On last night’s Below Deck, love was in the air for Valentine’s Day. And Kate Chastain decided it was her turn to play Cupid! As both the coordinator of the charter guests’ engagement dinner and the mastermind behind Ben Robinson’s slick move to win over Emily Warburton Adam, Kate had her hands in everyone’s emotional business. (At least she didn’t have her hands all over Ro anymore, as most of us are still recovering from last week’s eternal public makeout session.)
Meanwhile, Captain Lee Rosbach still has a bee in his bonnet about Kelley Johnson’s ability to bosun up. Kelley doesn’t do himself any favors this week when he practically crashes the tender into the sea pool, the yacht, everyone on board…you know, just a minor slip up in the day of a yachtie! Oh – and Kyle Dixon decides it’s time once and for all to club his Alaskan faced woman over the head and drag her back to his cave (er, bunk). A dizzy Sierra Storm has no chance to escape The Kyle. The Kyle is a’comin, and he’s a’comin with no Wellies this time!
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After Ben was gobsmacked with the reality of Kate and Ro flaunting their luvvvv in his face on the crew’s day off, he needs to regroup. He doesn’t know how to deal with all of the feelings he’s got going on inside. Is he jealous? Confused? Rejected? He’s not necessarily sure, but he does admit that the whole situation has him questioning his perpetual single status. He might be ready for a real relationship. Kate thinks she’s in one (though current turbulent times in her love life prove that it didn’t ultimately pan out).
Enter: Emily. She sits down with Ben to chat about the Kate situation – right after she has a heart to heart with Sierra about the Kelley situation. And by Kelley situation, I mean, a Kelley problem. He’s been coming on super strong all season, and Emily is not interested. She seems more interested in Ben, frankly.
Back on Valor, Captain Lee reminds Kelley that he and his deck crew are on thin ice. He wants Kelley to be a stronger leader, which Kelley says he’ll be. He needs to be more proactive, less whiny.
As Ro takes her leave, she hugs it out with everyone – including Ben – before finally kissing/mauling/licking Kate goodbye. Kate seems utterly smitten with her new love, and she credits Ro’s visit as giving her the “best night of sleep” she’s had in three weeks. I credit Ro with being super creepy. I’m not sure what it is about this chick, but something is definitely off with her.
Now, on to the next charter! As the crew turn the boat around, Kyle propositions Sierra…for some fishing and food, not necessarily in that order. Kyle thinks Sierra is a goddess. Sierra thinks Kyle is from the “city” of Belgium. Sigh. These two are still, in the most confusing of ways, SO meant to be!
As Sierra and Kyle head out on a walk ashore, Kyle fills her in on the fact that he has a daughter and a baby mama back home. Sierra seems confused, which is nothing new. Kyle looks like he feels the need to explain, well, Sierra, when the sperm implants itself in the egg then we have something known as concep — oh, nevermind! Kyle’s baby mama was never a serious girlfriend, but Kyle is committed to supporting both her and his daughter as long as he can. Good guy.
The new charter guests will be a financial planner and his girlfriend – who he plans to propose to on night one of charter – and their friends. Kate looks less than thrilled about this proposal scenario. It’s high stakes – and it’s on Valentine’s Day, to boot! She tries to lighten the mood by asking Captain Lee how he proposed to his wife. “I just asked her if she wanted to marry me,” he deadpans, then gets back to business. I HEART CAPTAIN LEE.
The next morning, it’s all “Happy Valentine’s Day!” for Emily, who Kelley notes does not have a Valentine. Nor does she want Kelley as one, but he fails to catch her drift. Kate and Emily chat about the day, which has always been a blah one for Emily. She’s never gotten flowers from a guy, other than her dad.
Cue Kate’s bright idea! She heavily suggests that Ben should buy Emily flowers so he can up the chivalry game on this yacht. Which, at present, is in the toilet. Ben agrees a little too eagerly, showing his hand a bit, no? He’s definitely interested in this girl, and the conversation between these two seems to insinuate that they’ve discussed this matter before. Kate notes that Emily is just Ben’s type: young, cute, thin, and British.
When the flowers arrive later, Kate makes off with them to arrange some for the guests, some for Emily. She literally hides in the galley making sure the bouquet is perfect. It needs to say “I dig you!” not “I want to lay shirtless on you while you recoil awkwardly on a deck chair!” (Not that Emily is getting that message from anyone else on board.)
The guests arrive, drink champagne, take the tour, and settle in. After greeting the guests, Emily finds the card and flowers Ben left for her in her bunk and can’t stop smiling. Bwahahahaha! Kate is the puppet master and these people are all mere minions in her game! Her plan worked brilliantly. Now, all Emily has to do is send a note back to Ben: Do you want to go steady? Check yes or no.
But there are other matters of love to attend to. The head charter wants to pop the question tonight, and he needs Kate’s help. She happily agrees to be his backup. After they do business, Emily skips down to the galley to bear hug Ben, thanking him for making her day. He plays cool, but seems to blush a bit at Emily’s effervescence. “I’ll be smiling all day!” she gushes. He says that’s just what he wanted. She also privately admits that these flowers are a game changer; she’s getting all the feels for Ben now, and she didn’t even know they were there. Uh-oh. Shirtless Kelley gonna be Angry Kelley soon. Shirtless Kelley gonna go pound sand.
As Sierra goes on a mission to find the head charter’s engagement ring in his backpack (why did they send the IQ-challenged crew member on this task?!), Kelley and his deck crew manage to get Valor moving away from the dock in one piece. Ben prepares lunch, and the guests are happy campers eating his amazing food.
This charter wants all of the toys though, so Kelley and crew prepare the sea pool, slide, jet skis, etc…for some post-lunch fun. But now the guests want to snorkel first, so Kelley has to regroup and get the tender ready to pick them up. One issue: It’s nearly impossible to pull the tender up alongside of Valor with the pool already assembled. As Kelley struggles to pull the tender in, Captain Lee looks on with disgust. Why is this deck crew so inept? he wonders. The guests are also staring at this sh*tshow, which is not ideal.
“Jesus Christ, this guy could f–k up a 2-car funeral!” fumes Lee as he finally heads down to micromanage Kelley’s botched work. Nico Scholly and Lauren Burchnell look on silently, thanking the stars that it’s Kelley in the hot seat this time, not either of them. But wait! The entire deck crew is actually in the hot seat as soon as Lee sees how inept they are at tying lines and aiding Kelley in getting this tender in place. Captain Lee is embarrassed by the entire team, and Nico acutely senses this.
After the guests finally depart for snorkeling, Sierra and Emily chitchat about the romance afoot. Just to catch up: Ben, Nico, and Kelley like Emily. Emily likes Ben. Lauren liked Nico, but has sadly been friend-zoned. Kyle likes Sierra. And Sierra likes Belgium. So, it’s sort of a mess. In the absolute best way possible!
But everyone must put their own love aside for a minute in service to the actual major love event going on tonight – the proposal! Ben is nervous, as he’s never cooked a “proposal dinner” before. He needs to make it Memorable with a capital M. Kate is giddy about all of the love surrounding her (and no doubt, he recent 24-hour grope session with Ro). The head charter is sweetly nervous about the actual proposal that he will be making this very evening.
“You’ve been infected by the love bug,” Kate tells Ben in the galley. He’s too busy to be in love at the moment, but does admit he’s ready for some true love in his life…one day. It’s a Valentine’s Day miracle up in here! It’s all heart-eyed emojis as far as the eye can see!
After dinner, the head charter stands up and makes a speech about – what else?! – LOVE. Then he drops to one knee and proposes to his girlfriend with an enormous rock. She cries and accepts, and it’s applause all around for the happy couple. Awwwww. “There’s just so much love in the air!” cheers Kate.
But love is decidedly not in the air for Emily and Kelley. Even though Sierra all but begs Emily and Kelley to join Kyle and her on a double date, Emily seems in no mood to pretend anymore. Yet, oddly she does, agreeing to drag Kelley along on the fishing excursion. Kyle is none to pleased with this turn of events, though. He wants a proper date with Sierra! Not some crew-day-off group hang.
Nico and Lauren have the worst end of the deal, though, as they’ll be left behind cleaning the boat during this so-called date night. For her part, Sierra is feeling a little like Jane in the Tarzan movie. She doesn’t know why Kyle expects her to bend to his will so quickly? He doesn’t even know her yet! “For all he knows, I might have two heads!” she reflects. #NoWords #OneSierraHeadIsEnough
In the galley, Ben and Kate banter about the Emily situation. Ben wants to take her out to dinner, but doesn’t know how to ask. “I feel like a schoolgirl!” he giggles. Emily is a proper “English Rose” in his book, which ups the ante. He needs some game, but doesn’t want suggestions from Kate this time. He needs to plan his next move solo. It’s worth noting that he has no idea that Emily is going on a pity date with Kelley yet, which will also no doubt foul things up a bit. I am popping my popcorn for this!
Not heeding Ben’s request for private time, Kate sticks close by his side, pumping him up to do the deed. “You’re a man! You’re a man! You GOT this!” yells Kate, as Ben beats his chest and puffs up his courage. This. Is. Hilarious. I am loving nervous-Ben! It’s worth asking though: Does Emily have magical witchcraft powers that simply do not translate though our mortal TV screens? In four seasons of Below Deck, never has a male crew been so universally enamored with one chick. What gives!?!?
After he works up his nerve, Ben stiffly walks up to Emily and literally says the following: “Hello, Emily. I would like to take you to dinner. <awkward pause> Would that be okay?” Emily wonders where this came from? But answers right away, “That would be lovely!” with a true smile on her face. Ben is thrilled and blushy and nervously mangling his words. He hugs Kate afterward in appreciation of her tough love and guidance. She has never, ever seen Ben this freaked out over a girl. He’s so damn cute right now, and it’s just darling.
Okay, Kelley and Nico. Go ahead and turn in your badges. You are no longer on the case of Who Will Snatch The Girl? The girl done been snatched. By a chef with flowers. And a shirt.
TELL US: WHAT DID YOU THINK OF BEN’S MOVES? WILL KELLEY FLIP OUT WHEN HE FINDS OUT EMILY AND BEN ARE GOING ON A DATE? IS KYLE PUSHING TOO HARD WITH SIERRA?
Photo Credit: Bravo
