deck'? The Season 1 Cast Member Left The Yacht Life

Publish date: 2024-05-21

Just like fictional programming, reality TV stars come and go on their respective series. Sometimes you miss them and sometimes, quite frankly, you barely feel their absence to the point that you don't even remember what the show was like with them on it. While I can't say that I necessarily miss seeing Below Deck Season 1 cast member Samantha Orme (who went by Sam on the show) on my TV screen every week, she did play a major part in the inaugural season of what has come to be one of my favorite reality series today. I can't help but wonder, whatever happened to Sam?

Sam was relatively green to the yachting industry when she worked as the third stew on Below Deck, but she wasn't necessarily open to learning either. She experienced a similar situation to the dynamic currently playing out between third stew Raquel "Rocky" Dakota and chief stew Kate Chastain on this season of Below Deck. Sam would often butt heads with chief stew Adrienne Gang because she just didn't respect her authority, although with Adrienne's condescending tone, you could kind of see where Sam was coming from.

Sam was also the first crew member to have a romance on board. She had a bit of a fling with C.J. LeBeau while aboard Honor, but the relationship never really amounted to more than some kissing.

During her time on Below Deck, Sam never seemed too enthusiastic about working in yachting. She explained that she was inspired to get into the industry after her sister, who was a yachtie, had passed away in a car accident.

So did Sam continue the yachite lifestyle after Below Deck, or is she doing something completely different these days? Here's how her life has changed since she appeared on the show.

She's Not A Yachtie, But Her Post-Below Deck Career Did Involve Sunshine

Unsurprisingly, Sam hung up her boat shoes to become a senior project manager at the solar energy company Green Solar Technologies in North Hollywood, Calif., according to her LinkedIn page. She did earn her bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Florida State University, after all. Although Sam's LinkedIn and Facebook accounts still say she works for Green Solar Technologies, she said she no longer works in solar in a comment on this Facebook post from May, so it's unclear what her current occupation is.

She's Taking A Land Voyage Now

But maybe that's because Sam has been busy going on what looks like the most epic road trip ever across the United States this summer. She documented the whole thing on her friend Katie Shaffer's blog Breathing Happy. While camping in Oregon, salmon fishing in Canada, and tubing in Colorado looked like a ton of fun, the whole trip was for an even better cause. During their travels, Sam and Katie acted as ambassadors of sorts for the non-profit Reddy2Fight, which helps support children and their families with cancer or other life-threatening diseases. That's a far cry from the drunken charters Sam used to work for on Below Deck.

But She Still Loves The Water

Just because Sam no longer has a professional life on the high seas doesn't mean she's 100 percent a landlubber either. Sam's Twitter bio describes her as an "ocean air junkie," and you can see plenty of pics of her on a boat in her spare time. Clearly, you can take the girl out of the sea, but you can't take the sea out of the girl.

She Still Keeps In Touch With Her Crew Mates

It's always nice to see reality shows bringing people together, isn't it? Though there was a lot of drama between the crew members on Season 1 of Below Deck, it also looks like there was a lot of love, some of which has actually lasted off the screen — or at least on social media, which is basically the same as real life. It looks like Sam has kept somewhat in touch with her fellow Below Deck cast mates Kat Held and Aleks Taldykin on Facebook and Twitter. All right, so maybe that doesn't mean they're besties now, but at least they communicate, which is more than you can probably say for you and the friends you made at that internship last summer.

She Moved

Sam grew up in Florida and had moved to Los Angeles for work after her time on Below Deck. However, according to that aforementioned Facebook post, Sam left L.A. for good to travel the country this summer. If you had been friends with her on Facebook while she was getting ready to move out, you could've been lucky enough to have snagged a nice table-and-chairs set or something from her. We'll have to wait and see where Sam will call home next, but knowing how adventurous she is, it'll likely be an interesting choice.

She Fell In Love... With A Dog

That's right. The special someone in Sam's life is an adorable 8-year-old basset hound-dalmatian mix named Ed. In addition to, understandably, having a ton of cuddle seshes with Ed, Sam also likes to dress her dog up, cheer on her favorite pro hockey team with him, and, of course, take him out on a boat. Hey, maybe if Sam ever returns to Below Deck, she'll bring along the first canine crew member.

Image: Bravo

Get Even More From Bustle — Sign Up For The Newsletter

From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person who’s on TikTok, even if you aren’t.