Welcome to the Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 4 reunion. Host Andy Cohen was alone in the Clubhouse, as the rest of the cast appeared remotely via Zoom. It’s not an ideal reunion set-up, but when the crew are still working around the world, it has to do. Let’s jump into exactly what happened during Part 1 of the Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 4 reunion…
Heads of department start the show
First in the (remote) hot seat was Captain Glenn Shephard, calling in from Spain. After all the engine trouble with the boat this season, Andy wanted to know, “Is Parsifal III still up and running?”
“She sure is,” Glenn said. “We’ve had a lot of work done in the engineering department, and she’s ready to go. I’m on board [right now].”
Next up was Chief Stew Daisy Kelliher, who also joined the show from Spain. Could she also be aboard the Parsifal? I think it’s likely since the yachting season is in full swing this time of year.
Joining them was First Mate Gary King, who Andy called the “Kissing Bandit.” Gary was also, coincidentally, in Spain. Suspicious!
Also joining via Zoom was Chief Engineer Colin MacRae. “Colin, you found yourself in the middle of some drama this season,” Andy said. “How are you feeling about being here tonight?”
“I’m excited,” Colin said. “I just want to say my piece and get this all behind us.” Something tells me, he’s not on Parsifal with Daisy and Gary.
When Andy asked where he was, “because I want to be wherever it is you are,” Colin admitted he was in French Polynesia in the Tuamotu Islands. Wow. Nice work if you can get it. All I know is that Tahiti is in French Polynesia, and I’ve always wanted to go there. So jealous right now!
Bring on the underlings!
Next introduced were Junior Stews Madison “Mads” Herrera (from Boca Raton, Florida) and Lucy Edmunds (from Cardiff, Wales).
Joining the interior crew were Deckhands Alex Propson (from Fort Lauderdale, Florida) and Chase Lemacks (from Miami, Florida). Chase showed off a backpack containing an adorable dachshund named Charlie, and I was immediately smitten. I’m a sucker for the puppies, especially the wiener dogs since we had one when I was growing up. They are smart, sweet little pups.
And last, but as Andy said, “Certainly not least,” was Chef Ileisha Dell, coming to us from Byron Bay, Australia. Due to the time difference, it was 3:26 a.m. at Ileisha’s location. Now that’s dedication.
After welcoming everyone to the reunion, Andy settled down to business.
Questions for the crew
Greg D. asked Colin “how it feels to be the MVP of the season when there was a chance there might not even have been a season.”
“Going through that was absolutely horrible at the time,” admitted the boat’s engineer. “But it makes me look okay this season, I guess.”
“Chrissy Teigen has been posting up a storm about how great this season has been,” Andy said. “I’m curious how you all have [handled] celebrity fandom to the show and if any have reached out to you.”
Daisy admitted to having “a few celebrities” reach out to her, but refused to name-drop, even though the rest of the crew urged her to do so. But then she relented and revealed that Christina Applegate and Chrissy had both reached out to her.
Daisy in the line of fire
Next, Andy mentioned what may be a first across the entire Below Deck franchise: the stews all got along this season! But it wasn’t all smooth sailing, as Daisy sometimes found herself in hot water with Captain Glenn. Stressed out early in the season, Daisy cried in her cabin a time or two, and even left a tip meeting in tears of frustration.
After Andy asked her what made this season more difficult than others in the past, Daisy said, “I’ve learned that I’m somebody who either needs reinforcement or no comment … I do not deal well when I’m sleep deprived and kind of getting this negative feedback. For me, it just wasn’t productive.”
Andy asked how she thought her superior should give feedback in order for her to improve at her job. “I think starting with a positive,” Daisy suggested. “Also for me, the feedback just felt … very personal … [and] irrelevant.” Daisy insisted that her absolute goal would be to have a stew with the guests at all times, but it’s just not practical when there are so many other things to accomplish, including breaks for her crew.
Is Daisy being defensive?
Turning his attention to the Captain, Andy asked if Daisy was being defensive when Glenn criticized her work. “It seems like she can’t take criticism,” Andy commented. “How is she supposed to get better at her job if you’re not allowed to say what’s not working?” Ouch, Andy! That was a little bit mean.
“I can take criticism,” Daisy said, a little defensively.
“Really?” Andy questioned. “You just said that in order to criticize you, we have to give you a compliment first, and then, like, rev up to it.”
“During the season, yes,” Daisy responded.
“Daisy, how did you not hear Gary radioing you about the guest’s injury?” Andy asked, referring to the time a guest accidentally walked into a sliding glass door and injured his head. “Seems like the response time was long.”
“In that moment, I don’t know,” Daisy answered. “Maybe I didn’t have my radio on me, maybe I was ignoring it. I actually think I turned down my radio.” As I recall, she was just sitting in the galley chatting with the other girls and ignoring the guests for about 15 minutes.
Even though Daisy didn’t hear the call on the radio, Glenn reasoned that there still should have been a stew checking on the guests every few minutes. At the very least, “Whoever heard that call, if Daisy didn’t, should have gone to Daisy” and let her know that a guest had been injured. Daisy f*cked up.
Did Colin pile on when Daisy was already upset?
Next Andy brought up the tip meeting early in the season, when Daisy was already feeling frustrated and emotional, and Colin sided with Glenn over the interior’s service issues. “When you watched it back, did you feel that he went as hard at you as you [felt] in the moment? Because you certainly had a big reaction, and you were really upset.”
“I don’t think you should kick a man [when he’s down],” Daisy responded. “It was quite [apparent] to everybody that I was very emotionally affected … I didn’t really understand what it had to do with him, to be honest.”
Turning to Colin, Andy asked, “Do you think Daisy overreacted, Colin?”
“I think she was taking it much too personally,” Colin answered. “My comments weren’t directly aimed at her, because I had just finished talking to Mads and Lucy about it while she was away. But yeah, I think she took it too personally.” Uh oh, Colin and Daisy must not be together anymore, ’cause that wasn’t very understanding of him.
“I was incredibly vulnerable at that moment,” Daisy interjected. “I was tired, I was exhausted, I was feeling a lot of pressure … It just overtook me.” I understand how she was feeling. Normally guys respond to frustration by getting angry. I’m sorry if it sounds sexist, but most women are more prone to cry than to get mad. That’s just the way we react to stress. Whether it’s anger or tears, it’s got to come out somehow.
Would Gary change anything about his behavior this season?
Andy’s next question was for Gary. “Rose from Connecticut said, ‘When the crew is struggling to do dessert, why do you think it’s okay for you to sneak off and have a cigarette, just after Daisy asked for all crew to help with dessert?’ Isn’t that selfish?”
“Um, yeah,” the First Mate admitted. “I guess it was pretty selfish of me … But if eight people can’t set up dessert, and they need me to be there, then fair enough.” So Gary thinks it’s okay for him to sneak off for a smoke, while the captain serves dessert? Does he think he’s above everyone else?
“Gary, let me ask you this,” Andy continued. “Regarding your working with the stews this season … is there anything you would change about your behavior, looking back on the season?”
“Uh, no, I think we all did a pretty good job,” he answered. “I think we helped each other where we could. As much as I can remember … I thought it was a pretty good season.”
“Daisy is laughing at you,” Andy commented.
“Ugh, yeah,” Daisy said. “I’ve kind of learned to accept that it’s never gonna change … Maybe I’m asking too much from the deck crew. Maybe it’s my fault.”
“Finally, Dais!” Gary countered. “Take accountability.” I thought Gary was just being an asshole, but then he admitted that he was “just playing.”
Gary gets grilled
After hearing Gary admit that he’d only watched back one show all season, Andy asked, “So Gary, you did not watch the show back this season?” Isn’t it part of their job to watch the show?
“Andy, to be honest, I haven’t watched any season back,” Gary admitted. “At the end of the day, I lived through it. There’s no point in rewatching what I lived through.” Kind of arrogant, Gary. There’s more to the show than just you. He might have gotten some insights into other people’s lives if he’d watched the show, but then maybe he doesn’t really care about other people.
“Some might argue that you might change for the better or grow by watching your behavior,” Andy observed, “and seeing how other people view you.”
“I think we’ve been given this really unique opportunity and life,” Daisy added, “that no one else has been given, to be able to reflect and grow, and watch ourselves. I don’t think the majority of the world has that opportunity, and we were given [the chance] to be the best version of ourselves. And you just don’t take it.” Well said, Daisy.
“I’m just here for the drama,” Gary snapped back. “That’s all.” Because he’s just that shallow. Please tell me Daisy didn’t pick this empty shell of a man over Colin.
Parsifal III was the troublemaker this season
After admitting that Gary is usually “the one making the most trouble during the charter season,” Andy moved on to all of the problems with Parsifal’s engine. Andy gave kudos to Colin for being the hero of the season and keeping the boat running. “How many times did you think … that the charter season was over because of the engine, Colin?”
“After that first one … I thought it was game over,” Colin confessed. “We couldn’t get parts. The engine was full of salt water.” But Colin was talking to some of the boat’s previous engineers who had just brought the boat to Italy. “It was a struggle, but we got there in the end, for sure.”
“It looked like it was gonna be smooth sailing after you fixed the problem,” Andy continued. “Were you freaking out when it started smoking a few charters later?”
“Again, it was the shaft inside the turbines snapping,” Colin explained. “That’s just a freak accident, and it took a long time to troubleshoot. All we saw was, like, oil dripping out of the turbine. But … we had a few strokes of good luck there … the nature of some of the failures enabled us to carry on. It could have been, for sure, season-ending. For sure.”
Gary barges into the engine room
“Colin, why were you so annoyed when Gary barged into the engine room when there was smoke?” Andy questioned.
“The engine room is my department,” Colin responded. “I’d known about this issue for days. I was monitoring it. I was right there in the control room, and he just came down in a bit of a panic and pushed one of the cameramen out of the way. It was just a little too frantic in my space.”
“No one knows how that engine room runs or what’s going on in there like I do,” Colin added. “That’s my space, and I’m in complete control of it.”
“Fair enough,” Gary conceded. “I’ve worked on this boat for three years. If there’s a fire in the engine room, you’ve gotta find out what’s happening. Sorry, bro.”
“I was watching it,” Colin clapped back. “I had it under control.”
Chef Ileisha is “small but mighty”
Though she started the season struggling to keep up with the guests’ demands, Ileisha managed to pull herself together and earned everyone’s respect – especially Chase’s.
“Ileisha, you may be the most even-keeled yacht chef … in Below Deck history,” Andy told her. “How are you able to handle every challenge while keeping your sh*t together?”
“Watching the show back,” she responded (take that, Gary!), “I’m actually really surprised. Like, I was not okay on the inside. I don’t know how I seemed okay and relaxed on the outside.”
“She nailed it,” Glenn commented.
“Thanks, Glenn,” she smiled.
Chase takes the cake
“Chase, how much were you freaking out,” Andy asked, “when you were eating that cake and you found out that the guests wanted more?”
“All I’ll say,” Chase smirked, “is I’m not the only person who ate that cake. You know what I mean?”
“Daisy, do you regret sharing it with the rest of the crew, when the guests weren’t in bed yet?” Andy asked.
“Yeah, I f*cked up,” Daisy admitted. “Actually, it wasn’t like straight away. It had been a while, but yes, it was my fault.”
“Ileisha, are you still with your same boyfriend?” Andy asked, as Ileisha drew a finger across her throat. “Because I was rooting for you and Chase to get together.” So was Chase.
“No boyfriend,” Ileisha responded. “No Chase and I. Single and ready to mingle.”
“After the show finished filming,” Cheffie continued, “I went home and ended things with my boyfriend. Chase and I just were there for each other, and he supported me through a lot of hard times … He came to Australia, you know, [and] I’ve been to America.”
“The reality of it is Ileisha’s one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met,” Chase interjected. “But we live on the opposite ends of the world … There’s nothing but love there, but we’re just friends to this day.”
The deck crew never seemed to click
“Due to Covid, Gary had to join the season late,” Andy continued. “But once he arrived, his deck team never seemed to click, with tensions running high throughout their time on board. Gary, if you’re watching the show, um, which I know you didn’t, it kind of seemed like you came onto the boat with guns blazing for Chase. Do you feel like you came at him with the same energy that you came at Alex, or what? What was it about him that rubbed you the wrong way?”
“Chase, I’m not gonna say you rubbed me the wrong way,” Gary said, “but I don’t ever think I’ve met someone with quite a strong personality like Chase. To be honest, he’s very full-on, but very good at his job. I think maybe there was a bit of a personality conflict in the beginning, but … we ended up on a high. It’s not how you start with someone, it’s how you end with them. And I think Chase and I ended very well.”
“To jump in on that,” Chase added, “some of my best friends to this day hated me when they met me, so I am an acquired taste, and I don’t blame Gary. And Gary is an acquired taste, too, let me tell ya.”
That may be so, but I’ve lost what little respect I had for Gary this season. He’s a terrible communicator, unable to give his crew clear instructions or training. He’s a dog with women, seeming desperate at times and never takes no for an answer, bordering on harassment. And he’s kind of lazy, always trying to hang out with the captain and goof off, while his crew is working. He’s very immature.
Was Chase cringe-worthy?
“By the way, was there a moment that you saw this season, Chase … that made you cringe?” Andy asked.
“Oh, yeah! All the way through!” Chase laughed. “The jokes that land back in South Carolina with my guy friends maybe don’t land with the ladies in Europe.”
“No!” Lucy agreed.
“They shouldn’t land with anyone,” Daisy said. Making comments about drinking tequila from between a woman’s breasts is just not funny or polite. Also commenting on the size of those same breasts is just rude and crude. Your “guy friends” might find that behavior amusing, but nobody else does.
Does Gary have problems with his management skills?
“Gary, Rebecca T. wants to know your response to Colin saying you needed to just man up when it came to managing Chase,” Andy went on. “Do you think you have a problem with your management skills?” Oh, for sure, he does. Didn’t I just mention that very subject a few paragraphs up?
“Interesting question,” Gary said. “Colin likes to stir the pot, so he’ll do anything he can to try and get involved in the drama. Managing Chase, I promise, I don’t think anyone’s going to find that easy. No offense, Chase. But like I said, we started off on a rocky start but ended well. So obviously it worked out for the best.”
“I don’t know how it’s stirring the pot when I’m saying something to his face,” Colin responded, “When he’s asking me what I think he should do in that situation … I think he needed to man up a little bit. Because he was bitching to me about it instead of talking to Chase, which would have solved the problem a little bit earlier.” Something tells me Colin’s not Gary’s “Sea Doggy Dog” anymore.
Glenn rates the deck team’s performance
“Glenn, what’s your overall take on the deck team’s performance this year?” Andy asked the captain.
“Well, I was quite impressed,” Glenn said. “It wasn’t perfect, but it never is in this industry … I think we had a great season, so yeah … I’m proud of the deck team.
“I want to dig into Alex and Chase’s … work ethics,” Andy continued. “After working with them all season, Gary, what do you think is the biggest difference in how Chase and Alex work?”
“Honestly, I thought Chase gave 150% every day,” Gary answered. “Alex was just quite happy to be there … [But he was just] kind of coming [along for the ride], and I feel Chase had to pick up a lot of slack.”
“Chase does have an incredible work ethic,” Alex chimed in. “I think that’s something we both pride ourselves on. There was a lot of work to be done on essentially a two-man deck team, and we have very different styles … I learned more from Chase this season than pretty much anybody else. He’s knowledgeable, and he works extremely hard. And when I have clear direction and constructive criticism, I think I can match that. But I didn’t receive a ton of that [from Gary].”
Gary’s leadership is questioned
“Gary, why did you lie to Alex regarding Chase being super, super upset about how the boat was in the morning?” Andy continued. I get the feeling Andy doesn’t really like Gary very much either.
“I guess that’s poor management from my point,” Gary admitted. Duh, you think? “It was kind of putting two deck crew members against each other, and I apologize for that.”
“What I will say about Gary,” Chase offered, “is that Gary really does care about the success of the charter season and the guest experience. No one can argue that … But I think one of his shortcomings is that he’s not very collaborative. In the future, I think, you know, you just get the deck team together when we’re both awake, and that’s when you talk about it … instead of doing a one-on-one telephone game, you know?”
Does Gary’s womanizing affect his job performance?
“Mads, Frank J. wants to know if you ever thought that Gary’s romantic entanglements affected his performance as chief officer this season,” Andy asked, eliciting a giggle from Lucy.
“I think that can be said for anyone,” Mads responded. “When you get involved in a relationship, you’re giving energy to something besides your work. It’s why they say, ‘Don’t screw the crew.'”
“Glenn, you love working with Gary,” Andy said, turning his attention back to the captain. “What do you love about him as a chief officer?”
“I like his attitude,” Glenn answered, “and his knowledge. I mean, he knows boats, he knows sailboats, he knows sailing. Maybe this season it didn’t work out with [Mads], but I think he’s a good leader. He has a lot of [good] qualities. I think it would probably benefit him to watch the whole season because I think he’s the kind of guy that will learn from it and come back even stronger.”
Did Gary meet his match with Mads?
“Over the years, Gary has engaged in his fair share of love triangles,” Andy continued. “But this season he may have met his match with Mads, who drove him mad all season, especially when she cozied up to Alex.”
“So, Mads, people seem to think that you’re foolish for falling for Gary,” Andy went on, “but it looked like you were 100% in control of the situation. What do you say to the doubters?”
“To the doubters,” Mads began, “you don’t know me. I am a very detached kind of person, and I like to stay in control of situations, and I personally felt in control of the situation.”
Is Mads the “female Gary?”
“Alicia A. wants to know, ‘How can you say that you were led on by Mads when she was always clear that you two were just having fun?” Andy asked Gary.
“It was strange,” Gary answered, “cause she would come and climb into my bed every night and try and have sex with me. That’s what puzzled my mind, really.”
“Oh, please,” Mads interrupted. “You’re really going to say that?”
“Well, that’s exactly what happened,” Gary insisted, “as far as I remember. I went to bed a few times and you decided to jump into my bed.”
“I’m not even gonna argue,” Mads decided, “’cause he hasn’t watched the season, and to watch the season, like, that’s when you take accountability, so…”
Gary misses the point
“Oh, no, don’t get me wrong,” Gary said, “I was into you, Mads, by all means. I’m not gonna deny that.” The thing he’s missing here is that she wasn’t that into him. If he’d actually watched the season back, maybe he’d understand that.
“I’m not saying you weren’t,” Mads argued. “Just don’t say that I was the one initiating all of it.”
“Gary, it is interesting,” Andy continued, “that you were confused about her intentions, because, I mean, there was a rather savage montage that the editors played of her being very clear, saying, ‘I just want to have fun.’ I mean, frankly, she kind of felt like the female Gary, in a weird way. I mean, she was being very clear.”
“No, I’m not the female Gary,” Mads spoke up, “’cause I’m very direct. I said it straight from the start and throughout the whole time, ‘I am having fun.’ If you didn’t understand that, I’m sorry. I tried.”
The Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 4 reunion concludes Tuesday, July 18, at 8/7c on Bravo.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK GARY WILL EVER UNDERSTAND THAT MADS JUST ISN’T THAT INTO HIM? ARE YOU SAD THAT COLIN AND DAISY APPARENTLY DIDN’T WORK OUT? WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THIS SEASON?
