Welcome back to the Below Deck Season 11 Finale. In this week’s episode, titled “End of the Line,” Ben apologizes to Captain Kerry for disrespecting him. At the final crew dinner, Kyle once again lets Willie Stillie out, which pisses Barbie off. Ben and Sunny wonder if there’s a future for them off the boat, while an offhand remark infuriates Barbie to the point that she packs her bags, leaves the boat, and checks into a hotel. Here are some of the highlights from the Below Deck Season 11 Finale.
Ben regrets his behavior
Captain Kerry is angry that Ben and Kyle blatantly disregarded his cabin inspection. Their cabin was a mess, and Kerry is not a happy captain. It’s the height of disrespect.
Like an angry parent speaking to his children, Kerry tells Kyle and Ben, “Go down, get your room sorted out. If you don’t, there’s gonna be consequences.” Uh oh. Somebody’s gonna get grounded.
It takes them “five or ten minutes” to straighten out their cabin, and the Captain clears them. But he’s still annoyed.
Ben says in a confessional that he’s never been in this much “hot water” in yachting before. He justifies himself by saying he’s just “too busy working” to clean his cabin.
“It’s the last thing on my mind,” he says. “I could probably have done it, but I didn’t really give a sh*t.” Nice, Ben. He didn’t do it ’cause he didn’t want to.
But the next morning, Ben wakes up and has second thoughts about the way he treated Captain Kerry. “After sleeping on it, I feel like I need to apologize to Captain Kerry,” he interviews. “At the end of the day, would I run a vessel differently? Probably, but he’s the captain, and it’s the right thing to do.”
So Ben goes to the cockpit and offers the captain an apology while admitting he was wrong. But Kerry’s not ready to let it go so easily.
“Look,” he says, “if someone can’t follow my orders when things are easy, what’s gonna happen when there’s a fire in front of you, and I tell you to get a hose and fight it? … But I appreciate you coming up and talking to me. That means a lot, and I hope it’s a learning experience for you.”
The final tip meeting
After the guests say goodbye, Kerry takes a moment to address the crew. “Guys, six weeks, huh?” he says. “You exceeded my expectations, the guest expectations. You did amazing … I’ve really never seen a team work together so well.”
The final tip is $20,000, $1538 each. Not huge, but decent. Captain says the total for the season is $208,750. Not bad for six weeks’ work.
While everyone else is getting ready for the last crew night out, Kyle calls his mother. “You might have a visit from a lady,” he tells her. “In all seriousness, I actually feel like I fell in love.”
His mom is very pleased to hear this and says his friend is welcome. In a confessional, Kyle admits, “I’ve not brought many girls home to meet my mother. My relationships don’t tend to last … [But] I think I’m in love with Barbie.”
Kyle goes for a swim
Their last dinner is at Annandale Waterfall. It’s gorgeous. Fraser starts talking about taking a little skinny dip in the falls after dinner. Kyle, who’s already pretty drunk, says, “I’ll do it right now.”
He walks toward the water, pulling down his pants as he goes. “Kyle, Kyle, Kyle!” Barbie calls after him. “We had a conversation. What the f*ck are you doing?” Barbie’s embarrassed that Kyle’s naked.
“I’m going in the water,” he responds. She throws her hands up and walks away from him.
After dinner, Kyle does go for a swim au naturale while the other guys are in their underwear. Barbie’s instantly over it. “I’m a f*cking class act, and I’m not gonna date somebody who’s not,” she tells Sunny.
Sadly, Barbie’s who she is, and Kyle’s who he is. They’re just not compatible in the long term. Barbie tries to talk to Kyle. Not a good time for a chat, Barbie. He probably won’t even remember anything you say. Plus you just can’t reason with a drunk person. But they both end up admitting that they love each other and seal it with a kiss.
Yachties in love
Ben tells Sunny, “I’d like to see where this goes ‘cause I do like you a lot.” He seems to fall in love easily. Isn’t that the same thing he said to Camille last season?
“We really have a lovely relationship,” Sunny says. Really, Sunny? “Lovely?” How old are you?
“I think it’s going the right way,” he continues. “I’d love to take you on a date.”
“We shall,” Sunny answers. I think Sunny thinks she’s a Disney princess. She’s speaking rather formally.
But in her head, she’s still wary. “I’m such a hopeless romantic,” she interviews. She hopes they have a future together, but I think they’ll last until Ben’s next charter when he meets another pretty yachtie. Yacht life is just not conducive to a long-term relationship.
Barbie blows up
In the car on the way back to the boat, Xandi casually says that if she’d been the boss, “I think we all know Barbie would have been gone. If you would have been my stew, I would have let you go. You had a bad attitude, but you adapted.”
Why would you even say that, Xandi? That’s just kind of mean. Barbie doesn’t take it well and goes on the offensive against Xandi, despite everyone begging her to shut up. This is just alcohol-fueled nonsense. Everybody’s drunk and arguing about nothing.
Even though she started this stupid argument, Xandi ends up hyperventilating in tears, begging to be let out of the car.
Meanwhile, when they get back to the boat, Barbie totally loses her sh*t and starts screaming at everyone that she’s done. She locks Kyle out of her cabin for “not backing [her] up” in the car and starts packing. Well, okay then. Everybody goes home tomorrow anyway.
Though Xandi started the fight, maybe this is a good thing for Kyle to see just how batsh*t crazy Barbie is after all. He may be in love with her, but the girl is super volatile when she’s triggered.
So Barbie actually packs up all her stuff, calls a taxi, has Kyle carry her bags out (even though she’s done with him), and leaves. Wow. That was crazy.
The next morning, Kyle tells Ben that he got a message from Barbie saying she never wants to see him again. Sadly, Kyle admits he’s glad she’s gone. “I’ve never been on such an emotional roller-coaster in my life, and I do feel like she took me for a ride,” he says.
Time to say goodbye
This is the part that always makes me sad. After watching all of their friendships form, they have to go their separate ways. As the song says, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”
Though they had their ups and downs this season, Fraser and Kerry have a lot of respect for each other. Fraser would “undoubtedly” work with Kerry again and admires his leadership. Likewise, Kerry thinks Fraser is the best Chief Stew he’s ever worked with – after his girlfriend, of course.
It’s been a great season. See you next week for Below Deck Mediterranean!
Below Deck Season 11 is now streaming on Peacock.
TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE BELOW DECK SEASON 11 FINALE? DID YOU THINK BARBIE’S BLOWUP WAS OVER THE TOP?
