What do you do when your guests want dinner at 11:15 p.m.? On Below Deck Sailing Yacht, you serve dinner at 11:15 p.m. Because that’s your job. Poor Marcos Spaziani. He may have a good attitude about the chic “European” bags under his eyes, but the guy is turning out a sushi dinner at nearly midnight on four hours of sleep. Though honestly, I might feel even worse for Daisy Kelliher. Because she’s the one who has to interface with the guests all night. And put up with their incessant requests for Japanese beer. Sorry bro, you didn’t put it on your preference sheet. Now sit down, eat you sushi dinner and go to bed.
The next morning, Gary King is pleasantly surprised to see that Barnaby Birkbeck is still on his A-game. The new deckhand has cleaned the boat and even put the fenders away all by himself. But the newbie has pure strategy behind his work ethic. If he stays on Gary’s good side, the first mate won’t realize he’s really there to have fun. It’s all in the “work smart, not hard” mentality.
However, let’s work hard to get these terrible guests off the boat, shall we? I have to admit, it’s a bit of schadenfreude to hear the primary wretching in her cabin as Captain Glenn Shephard gets the sails up. The guests can’t resist getting one last, awful, eleventh hour request in by asking Daisy and Ashley Marti to pack all of their bags for them. And I don’t blame Daisy one bit for just dumping everything into suitcases and not looking back. Good riddance!
Everyone can take a breath once the guests leave. Yes, they were high maintenance. And pretentious. And demanding. And generally terrible. But they were still better than, say, Erica Rose. Because when it came down to it, they still left a tip almost worth the amount of work they put the crew through. It’s a stack of $20,000. Which totals out to $2,100 per person. Daisy earns MVP of the charter and Barnaby also gets a special shoutout from Captain Glenn for joining the deck team so seamlessly. Plus, the new stew replacing Gabriela Barragan is set to arrive that very afternoon. And Ashley‘s already sharpening her claws.
Next thing we know, Scarlett Bentley has come aboard and is introducing herself to the captain. The new stew is originally from Arkansas. And before they even meet you can already tell Ashley is going to be all kinds of threatened by the blonde bombshell. And Gary will most definitely set his sights on her. However, Scarlett’s barely set her suitcase down in the cabin and the third stew’s already trying to assert her dominance. The newbie really has no idea what she’s in for.
Luckily for Scarlett, she arrives just in time for the crew’s night out. But that doesn’t mean they’ll ease her in slowly — at least not when it comes to the inter-crew drama. Gary naturally gets flirty with her, leaving Ashley on the other end of the table seething with jealousy. A tequila shot and giant espresso martini in, and all she can talk about is the drunken hookup with Gary that she insists happened. In no uncertain terms, mind you. Gary’s definitely regretting ever giving Ashley any attention now, isn’t he? Meanwhile, Daisy pulls Scarlett aside for a get-to-know-you smoke break and takes the opportunity to warn her new stew about Gary’s flirtatious ways, too.
On the way back to the boat, Ashley starts melting down over Gary denying they slept together. But Colin Macrae is quick to tell her she looks worse by continuing to make it a big deal rather than just letting the issue go. But do we think Ashley possesses the maturity or self-awareness to do anything else? Hardly.
When everyone finally gets back to Parsifal, Colin attempts to give his BFF a reality check. Gary may not remember hooking up with Ashley, but she certainly seems to. And if he wants any chance of hooking up with Scarlett (which, let’s be honest, that’s the only thing on his mind), he needs to do damage control before Ashley poison’s the proverbial well. In the hot tub, a drunken Ashley tries once again to confront Gary, but it basically goes nowhere. Let’s end the night shoving spaghetti in our mouths instead! And then vomit in the bathtub while your new roomie is naked in the bathroom!
The next morning is a turnaround day, and Ashley is full of shame and self-loathing. And also more spaghetti, which she starts eating for breakfast before 10 a.m. She also wants to know whether she’s being promoted to second stew over Scarlett, but Daisy hasn’t made up her mind yet. I mean, the newbie has yet to even make a bed. Chill for a second, Ashley. One thing going for the third stew, though, is that the newbie has basically zero experience. She’s only worked day charters in the past. And even massively hungover, Ashley’s thrilled at the chance to boss Scarlett around as she teaches her the ropes.
The preference sheet meeting reveals that the next primary is actually a returning guest from Erica Rose‘s girl gang last season. And she’s bringing another outspoken pal from that same trip along with her. Let’s just hope they’re better behaved than the Roses. At the very least for Daisy‘s sake. Charter morning finally arrives, and the chief stew has a decision to make. Is Scarlett second stew material or is it time to promote Ashley? Not that it really matters. Like Daisy says, they’re both cleaning toilets at the end of the day. And part of me wonders if she simply doesn’t want to give Ashley the satisfaction she so desperately craves. I mean, I wouldn’t.
Even as Daisy‘s looking over Scarlett‘s resume, Ashley interrupts to ask if she’s made up her mind. And Daisy tells her exactly what she doesn’t want to hear. Ashley still isn’t understanding the point of the interior hierarchy. Or that working together is about teamwork, not competition. So Daisy’s decided to make both of her underlings junior stews for now. Same rank. Same title. And now Ashley’s ready to pitch a fit.
TELL US – WHAT’S YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION OF SCARLETT? IS ASHLEY JEALOUS OF THE NEWBIE? DOES SHE DESERVE TO BE PROMOTED TO SECOND STEW?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
