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Gary King and Daisy Kelliher have become two of the hallmarks of Below Deck Sailing Yacht. So it’s almost weirdly comforting to see them bickering again. Rather than, you know, making out like they were a few episodes back. At the end of last week’s episode, the chief stew and first mate were in a tiff over Kelsie Goglia having to serve an early rising guest coffee instead of doing her work on deck. And that’s right where we’re at when this week’s episode begins, too.
Daisy doesn’t understand how making two cups of coffee could’ve impeded Kelsie‘s work schedule all that much. But Gary‘s a man down on deck and stressed as it is. So he just wants some help and understanding from his fellow department head. It’s not worth getting into an argument over. But we all know how hard it can be to tell that to someone who’s already on edge. Good thing it’s the final morning of the charter!
As Parisfal prepares to dock, Captain Glenn Shephard notices that the boat may encounter some bad weather in the marina. So it’s time to bust out the new, supersized fenders to keep it from getting damaged in the storm. Except remember what I just said about the deck team being a man down? Yeah…not the best time to attempt a massively cumbersome new procedure in the middle of a docking. Even if Tom Pearson had been there to help, the giant fenders require all hands on deck, literally. The stews are hauling lines. Ashley Marti is (incorrectly) calling distances. Even Chef Marcos Spaziani is holding up fenders in his white chef’s coat. Ultimately the boat docks safely, but it was a job and a half getting there.
Once the guests leave, Captain Glenn calls the team together for their fourth tip meeting. Despite the various levels of catastrophe that occurred over the last three days — running aground, Tom getting fired, etc. — the charter ended on a good note. And the crew earned a tip of $21,000. That’s $2,530 each, plus two-thirds of Tom’s share since he exited so abruptly mid-charter. It’s the only silver lining to being a man down, and suddenly no one’s missing Tom all that much.
As always, the crew is ready to spend their fresh cash. And are treated to a fancy dinner ashore at the cliffside restaurant of Sa Barrera Hotel. You would think everyone would be in a convivial mood. After all, they just passed the $20,000 mark on a tip. They got good feedback from Captain Glenn. And they saved the charter from being a complete disaster. But during the meal, Gabriela Barragan can’t help but snipe at Chef Marcos. First during his attempt at making a unifying toast about raising the bar each charter. And then as he interrupts when Kelsie‘s trying to tell a story at the table.
It may just be residual tension from their blunder during dinner service the night before. But suddenly Gabriela and Marcos don’t seem to like each other all that much… She accuses him of making every conversation about himself. He fires back that she gets aggressive when she drinks and will come crawling back with an apology the next day after realizing how she acted. It’s really sort of a feud out of nowhere, and the second stew ends up storming away from the table in a huff. But hey, at least Gary and Daisy hugged it out on their cigarette break?
Back on the boat, the whole crew decides to have yet another hot tub party. Except for Kelsie and, surprisingly, Gary, both of whom are feeling overworked sans Tom and desperate to catch up on sleep. As the night winds to a close, a tipsy Gabriela seizes the opportunity to climb into Gary’s bed. And it’s a decision that sets Ashley off. Because…did I forget to mention that Gary kissed Ashley in the van on the way back from the restaurant? Yeah, that happened. Not even an hour before she finds Gabriela under Gary’s covers. Ashley insists she’s not jealous, despite what Colin Macrae thinks. She just refuses to play this game of competition with her fellow stew. And ends the night by falling face first out of her (top) bunk while trying to turn off her light. Ouch.
The next morning, it’s a turnaround day for the boat. And…no one’s remembering much of anything. Ashley doesn’t remember falling out of her bunk. Gary doesn’t remember kissing Ashley in the van. Or how Gabriela got into his bed. And Gabriela? She doesn’t remember to wake up for work. Instead, she crawls from Gary’s bed to her own in the early hours of the morning. And ends up having to be woken up by Daisy for her shift. Oops. That’s not a good look. And it seems Ashley didn’t have any qualms about letting her frenemy sleep through the start of the morning, thereby getting on Daisy’s bad side. Revenge is a dish served five minutes late, apparently.
Captain Glenn calls Daisy, Gary and Chef Marcos together for the next preference sheet meeting. There’s bad news and even worse news. The bad news is that the next group of charter guests are self-proclaimed foodies who want five-star dining experience. The worse news is that the primary happens to be vegan, which should make life decidedly difficult for Chef Marcos in the galley for the next few days. Add to that the fact that the new deckhand won’t be out of quarantine until after this charter’s over and the pressure’s definitely on for the crew.
Meanwhile, Gabriela is starting to crumble. Waking up late set something off in her, and she pulls Ashley aside to confess that she’s wanting to quit. It hasn’t been expressly spelled out on camera, but apparently it’s been a buildup. The second stew feels like she’s always getting reprimanded for not doing a good enough job. She doesn’t trust most of the crew — Ashley included. Particularly when she’s drinking. And now she feels like she’s losing Daisy‘s respect. Ever the emotional robot, Ashley doesn’t know what to do besides awkwardly give Gabriela a hug. But it doesn’t make anything better. Later that night Gabriela reiterates the story to Gary, claiming she doesn’t like the person she is on this boat. It seems like she may, mentally, be halfway onto the dock already.
Cut to the following morning, and it’s the day of charter pickup. The day starts off with a both highs and lows. The high being that Gary MacGyvers a solution to the giant fender problem by simply tying them to the dock. He’s not about to go through the docking process with them again. And the first low being that Gabriela manages to send an entire tray of champagne crashing to the floor five minutes before guest arrival. As in, the crew is still scrambling to pick up broken glass and hose champagne off the teak as the guests are strolling up to the boat.
Thanks to some stormy weather overnight, getting out of the marina will also be particularly tricky. So it’s probably a good thing Gary eliminated the extra problem of handling the giant fenders on top of everything else. Major swells start rolling the boat as Captain Glenn pilots Parsifal III out into open water. So much so that even the crew are starting to get seasick from the motion. To try to help stabilize the rocking, Captain Glenn hoists the sails. But then, of course, disaster strikes all at once.
The starboard runner for the main sail stops working. Everything below deck is getting tossed and turned as the ship rocks back and forth. Even the sliding glass doors start slamming open and shut, in danger of shattering altogether. When Gary and Colin run to secure the doors, Gary’s finger gets inadvertently slammed in the door. And the episode ends with the first mate running to his cabin, clutching his finger as he screams in pain. This can’t be good…
TELL US – DID YOU MISS TOM THIS WEEK? WERE YOU SURPRISED TO SEE DRAMA FLARE UP BETWEEN GABRIELA AND MARCOS? IS GARY TO BLAME FOR THE STEWS FIGHTING OVER HIM OR IS IT THE OTHER WAY AROUND? DO YOU THINK GABRIELA WILL REALLY QUIT MIDSEASON?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
The post Below Deck Sailing Yacht Recap: I’ll Apologize Tomorrow appeared first on Reality Tea.
Meal service is not going well for the Below Deck Down Under crew on this particular charter. It started with Chef Ryan McKeown serving fish at lunch. And has now continued into dinner…where he’s also serving fish. Lots of it. But before the first dish is even served, four of the guests are turning up their nose at the idea of kingfish crudo. Because it’s cured rather than fully cooked. So we left the arrogant chef angrily torching each individual piece of fish at the slowest pace possible.
And that’s exactly where he is at the start of this week’s episode. It’s been a week and the fish is still not cooked. That’s basically how slow he’s working. And no amount of prodding from Aesha Scott can get him to move any faster. Nor does the primary literally walking down to the galley to see what’s taking so long. By the time he actually gets around to serving the first course, there are even more complaints. One of the charter guests doesn’t actually eat fish altogether. So he wants steak. And the guest who claimed last week that all she eats is fish would rather have scrambled eggs.
In an effort to save the dinner from completely sinking, Magda Ziomek volunteers to give a very special dance performance as…the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. Huh? The inspiration may make no sense, but the third stew paints one of Culver Bradbury‘s mullet wigs gray, stencils on double eyebrows, throws on some glittery blue eye shadow and waltzes out to the dinner table. And the performance she gives is…amusing? Alarming? A bit NSFW? Let’s go with all of the above. Not only does Magda whip off her sheer housecoat to reveal lingerie, but she gives the guests even more than they asked for with her nipples exposed as she leaps around on deck. Uhh…whatever secures the tip, I guess?
Cut to the next morning. Aesha‘s hoping to turn the second day of the charter around after a couple of lackluster meals. But the primary is less than impressed when he asks the chief stew for an almond milk latte. According to his refined palette, she apparently burned the milk. She brings him down to the galley to demonstrate how she prepared the latte, and he’s disgusted to learn she microwaved the milk. (As a one-time barista, I have to agree this is sacrilege…and kind of a shocking level of service for a luxury super yacht.) So while the guests go scuba diving, Aesha gets a proper frothing machine delivered to the boat.
For brunch, Chef Ryan caves and actually takes requests from the guests. And would you look at that! The guests actually come away from the meal satisfied! But things in the galley calm down just in time for drama to erupt amid the deck crew. And it’s all thanks to Benny Crawley deciding to take the smaller tender out for a little joyride while moving it over to the starboard side. Of course, Jamie Sayed is bringing the larger tender back to Thalassa just as Benny is racing back, leading the two tenders to come thisclose to crashing into each other. But Captain Jason Chambers, who witnesses the whole thing on the swim platform, mostly blames the bosun rather than the junior deckhand for not having control of his deck team.
The guests have requested a nautical-themed dinner. And leave the actual menu up to Chef Ryan to decide. And nautical only means one thing: more seafood. Though this time, he pairs the giant lobsters with a bland salad to keep the guests from asking for one. Technically, the move works. Though once they’re seated at the table, all the guests roundly make fun of the terribly bland salad they’re all eating. Leave it to Chef Ryan to do the absolute bare minimum at his job. And he finds yet another reason to be upset with the guests when one of them sends her lobster back to be taken apart by the chef. Because she simply can’t handle the act of tearing her own lobster apart for the meat.
Meanwhile, it’s all hands on deck for the deck team to put the crane away for the evening. And the simple task involving three people soon descends into Jamie and Brittini Burton teasing Benny. Captain Jason‘s favorite deckhand doesn’t take being laughed at all that well, and promptly storms away without finishing the job. An unhappy Jamie later corners Benny on the main deck to reprimand him for walking off the job. But the deckhand isn’t exactly in the mood to rehash the drama, and merely brushes the incident off with a curt apology. Besides, Aesha needs Jamie’s ear for a bit of advice about how to handle Chef Ryan. She’s worried that service is going to continue suffering for the rest of the season. But she’s equally nervous about approaching the pessimistic chef with anything that looks like constructive criticism.
That opportunity, though, arrives bright and early the next morning. Over the simple task of making muesli of all things. It’s departure day and Chef Ryan just wants the guests off the boat. But Aesha chafes at the idea that the chef would rather use instant muesli than, oh I don’t know, cook for the guests that are paying thousands of dollars for their luxury yachting trip in the Great Barrier Reef. Aesha asks point blank how many yachting jobs Chef Ryan has worked. But rather than answer, he bites back, condescendingly asking the chief stew how many vacuums she’s pushed in her career. Yikes. The tension between these two isn’t dissipating anytime soon. And Ryan just refuses to understand the parameters of his job description.
Soon enough, the boat docks, the guests hit the dock and the slightly hellish charter is over. It was certainly the rockiest charter of the season thus far, both when it comes to guest demands and inter-crew drama. And the guests aren’t quite finished wreaking havoc yet. As they depart, one of the women hands out envelopes of personal tips. But not to everyone on the crew. In fact, Brittini and Tumi Mhlongo are the only two who don’t get extra cash.
Being overlooked sends Brittini into an emotional tailspin of tears. To the point that Captain Jason has to follow her with a camera in order to give her a pep talk and hug it out, even after all the other crew members offer to pool their tips and add it to the grand total. Which happens to be $16,530 U.S. Plus roughly $277 each in the envelopes. I can’t do that math, though.
For her barista fail, Aesha is awarded Captain Jason‘s Disco Ball Helmet of Shame for the charter. And it’s finally time to blow off some steam on a much-needed night out. But surprise, surprise, the drama kicks off within seconds of the crew sitting down at a restaurant. Specifically, once again, between Jamie and Benny. The bosun’s under orders from Captain Jason to speak with his underling. With specific instructions not to talk down to or chastise him. Yet, Jamie does exactly that. And when Benny defends himself, Jamie threatens that if he keeps performing the way he did this charter, he won’t be having much of a good time at all for the rest of the season.
TELL US – HOW AWKWARD WAS MAGDA’S DANCE AS MARILYN MONROE? DID BRITTINI OVERREACT TO THE EXTRA TIPS OR WERE HER FEELINGS VALID? ARE YOU TEAM RYAN OR TEAM AESHA? WHAT ABOUT TEAM JAMIE OR TEAM BENNY?
[Photo Credit: Peacock]
The post Below Deck Down Under Recap: The Ghost Of Marilyn Monroe appeared first on Reality Tea.
