Bravo announced this week that Below Deck Sailing Yacht would make its triumphant return for Season 5 after a bit of a pause. Back at the helm is Captain Glenn Shephard. And Daisy Kelliher returns as the chief stew. One other familiar face will be returning, and that is Gary King. The rest of the cast is a bunch of greenhorns who will all live, work, and party together in Ibiza. The newest season comes after over a year since the series called time on Season 4, which aired back in July 2023. Gary’s position on the show has very much been up in the air since a production assistant accused the First Officer of making unwanted sexual advances.
What were the allegations against Gary King?
Shortly after Below Deck Season 4 wrapped, Gary found himself in the middle of quite the scandal. In August 2023, a woman on the production team spoke out to Rolling Stone about Gary’s alleged bad behavior. The production assistant also accused the show of covering up Gary’s sexual indiscretions. Samantha Suarez opened up about Gary crossing the line with her more than once when she worked in the makeup department. She went as far as to allege that during Season 4, Gary tried to force himself onto her. At the time, the cast was in Sardina filming back in 2022. At the time, Samantha explained that the cast and crew were put up in the same hotel. Part of her job description was to assist the talent manager with daily tasks. This included keeping the cast sequestered in their room due to the COVID-19 rules.
Samantha explained that the entire cast, including Gary, were all disobeying the rules set by production. The victim told the outlet that she was given the task of walking a drunk Gary back to his room. She said, “There is no limit to alcohol consumption whatsoever, which I think poses a really big problem.”
Gary King was accused of crossing the line
As Samantha continued, the story seemed to get worse. According to the production assistant, Gary asked that she climb into bed with him. She claimed, “I was like, ‘I have to go—I need to go bring other people water and food,’ and he’s like, ‘No, no, please.” The assistant admitted she joked with him. She told him “that she would sit outside of his door to make sure he wouldn’t leave his hotel room.” As Samantha turned to leave, she claimed the Below Deck Sailing Yacht star moved behind her and “grabbed her and pressed her against his body, and refused to let go even though she says she tried to kick and elbow him.”
After the article was released, Gary was canceled from the 2023 BravoCon lineup. While his co-stars attended the Bravo shindig, some spoke out in defense of Gary. Colin MacRae shared via People “I had a chat with him after that all came out. I think he’s going through a really tough thing. I don’t think that’s a nice thing to go through for anyone. There were two people in that room, and only they know what happened.” The engineer refused to comment further, adding, “So, yeah, I feel for him.”
Gary King could still be at risk of losing his job
If Bravo had kept to the same timeline, Season 5 would have already been filming by the time the Rolling Stone article broke. This means that Gary was already fully immersed in the show and still the First Officer. But there could also be a reason for the extremely long wait for the premiere date. The network could have been waiting to see if the allegations were dropped or debating editing Gary out entirely. However, since Gary is happily promoting the new season on social media, I would wager that he will play a big part in the upcoming season.
Gary has always maintained his innocence. The Below Deck Sailing Yacht star tried to acknowledge his Season 4 antics, which showed him in a love triangle with Daisy and Colin. He took to Instagram to note, “Contrary to what many of you may believe, I am still friends with Colin and Daisy. The last season of #belowdecksailing was not my best; having watched some episodes, I know that I have a lot of work and growing to do and will do everything to be a better person.” Gary sent a message to haters adding, “To all those people that constantly comment negatively and try bring me down, sticks and stones! You will not bring me down.”
TELL US – DO YOU THINK GARY DESERVED ANOTHER CHANCE?
