Welcome back to Below Deck Season 11, Episode 2! In this week’s episode, called “Pier Pressure,” the crew is having trouble meshing as a team. A lack of focus and accountability almost scuttles a beach picnic. Two stews have trouble working together until Fraser lays down the law. And when last week’s anchor screwup is followed by a cluster f*ck of a docking, Captain Kerry has a come-to-Jesus meeting with the deck crew. Here are some of the highlights from Below Deck Season 11, Episode 2.
The longest dinner in yachting history
When last we left Below Deck, it was night one and the guests were suffering through the longest dinner service ever. Fraser radios Chef and asks if he can speed up the next course. The natives are getting restless. The primary couple is on their honeymoon. They don’t want to sit at the table all night. They’ve got other activities on their agenda.
Finally, at 10:55 (55 minutes since the last course), the main course arrives, followed by a dessert of Poached Pears in Red Wine Reduction Sauce. Yay! Dinner is finally done, and the guests are off to the hot tub.
Chef Anthony realizes he needs to get his act together. “Day One, it was a crazy motherf*cking day,” he says. “I know I gotta work on my timing situation, but love [takes] time. And I’m making love in the plate.” Ick. Not the best metaphor he could have come up with.
Sexy Time in the Hot Tub
When the other guests head to their cabins, Barbie asks if there’s anything else she can get for the primaries, who are lingering in the hot tub. After assuring her they don’t need anything else, the wife removes her swimsuit top as Barbie walks away. “Oh, my God. Ew,” Barbie mutters, going down the stairs. Well, it is their honeymoon, after all.
“I’m pretty sure the primaries are f*cking [in the hot tub],” Barbie tells Kyle.
“For real?” he asks. “How did you suss that out?”
“They, like, kicked me out,” she tells him. “They’re, like, ‘You can go to bed now.’”
“Would you not be, if you were on a yacht?” Kyle responds. Again, they’re on their honeymoon. It’s kind of expected. The cameraman treats us to a shot of the glass window that looks into the bottom of the hot tub. All we can see is feet, thank God.
The next day, Kyle gets stuck with cleaning out the violated hot tub. Ewww! “I’m just gonna have to go f*ckin’ everywhere, aren’t I?” he says to himself. “Sh*t. All right, let’s get a grip and do it.”
In an interview, he adds, “I mean, good for them … But I mean, yeah. That means drain it and give it a scrub. Dirty bastards. Ay, caramba.” Use some bleach, Kyle.
A vampire on the beach
“Would you be interested in going to do the kayak excursion with the guests?” Fraser asks Xandi. “You’ve been working really hard.”
“Yes, of course,” she responds. “Yay!”
But then, in a confessional, she tells us, “Um, I do not go in the sun, ’cause I’m not even pasty. I’m translucent.” She is a “vampire,” after all. Maybe she’ll sparkle like the Twilight vampires when she gets on the beach. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Plus, she’d rather “put my head in the blender than talk to the guests,” so there’s that.
No water for the beach
Sunny asks Jared, “What’s the plan?”
“[Captain] said something about you driving the RIB [rigid inflatable boat],” Jared responds tentatively. “Or maybe I heard that wrong? Then, whenever Fraser’s crew is ready, drive all that over to the beach, drop you guys … well, not you, you’re not…“
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Sunny says. In a confessional, she adds, “Jared is just a complete mess.”
When Captain Kerry gets the guests to the beach, he realizes the water bags haven’t been included and sends Sunny back for them. Meanwhile, we see Ben lying in his bunk, looking at his phone. Wasn’t Ben supposed to put the water in the tender?
After Kerry returns to the boat, he tells Fraser about the missing water. “Oh, no,” Fraser sighs. “I gave it to Ben this morning to put on the [tender] … I thought it was done.” Ben was probably busy texting Camille Lamb and forgot.
“Did you not take the black bags with you?” Fraser asks Ben.
“I told Jared [to take them],’” Ben explains. “Did he not do it?” Ay, Dios mio. Can nobody take responsibility?
Ben goes to confront Jared, “Those black bags, did they go with the guests?” he asks.
When Jared assures him that they did, Ben responds, “Captain said they didn’t.”
“No, they did,” Jared insists. Jared’s out of his depth. He can’t even handle water delivery.
In a confessional, Jared admits, “I was diagnosed with ADHD … When stress comes, my attention is at a little bit of a deficit. Everyone once in a while, I’ll be, like, ‘Squirrel,’ but then I’m right back to it.”
Fraser walks through the hallway muttering, “This is going to be a bit of a rough season.”
Girl drama
On the beach, Cat tells Fraser she feels “disrespected” by Barbie. And of course, Ben goes back to the boat and reports the drama to Barbie. Stay out of interior business, Ben!
When Fraser calls Barbie in to finish the dinner table, Barbie mentions that Ben told her Cat was complaining about her.
“Why is he meddling?” Fraser asks. Because he’s Ben and he thinks he’s bonding with Barbie, so maybe they can have sex later.
“I don’t know what Ben’s game plan is here,” Fraser voiceovers (I do). “He’s stirring the pot with my girls because, I guess, he gets attention from it. It gives him a chance for a girl to say, ‘Oh! What do you mean?!’ That’s attention that he so desires.”
Fraser goes straight to Ben and says, “Can I ask one thing of you? Please don’t get involved in interior drama. Because … you riled [Barbie] up and now I’ve gotta deal with that. She’s fiery, as you know, which I’m sure you quite like.” Ben just smiles at this, and says, “Sorry, mate.”
“He doesn’t give a sh*t about what it does to us as an interior team,” Fraser says in a confessional, “but also as a crew. Ben, f*ck off and leave my girls alone. F*cking moron.”
Docking disaster
It’s the last morning of the charter. Cap calls a meeting for the deck crew to plan the docking. “Coming into this docking,” Kerry interviews, “I really hope these guys are good on the radio.” It’s a tight space and he needs their help to be successful.
As he attempts to back into the slip, the wind pushes the boat sideways. Captain repeatedly radios asking for “stern distance,” but nobody responds. Kyle seems to be admiring the view. Does nobody hear the captain calling for help? Kind of important, dudes. Plus it’s literally your job.
At last, he’s able to straighten out, and lines are attached without hitting anything. But it was close.
“I was a bee’s dick away from bailing out from that docking,” Kerry says. “In 20 years, I’ve never been in that situation. What the f*ck?!” Heads are gonna roll.
As soon as the boat is safely docked, Kerry gathers the deck crew on the bridge. “First docking, guys,” he begins. “Not real happy. I’m actually pretty f*ckin’ pissed off. I can’t have people on deck who can’t tell me what the f*ck’s going on.”
Rather than apologizing, Jared makes excuses about not being “set up the way I wanted to be.”
“You don’t have time is not an excuse,” counters the captain. “If you’re not ready, tell me. I need stern distances, [because] I can’t see the bloody stern.”
“I think Jared is just used to running a boat himself,” Kerry interviews. “A 75’ boat where he can see everything. So he’s not really in my mind yet. But he’ll get there.”
No time for pettiness
Fraser calls Cat and Barbie to the sundeck for a meeting. Fraser wants his team to work together as a team rather than as individuals. They need to succeed together, not individually.
When the girls start with “you did this” and “you said that,” Fraser wisely puts his foot down. “We’re getting petty,” he says. “I haven’t f*ckin’ got time for pettiness.”
“You’re gonna be a good stew, and you’re gonna get along,” he dictates. “And if you can’t, I’m sorry, I can’t f*ckin’ help with that. You’ll both be gone.”
Below Deck airs Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo.
TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF BELOW DECK SEASON 11, EPISODE 2? DO YOU THINK FRASER’S DOING A GOOD JOB MANAGING HIS TEAM? DO YOU THINK JARED’S GOING TO LAST AS BOSUN?
