Kriti Mehrotra
Although our encounter with Elena “Ellie” Dunaich onboard the superyacht Home as it cruised Malta in 2022 — ‘Below Deck Mediterranean’ season 7 — was brief, she left quite a strong impression. It was thus no surprise that season 9 reintroduced her as a stewardess, promoting her to the position of a primary cast member as we witness the superyacht Mustique’s charter along Greece. So, of course, this bubbly personality made the most of the opportunity to expand her network, showcase her skill sets, as well as undertake new adventures to really live her best possible life.
Elena “Ellie” Dunaich is Slovenian
While Elena seemingly doesn’t prefer to share much of her personal life across any public platform, we do know she was born around July 5, 1996, and calls Škofja Loka, Slovenia, her hometown. However, according to reports, she experienced the pure beauty of various Balkan countries at a relatively young age since her family moved around a lot, sparking her deep passion for travel. Little did she know she’d actually realize her dreams of being a world traveler within a few years, which we can only imagine made her immediate family plus loved ones incredibly proud.
Elena “Ellie” Dunaich is a Woman of Many Hats
Since Elena spent her childhood living in several countries across Southeastern Europe, she did get a grasp on many local languages and, hence, initially kickstarted her career as a translator. However, once this became a little too dull for her, she trained to be a masseuse before eventually finding her calling as a superyacht massage therapist as well as meditation/yoga instructor. This honestly gave her the best of both worlds by allowing her to not just journey across the globe but also evolve her interest in physical and mental fitness alongside new people each time.
It was actually Elena’s successful stints on superyachts as a calming presence that led to land a position as a stew on ‘Below Deck Mediterranean,’ only for her to expand her skills much further. But alas, not long after, this massage therapist, personal trainer, yoga instructor, and weightlifter announced her retirement from being a sea woman so as to focus on some other endeavors. On May 9, 2023, she penned on Instagram, “After 7 years of working at sea, I’m officially retiring from my yachting career ⛵️🏴☠️🦜 my fan pages will be my full-time job until I am able to invest in a business.”
This Slovenian native then added, “Thank you to my supportive fans for making this a reality for me!! Cheers to a fun new adventure” — her fan pages refer to her accounts on OnlyFans. Though the truth is Elena couldn’t stay away for long and was actually back in the waters within months, with one of her first return experiences being her favorite and her wildest, as seen here. She recently told Bravo that the day a yacht owner had invited her to “go on my first helicopter ride overlooking the British Virgin Islands” was the most surreal moment of her profession, and it’d happened in February 2024.
Since then, it appears as if Elena has only persisted in going down this yachting path willingly, all the while also establishing herself as a fashion model, fitness influencer, as well as public figure. In fact, she will walk her first fashion show on June 2, 2024, for the Black Tape Project as it closes Miami Swim Week, and then she’ll continue to juggle all her vocations in the hopes of truly thriving. We should mention that as a part of her efforts, she most recently participated in a week-long collaboration event with fellow models plus photographers in Tulum, Mexico, for content creation.
Elena “Ellie” Dunaich May be Single
As mentioned above, Elena genuinely prefers to keep her personal experiences close to her heart, so it’s unfortunately unclear whether she’s seriously dating anyone at this moment or not. However, we do know that while filming ‘Below Deck Mediterranean’ season 9 in summer 2023, she got involved in a love triangle with Joe Bradley and Bri Muller, resulting in quite a bit of drama. Therefore, from what we’ve been able to gather about her, we believe she’ll likely continue to keep her private matter private until someone really special comes into her life and sticks around for good.
Until then, Elena (or The Balkan Biscuit, as she goes by on social media) seems determined to focus primarily on her rising professional career as a fashion model, fitness influencer, superyacht massage therapist, personal trainer, and yoga instructor. So, although she’s based in Florida at the moment, she has spent time in California and is also entirely open to undertaking any new adventure that comes her way in any corner of the world — she still wants to travel. After all, in her own words, yachting is “an addictive lifestyle,” plus some of her favorite places to have traveled to in the last few years have been Cuba, Greenland, Patagonia, the Amazon River, and Taiwan.
Read More: Jonathan Shillingford: Below Deck Med Star is Also an Avid Dancer
