The last episode of “Below Deck” Season 11 ended with Captain Kerry Titheradge big mad about being woken up not once, but twice. This time, Jared Woodin is the culprit due to his drunken rant about tobacco. “Pack this up, hit the sack please,” Kerry tells Jared, Kyle Stillie, and Barbie Pascual. He’s just saying “Please” to be polite, but we all know he means, OR ELSE.
“Not only am I getting woken up a second time, it’s threatening behavior I’m hearing,” Kerry says in a confessional. “Yelling and screaming. This is unacceptable on my boat.”
The next morning, everyone wakes up all groggy for some reason, totally not due to libations the night before.
“Thinking about last night, I”m not feeling like I handled it all too well,” Jared tells the cameras. He’s astute, that one. “A lot of things on my mind, a lot of things stressing me out. But yeah, it doesn’t excuse how messy things were. I could have handled things better for sure.”
Kyle Stillie and Barbie Pascual get interrogated by Captain Kerry Titheradge
Captain Kerry calls Kyle to the bridge. He wants to assess what happened the night before. “So, Jared, I’d left a mess upstairs, right. But we were all drinking, right. Give me a chance to get up in the morning and correct my wrong.
Cut to Barbie, who gets sent to the principal’s office next. “My roomie, whatever, left my room. So Kyle was like, ‘F**k it, I’ll just bunk with you.’ Which, me and Kyle are super good friends so I had no problem at all with it.”
Kyle tells Captain, “Jared then came into … Barbie’s room.” When Kerry asks if he felt threatened by Jared’s behavior, Kyle answers, “Slightly, yeah. More of an angry, demeaning manner. He was angrier than what he needed to be.”
Kerry has a lot to think about regarding Jared, given the bosun’s past mistakes, plus anger issues and not being able to call distances. “This guy is really creating a problem for me,” he told the cameras.
Jared gets called up next and he knows what’s coming. Captain Kerry reminds Jared of what he told him about excessive drinking. “This is the second time you’ve gone on the piss,” which is an Australian’s way of saying someone drank too much.
“You’re in a leadership role. You can’t be acting like that. You’ve got to be above the fray. The way that you’re treating these guys is not acceptable and we’ve had discussions. I’ve tried to guide you. I’ve shown you compassion, but you’ve got sh*t going on, mate. You’re your own worst enemy right now. You need to depart the vessel,” Kerry tells Jared.
“I’m getting the boot?” he asks. “Yes,” Kerry confirms. The captain is still kind and tells Jared that he has a lot going for him, but that his head is not in the game at the moment. Kerry advises him, “Take this time and work on yourself. Me keeping you here is a disservice to you.”
Ben Willoughby gets his second promotion
Kyle’s loss is Ben Willoughby’s gain. For the second time in his “Below Deck” career, he gets the Bosun position after someone gets fired. “I can handle it, Cap,” Ben says solemnly.
“Ben is a natural choice, and I don’t have a whole lot of choices,” Kerry tells the cameras. “I’m confident,” Ben warbles. The crew says their goodbyes to Jared and he leaves the boat in good spirits.
The crew has a rah-rah meeting and congratulates Ben on his new position. Before the next charger, Fraser Olender and Barbie take the time to teach Cat Baugh how to stew.
Ben gets to go to his first preference sheet meeting of the season. He’s moving on up, to the portside. To the deluxe sundeck in the sky. Well, not quite. He’s still crew, not a charter guest.
The guests are pretty basic and want a Mardi Gras night with a surf and turf dinner, which is very Olive Garden. “Ew,” Fraser says. They also want a murder mystery party. The guests could have saved a lot of money and gone to New Orleans, but rich people want what they want, where they want it.
Kerry gives Ben advice on how to handle the crew now that he’s a leader. “This is a big deal. Take on this role, okay, the way you interact with your crew needs to change. The division of friends and leader — there needs to be a clear line with that.” Good thing Kerry doesn’t know yet that Ben and deckhand Sunny Marquis are hooking up.
The charter guests arrive
The charter guests come aboard looking very nouveau riche with bright blazers and showy headscarves. The deck crew grunts as they bring the many suitcases aboard. It’s time to depart and the pressure is on Ben.
Ben calls out the distances and it seems like he knows what he’s talking about. Kerry doesn’t seem concerned so it’s clear Ben knows how to measure. Plus, they don’t almost hit anything, so that’s a good sign. “We smashed it. Well done,” Kerry says over the radio. Ben is happy.
It’s Fraser, not Frasier
The guests have a nice Asian-inspired lunch with sushi and Buddha statuettes on the table. Let’s just throw a mishmash of everything Asian, Barbie thought as she set the table. They love Chef Anthony Iracane’s food. He goes up to say hello to them and they’re impressed by his French accent. “On my god, I love him,” a charter guest says. “Oui, oui,” primary guest Lesley replies.
Ben is doing well as Bosun and Captain Kerry is noticing. “Way more confidence in Ben off the bat than I did with Jared,” Kerry tells the cameras. “I love how eager he is and he’s ahead of the game.”
The crew gets ready for Mardi Gras night. Chef Anthony is preparing lobster tails and medium rare steaks. Those who want their meat more well-done are going to be screwed because there’s no other option for Anthony. “I’m sorry, but f*** you,” he says with his French accent.
Surprisingly, no one complains about the temperature of the meat, because there’s always one person who wants their meat overcooked. Anthony is killing it so far. Oui, oui!
The women joke that Fraser is more interested in their husbands and is therefore not refreshing their drinks. He laughs with his mouth closed, which is not good. The men call him Fletcher and one guest says, “I’m calling him Frasier because I know his name.”
“It’s f***ing Fraser. You don’t know my name, sweetheart,” the chief stew mutters.
Cat Baugh has another breakdown
Xandi Olivier gives Cat some constructive criticism about her housekeeping, which sends her into a despair of self-doubt and she runs away sobbing. Barbie, who is in the crew mess eating an apple, asks her what’s wrong. Cat says she doesn’t want to talk about it and runs to her room.
Barbie tells Fraser that Cat is upset and he’s concerned. He goes to check on her and she’s not okay. Fraser offers to help her get the help she needs and she accepts. He gives her a big hug.
“I don’t know what it is that’s going on, but you can look into someone’s eyes sometimes and see that there is no more than they can give, there’s no more they can do. They’re going through enough to be incapable and I need to do what’s right for her,” Fraser says in a confessional.
Fraser goes to the captain with his concerns that Cat won’t be able to make it to the end of the season. “I’m really worried about Cat’s mental state right now,” Kerry says. He helps Cat off the boat and wishes her well. With two crew down, the “Below Deck” cast has their work cut out for them.
