An elite group of glamourous, party-loving super yacht brokers, ruthlessly competing to take home eye watering commissions on multi-million dollar vessels is the subject on a new reality TV show.
Charm and romance, together with and a good dose of bitching, backstabbing and drama combine in Hot Yachts: Miami, which starts this week on Paramount+.
Dubbed ‘ Selling Sunset meets Below Deck’ the programme shows off the extreme wealth of the Florida billionaire’s playground where everyone looks like a supermodel and tensions run so high that one yacht broker is moved to call a rival a prostitute.
Against a backdrop of swanky parties, sumptuous dinners and beachside penthouses, the brokers will stop at nothing as they compete to sell superyachts to the super-rich.
But they always want more – more money, more 𝓈ℯ𝓍, more power – and their showdowns are often spectacular.
From left, Vika, Katya, Fotis, Kaile, Nick,Jack, Liliana and Juno. The brokers sell super yachts to billionaires
Katya sells boats for $100,000,000, with her client base including celebs and royals
The stakes are incredibly high. One sale could make the brokers millionaires themselves thanks to commissions of up to ten per cent, and one deal organising a yacht’s charter for $1 million (£775,000) a week could make them more than most people make in a year.
If you’re after a dose of filthy-rich, beautiful people doing battle beneath the Florida sun, get on board Hot Yachts: Miami
The eight-part series on Paramount+ introduces us to some memorable characters whose job it is to sell the super-rich their dream of sailing off into the sunset. At the centre of it are rivals Nick Cardoza and Katya Hall.
Charming and handsome, Nick calls himself ‘Mr Yachts’. Forbes magazine called him ‘The guy celebrities go to for yachts’, and he likes to play as hard as he works – his hobbies seem to be partying and womanising.
By comparison, Siberian-𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 Katya is the ice queen; she’s a top broker at international yacht agency IYC, her clients include Prince Albert of Monaco, and the boats she sells can go for £200 million.
Kaile, Vika and Katya are among the yacht brokers in Miami’s cutthroat scene
Katya says she ‘won’t get out of bed for less than £10 million’.
She’s added that she’s rented boats out for £2.5million for 24 weeks for one client.
But having worked her way up the ladder, Katya is desperate to stay there. The one chink in her armour is her protégée Viktoriya Avramchuk, known as Vika. An impossibly leggy former model, like Katya she’s an immigrant.
Born in Kyiv, she moved to Prague when she was 14 and then on to the US at 16.
Katya gave her the job as a favour to Vika’s mother Zhanna, who’s very good at getting her own way.
Vika’s been with Katya for 18 months and is yet to make a sale – though she’s very good at flirting with clients. When she turns her attention to Nick, however, Katya is furious and warns Vika that he may not be all he seems.
Liliana (pictured) made a huge success of working on the charter side of the yacht business, currently managing fifteen active yachts, with an annual charter sales revenue of around $16million
She says that the secret to success is understanding, to the core, what the client desires and needs and promptly meeting those needs.
Truly glamourous, she’s neighbours in Miami with the Beckhams, and has been on Leonardo DiCaprio’s yacht
Meanwhile, a third broker, Kaile, also has reason to be furious with both Vika and her mother. While she’s showing two clients around some yachts, Vika swoops in and tries to steal one of them away.
Kaile isn’t impressed to find a flirtatious Vika and Zhanna drinking champagne with her client, who seems to be revelling in having two brokers fighting over him.
Charming and handsome, Nick calls himself ‘Mr Yachts’. Forbes magazine called him ‘The guy celebrities go to for yachts’
Enjoying all this drama is Vika’s camp colleague Fotis, who believes trying to steal a client from under a rival’s nose is bad behaviour and is determined to bring Vika and Kaile together so he can watch the fur fly.
MEET THE CAST …
Katya, 39
Born in Siberia, Katya is now living the American Dream. One of the top brokers at an exclusive, luxury international yachting firm she says she’s not a yacht broker but a SUPER YACHT broker
Born in Siberia, Katya is now living the American Dream. One of the top brokers at an exclusive, luxury international yachting firm she says she’s not a yacht broker but a SUPER YACHT broker.
She is often referred to as the ‘Queen of Super Yachts’.
The boats she sells can go for up to $100,000,000, with her client base including celebs and royals.
Katya is married to an attorney and tech founder and lives in a penthouse overlooking Fort Lauderdale beach, so she can keep an eye on the yachts coming in and out of the harbour.
She has a wardrobe to rival the Kardashians and a friends list that includes the cast of The Real Housewives!
Vika, 31
Vika is learning from the best in the business but although she knows a lot of potential wealthy clients, she has yet to make a sale
Vika is a socialite and ex-model.
Although she doesn’t have her brokerage license yet, she is working under Katya as an associate, a position she managed to get due to her connections and personality (Katya knows Vika’s mother also).
Vika is learning from the best in the business but although she knows a lot of potential wealthy clients, she has yet to make a sale.
Vika’s social circle is varied as she likes to befriend interesting people who lead colourful lives.
She has a lot of friends who are art dealers, yacht brokers, lawyers, models and actors and knows Leonardo DiCaprio, having spent many years traveling to St Tropez to his gala and to his house in Malibu.
Kaile, 30
If you’re after a dose of filthy-rich, beautiful people doing battle beneath the Florida sun, get on board Hot Yachts: Miami
Sassy, beautiful and highly driven, Kaile has been in the yachting world for the last four years and has high ambitions to become the most successful female yacht broker in Florida.
Kaile is aware that she is still relatively new to the industry but she hustles hard and her work on the dock pays off.
Kaile makes a lot of her connections by word of mouth, social media and networking. This is where she has met most of her clients.
Kaile gets frustrated when clients go with a cheaper option and then are left disappointed. She tries to tell her clients that going cheap isn’t always best.
Nick, 38
Charming and handsome, Nick calls himself ‘Mr Yachts’. Forbes magazine called him ‘The guy celebrities go to for yachts’
Known as ‘Mr Yachts’ in the industry, a name he has trademarked for himself, Nick is both the most loved and hated yacht broker in Florida.
Everyone knows him. His larger-than-life personality, good looks and charm are in equal measure to his arrogance and desire to win.
Never one to turn down an opportunity to network or party hard, Nick is ready to go 24/7.
Forbes magazine cited Nick as ‘THE guy celebrities go to for yachts’. Nick is currently an independent yacht broker and is planning to launch his own yacht booking app.
Liliana, 42
Liliana is of Cuban descent but is Miami 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 and bred! Boating has been her lifelong passion, which is why she chose to make a career out of it
Liliana is of Cuban descent but is Miami 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 and bred! Boating has been her lifelong passion, which is why she chose to make a career out of it.
And she’s made a huge success of working on the charter side of the yacht business, currently managing fifteen active yachts, with an annual charter sales revenue of around $16million.
Her clients are the yacht owners and she represents them in the charter market as the gatekeeper to their yachts. Liliana’s clients are all similar – very successful business people who enjoy the fine things in life.
Jack, 28
Jack is adamant when he says he only deals with people who fall into these three categories; ‘The Millies, The Billies and The Trillies’.
Jack is an under-30 entrepreneur who runs his own luxury concierge business, Coppola Concierge.
As a formally trained butler, at The British Butler Institute in London, Jack has the highest level of service expertise that he uses to create bespoke experiences for each of his clients.
Jack is adamant when he says he only deals with people who fall into these three categories; ‘The Millies, The Billies and The Trillies’.
He dreams of retiring by the age of 30 so he can live on a yacht and travel the world while he manages his well-equipped and trusted team back at home. Jack is witty, smart, super competitive and he never takes ‘no’ for an answer.
He is forever fashionable, Jack dresses impeccably and he loves his Louboutin shoes, Hermes belts and always enjoys a dinner of champagne and caviar. His one-liners are not only hilarious, but 100 per cent honest.
Juno, 31
Juno says he’s one of the few Black yacht brokers working in the industry and is proud of his Haitian heritage.
Juno is a well-known broker in Florida and has a high sales success rate. Known in the industry as ‘Juno The Boat Guy,’ he is a regular on the south Florida yachting and night life scene and says his favourite day of the week is ‘The Day I Close A Deal’.
Juno says he’s one of the few Black yacht brokers working in the industry and is proud of his Haitian heritage.
He admits the industry is male dominated and would love to see more women as yacht brokers.
Fotis, 41
Fotis loves his job and is driven by success. He charters roughly 80 yachts a year, and the money he makes annually is enough to purchase a house AND a car
Fun loving and party going Fotis has been in yacht sales since 2007. Mainly chartering yachts, Fotis has experienced insane demands from the crazy rich but he enjoys being challenged and always delivers.
Fotis doesn’t shy away from confrontation and enjoys a gossip with his fellow yacht brokers, even if that means causing controversy.
Fotis loves his job and is driven by success. He charters roughly 80 yachts a year, and the money he makes annually is enough to purchase a house AND a car.
He has travelled the globe, either discovering new destinations or visiting his all-time favourite ones. For Fotis, every little corner of the world has a potential for chartering.
All his clients are wealthy and he finds that the best place to close a deal is on a night out, when potential clients loosen up.
He loves to close deals with a glass of champagne in his hand and generally remains friends with the fun clients, who then take him on trips on their newly purchased boats.
When Fotis closes a deal he often celebrates with his friends by going to a fun destination like Mykonos and ordering lots of delicious food and expensive alcohol. Fotis also often receives expensive gifts from his clients, which is a big perk of the job.
Fotis admits it’s a cut-throat industry, where brokers steal clients from each other.
However, he would never steal clients from Katya, who he’s good friends with. Together they love hanging out at boat shows and partying.
