LIer to appear on 'Below Deck' spinoff
Colin Macy-O'Toole revisits episodes of the "Below Deck" franchise shows on Bravo's "Below Deck Galley Talk." Credit: Bravo / Greg Endries
Sayville's Colin Macy-O'Toole will be among the stars of Bravo's "Below Deck" reality-TV franchise giving their thoughts, reminiscences, wit and wisdom about the flagship show's current eighth season on the new "Below Deck Galley Talk," premiering Friday at 7 p.m.
"We're just hanging out, drinking, having some snacks and watching new episodes of 'Below Deck,' " Bravo's series about rambunctious and romantic charter-yacht crew members, "and just kind of giving some inside thoughts or behind-the-scenes things that happened to us, just to give the viewers perspective on things," says the 33-year-old son of music educators Robin Macy and Robert O'Toole. Macy-O'Toole worked as a deckhand in "Below Deck Mediterranean" seasons 3 and 4 (2018-2019).
The eight-episode "Galley Talk" stars five buddy pairs from the franchise: Kate Chastain and Connie Arias, siblings Kelley and Amy Johnson; Julia d'Albert Pusey and Josiah Carter, Anastasia Surmava and Alex Radcliffe, and Macy-O'Toole and Bobby Giancola. While Giancola, who worked as a deckhand on the first two seasons of "Below Deck Mediterranean," did not cross paths with Macy-O'Toole on-camera, the two became friends at offseason Bravo events.
The cable network, says Macy-O'Toole, "reached out to me a few months back and asked me to do this 'Galley Talk' show … and I was very honored that they thought about me. And so I flew down to Florida," where Giancola lives, "hung out with Bobby for a couple of days and watched some 'Below Deck' episodes. It's been a lot of fun."
Under non-pandemic circumstances, he says he might have been paired with "my best buddy João [Franco], from my first two seasons, but he was stuck overseas in Africa," where Franco had grown up in Zimbabwe.
Macy-O'Toole started as a deckhand at age 15 for Sayville Ferry Service, and years ago earned his 100-ton master's license, allowing him to captain for the company, which shuttles to Fire Island and Water Island and back. The 2005 Sayville High School graduate, who went on to receive a bachelor's degree in music education from Virginia's Shenandoah University, returned to Sayville Ferry after his first "Below Deck Mediterranean" season, but later left the company and is now "focusing more on the entertainment industry."
Quarantining during the pandemic — he lives down the street from his folks — "has gotten me thinking a lot about what's going on right now and things I want to do," he says. He and Giancola have "started working on some projects. Can't get too specific, but we're working together on some things."
Will we see Macy-O'Toole again on "Below Deck Mediterranean," where his upbeat personality made him a favorite of yacht captain Sandy Yawn? "Maybe not 'Mediterranean,' " he says, unable to give details, "but you know, maybe something else."
